FLUITEN ITALIA
FINE SEALS DELIVERED? I’M YOURS!
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FLUITEN ITALIA
I
PROFILE
FINE SEALS
DELIVERED?
I’M YOURS! Fluiten Italia SpA designs and produces mechanical seals for heavy duty applications. Rino Campaniello, Marketing Manager, outlined the Fluiten story with Phil Nicholls.
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lberto Delfo Colombo started Fluiten Italia SpA in 1962 in the suburbs of Milan. And the rest, as they say, is history. Fluiten opened its crucial research and development department in 1971, starting with a room for dynamic tests and simulating real operating conditions for its seals. Growth continued with a bigger factory in 1981 and entry into the global market in 1997 following ISO 9001 certification. Fluiten joined the European Sealing Association in 2007 and over the past 20 years has achieved a number of milestones. The company has developed new cartridge seals for ISO pumps, a complete range of seals in accordance with API682 standards, has updated its series of seals
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Fluiten Italia
for mixer applications, the – “gas lift off” seals with Fluilift technology – and has also developed a new series of seals suitable for services with pressures over 100 bar. Fluiten is now celebrating its 60th anniversary and commissioned a book to record the company’s story. Rino Campaniello, Marketing Manager at Fluiten, summarised the book’s remit: “Fluiten’s outstanding achievements today are the results of 60 years of devotion and accomplishment. Three elements were needed to achieve our goal: technology, investment, and above all people.” The finished book will be distributed to customers, suppliers, and workers at Fluiten, especially younger employees
who may not be aware of the company’s story. Mr Campaniello is proud of his part in the history of Fluiten. The current Marketing Manager joined the company straight out of school as a draughtsman. Through the years, Mr Campaniello became a Sales Engineer, then a Sales Manager, before being appointed to his current role. Fluiten grew steadily by supplying hightech products to the market. Even in 2021, with the impact of the Covid pandemic, Fluiten still posted a growth with revenue across all its European entities. The company maintains a research and production facility outside Milan, with administrative offices in the centre of the city, employing 120 people in Europe.
The relatively small size of Fluiten serves as a benefit to the company, as highlighted by Mr Campaniello: “This is one of Fluiten’s strengths, because we concentrate all our development and production activity to Milan, and have all our core functions in one place, which means we are faster at making decisions and responding to customer requirements.” Alongside Fluiten’s flexibility, Mr Campaniello emphasised the constant drive to be competitive. This is especially true when Fluiten’s main competitors are multinational companies with the possibility of low production costs. “We believe in investing in technology,” Mr Campaniello said, “We have always capped costs by investing in the latest generation of
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FLUITEN ITALIA
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PROFILE
robotised and customised machine tools and metrology room for our specific needs. “Fluiten spends a lot of time developing machine tool production, and this is one of our big advantages. In fact, our machines give us a lot of flexibility and the possibility to manage small-volume production on specific projects, and this is what our customers need.” The quality of the machine tools and quality control instrumentations at Fluiten is a point of pride for Mr Campaniello: “The supplier of this equipment tells us that our factory is equipped with tools few companies in Europe have. This is because in order to produce mechanical seals at high technological levels it is essential to be well equipped.”
Research and development To maintain this reputation for quality seals, Fluiten invests 2.5% of its profits in research and development of new technologies capable of guaranteeing zero emissions and achieving significant savings in terms of energy consumption. “Fluiten sees the need to develop innovative solutions in line with a drive for sustainability,” Mr Campaniello confirmed. Leading this drive at Fluiten is the Research and Development Department. “The focus for research and development,” Mr Campaniello explained, “is on production technology for the oil and gas industry 6
Fluiten Italia
and the power market. Our customers increasingly require a solution with safety guarantees when operating in very severe conditions. Our seals need to cope with pressures of 100 bar and shaft rotating speeds over 5,000 RPM. “Research and development is really at the centre of our organisation; this is what the market recognises and is another key to our success. Fluiten products are tested under real operating conditions to verify that our theoretical calculations are confirmed by practical results before being supplied to the customer. There are very few companies that have this knowhow and our customers appreciate our capabilities. “In the recent years, one reason for Fluiten’s growth is our ability to provide engineering and development for a specific application. Our salesmen are experienced engineers able to understand the evolving market requirements. So, what we have done several times is develop a specific solution according to these requirements. Fluiten then manufactures this solution, which becomes the standard for other clients.”
Precision engineers When asked about a best-selling product, Mr Campaniello emphasised again the bespoke, engineered solutions offered by Fluiten. “People like to have fresh bread from the baker, rather than the bread
from a supermarket!” he quipped. “This approach to seals is epitomised by the Fluiten HPK seal, capable of operating at over 100 bar and over 5,000 RPM. Fluiten’s precision-engineered seals are a strong part of the company’s USP. “The market needs a reliable solution,” Mr Campaniello said, “A solution that prevents emissions that are dangerous for the environment and to people. The market needs very reliable products and a solution that minimises energy consumption.” The other strand of Fluiten’s success is the quality of the people employed at the business. As Mr Campaniello explained, Fluiten is a company where “employees are valued and trained because they are fundamental within the organisation. When we employ one person here in Milan, that person must be qualified within each department, especially in application engineering, in the technical office and in research and development. For this, we need two years of training.” This extensive training is vital for the Fluiten sales team. “The mechanical seal is a technical product,” continued Mr Campaniello. “It is not possible to sell a mechanical seal if you are not an engineer, because often the sales team must talk with the client’s maintenance team, who only open the door if they recognise that they are talking the same language with an engineer. Thus, a qualified
engineer can collect data and come back with a solution.” Despite this focus on the engineering team at Fluiten, modern business is still a group effort. “While people are in the centre of our organisation,”Mr Campaniello accepted, “suppliers are part of our organisation, this is what we strongly believe: suppliers are fundamental for growth.” When Fluiten contracts with a supplier, the work is undertaken within a framework agreement specifying general conditions along with a common objective of quality and cost reduction for a specified period. Even using such careful arrangements with suppliers, competition within the industry remains tight. Mr Campaniello highlighted the universal drive to reduce costs: “In this industry, the maintenance costs, and the goal of improving the average time between failures are the main objectives of the customer. To achieve this goal, we believe it is necessary to work in cooperation with the maintenance experts to offer high level services, globally.” The globalisation of the market is a clear ongoing trend. Fluiten believes that high-quality mechanical seals can play an effective role in sustainability. It is estimated that
in industrial countries, pumps account for about 8% of the total energy consumption. Thus, efficient mechanical seals have a valuable role to play.
Sealing the future Mr Campaniello sees a bright future for Fluiten: “The challenge is to continue to grow while keeping the customer at the centre of our business. We can offer the client not only a mechanical seal as a product, but we also want to offer a complete service of pump repair – maintenance. Our strategy is to maintain our identity and flexibility. Fluiten had enormous opportunities to grow in emerging markets where a high level of technology is required.” As Marketing Manager, Mr Campaniello is deeply involved in building Fluiten’s future: “I set myself the goal of identifying those areas of the market most suitable for Fluiten’s growth. I try to drive the development of new products and services required by our clients. “To do our job, we need to be optimistic. The word ‘problem’ does not exist in our vocabulary: we know only the word ‘challenge’.” n Fluiten Italia
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