Circulating high-power efficiency IMP Pumps

CIRCULATING HIGHPOWER EFFICIENCY

IMP Pumps is a market leader in the design and manufacture of circulating pumps and pumping systems. Philip Yorke talked to Damir Popovic, the company’s CEO, about its latest high-energy pumps and move into new markets.

IMP Pumps was founded in 1947 in Slovenia and operated as part of the IMP Group until the late 1980s. The company successfully survived the change in the country’s economic system and the very turbulent nineties and was able to maintain its leading position in the region. IMP was privatised in 1997 and again in 1999, at which time major investments were made in plant, product development, marketing and Information Technology.

IMP is a leading manufacturer of advanced, high-efficiency pumps and pumping systems and is located in Komenda, Slovenia. The company designs, develops, manufactures and distributes a wide variety of state-of-the-art pumps. In addition it maintains and services pumps and pumping systems.

Fully integrated solutions

With a wide range of products and customer services of its own as well as those of its strategic partners, the company is well positioned to be a key provider of integrated solutions. It offers highly specialised skills and as such, the company is able to resolve the many challenging problems relating to the transportation of liquid media. More than 95 per cent of IMP’s products are exported and sold in more than 60 countries worldwide. IMP is the true innovator in the field of wet running pumps with brushless DC motors (BLDC) and this is supported by its quality certification: ISO9001:2008.

The company’s commitment to innovation and pump efficiency is underscored by the importance it places on its strong in-house research and development department, which is funded by 15 per cent of IMP’s total annual revenues. The R&D department is responsible for the development of advanced circulation pumps created by its own production programme. IMP is one of the few companies in Europe that has consistently introduced new generations of pumps over the years with BLDC motors. This ranks IMP Pumps as a market leader at the very top of European pump technology.

Popovic said, “Since we were founded in 1947 we have been the pioneers of regulated pumps, which have since become the standard in Western Europe. In 1991 we developed a regulated pump with BLDC motor for global clients such as Siemens. We are an engineering company through and through and build innovation into everything we create. We develop innovative pumping solutions that benefit our customers to make them more efficient and more profitable and with IMP they know they are getting extremely good value for money.

“Our latest products have been developed over the last ten years and are some of the lightest and most reliable on the market. We are a small company compared to the big players but we are faster, more flexible, and provide a more dedicated customer service. We also offer a true turnkey service from product concept right through

to testing and distribution and work closely with our customers to always produce optimal results for them.

Popovic added, “Today over 50 per cent of our products are exported to countries such as Germany, which is our largest market, as well as to Italy, Russia, Sweden and Turkey. We are exporting to more than 60 countries in total worldwide and we see our biggest opportunities for growth coming from the USA and western Europe. However, we don’t see ourselves getting involved in acquisitions or joint ventures currently as we are growing organically at over 20 per cent per year.”

High energy efficiency

Customers of IMP’s pumps have come to recognise that there is a good relationship between the high quality of the products and low prices. This is summed up by the company’s well-known slogan,

‘The honest product for the honest price’. IMP’s latest NMT MAX is a highly energy efficient circulating pump with a BLDC motor and an in-built user interface. The constant adjustment of power levels with integrated electronic controls is managed according to the system requirements or can work at constant speeds.

In the last few years IMP has begun to develop new types of pumps to meet the latest EU directives and these will be showcased at the Milan Trade Fair in March this year. These will represent a true revolution in pump technology. The first new pump will be available with a 480-watt motor and will be extremely energy efficient, whilst being very small compared to its competitors. The new IMP pump will also be a lot cheaper than similar models due to production optimisation and lean management protocols. These latest pumps from IMP have the smallest motors available in this power range in the world of circulating pumps.

Efficiency is a key word for the entire company. Apart from product efficiency and communication efficiency, it has implemented a number of efficient methods in production and R&D such as Kanban, Single Piece Flow, SMED, 8D, FMEA, APQP, Kaisen and so on. This makes IMP PUMPS a quality- and efficiency-driven company. n

For further details of IMP’s innovative circulating pumps and customer services visit: www.imp-pumps.com