Trusted partner ZPA Pecky

TRUSTED PARTNER

ZPA Pecky, a traditional Czech engineering company, has become a trusted partner for the power sector players on a global scale. Romana Moares spoke to the company’s managing director, Mr Jan Bulíček, about the key competitive advantages behind its success in export markets, as well as the emerging new opportunities it is ready to explore.

The history of this Czech engineering company goes back to 1894, and for many decades ZPA reaped success as a traditional manufacturer of electric actuators. The company has a strong position in central Europe as well as in several Asian countries, and is a member of the ZPA Group, which combines several engineering companies with similar production profiles.

Production is divided into three divisions, the first of which contains the company’s core business: production, assembly and testing of electric actuators, accompanied by bespoke CNC machining (40 per cent of overall output). The second division consists of sheet metal processing (20 per cent) and the third focuses on the production of blowers (40 per cent).

ZPA’s actuators are made under the MODACT trademark and are used for controlling various types of valves (gate valves, butterfly valves or ball valves) even in the most demanding environments, such as places with combustible gases and vapours. They are employed in power plants, sugar refineries, water works, wastewater plants, heating plants and other facilities. The manufacturing programme includes single- or multiple-turn actuators for direct installation on the valve as well as lever, rod and special actuators. The MOA and MOA OC actuators, which operate under extreme conditions in nuclear power plants and hermetic zones, are a particular speciality.

The modular concept of MODACT actuators, which enables installation of the company’s in-house gear-boxes, ensures long life, high reliability and a broad sphere of applications. The company’s product design and development department has introduced numerous unique solutions, such as a planet gear enabling manual operation, locking of torque switches, low hysteresis and non-linearity of position transmitters, high precision setting of positional and torque switches, and more besides.

The blowers were introduced to the portfolio in 2009. ZPA now makes several sizes of blowers, including vertical and horizontal Roots blowers with outputs from 40 to 120,000m3/h in special designs that can be used for nuclear engineering.

New horizons

The past two years have been a time of considerable change and expansion. ZPA acquired valve producer Mostro and is now in the process of transferring the production to its current site. “The acquisition is closely related to our business focus. Now we will not only supply actuators to valve manufacturers but will also be able to offer a complete product – valves controlled by our own actuators. This will significantly widen our business scope and increase our market share,” says the managing director. He points out that the transfer as such would be relatively easy as space is available next to the company’s existing premises. The valves, provided with ZPA actuators, should be introduced into the market in a few months’ time, once the necessary certification process has been completed.

Another event of similar significance has been the recent delivery, through a business partner, of 28 blowers and more than 60 special electric actuators for the primary circuit of Unit III and IV at the Tianwan nuclear power station in China. “This contract has been of key impor-

tance for us, both in terms of its complexity and as an excellent reference for similar jobs. As a result of this delivery, we have already received several enquiries from other Asian entities,” says Mr Bulíček.

He further explains that the Czech market, with most of power producers already modernised, has become too small and further growth may only be achieved abroad. Over 70 per cent of total output is now sold in the export markets, the most important of which remain the CIS countries, particularly Russia. This is particularly true for the actuators, which have been successfully installed in all types of reactors built by Russian Rosatom. The company’s other key product – blowers – is sold through business partners all over the world, including Indonesia, China, the US and most European countries.

Pushing ahead

In response to growing demand for innovative products, the company’s product development department has played a key role in ZPA’s worldwide success. “Innovation is an integral part of our development,” confirms the managing director. “We constantly strive to increase the technical level of our products so that they meet today’s requirement for a sophisticated, faultless operation.”

He further explain that as a result of the Chinese contract, the company will push for more work in the export markets and win a larger market share in the nuclear sector. “Within the recent acquisition, we have invested considerably in the development of actuators for the oil and gas sector and we will intensify our sales efforts in this area also. This is a new sector but one that offers exciting new opportunities for a manufacturer of our kind. Penetrating this particular market will take time and a lot of effort but I believe we will succeed.”

ZPA Pecky is currently growing in all its product groups. Negotiations are now under way with two large customers for actuators, while sales of Roots blowers and bespoke sheet metal processing are increasing. The company is clearly well on its way to meeting its challenging targets. n