20 years of Johnson-Fluiten; let's talk about it.
Johnson-Fluiten turns 20. The Milan-based company, founded in 2003 as a joint venture between Kadant-Johnson (then 'The Johnson Corporation') and Fluiten Spa, for the design and production of solutions for water, steam, oil and refrigerant fluid applications, combines the best aspects of the two entities: an American multinational with ninety years of history behind it and an Italian company appreciated for its creativity and flexibility.
We talked about this business and its prospects in this double interview with Victor Caronni, Marketing Manager, and Marco Golla, Sales Director.
Since 2003, the company has been offering its customers a skilful mix of reliability and innovation that makes it one of the most appreciated suppliers of rotary joints in Italy and worldwide. But let's start from the beginning, how was this company created?
Victor Caronni: The company was born from the union of the expertise of The Johnson Corporation (now Kadant Johnson), the company that invented the rotary joint for steam in 1933, and the Italian company Fluiten, a company known and appreciated for its range of standard and customised mechanical seals.
Especially Fluiten has always stood out for its focus on research and development: important investments over the years have led the company to have one of the most advanced dynamic test rooms in Europe.
Johnson-Fluiten is a combination of the two companies that benefit from the better aspects of the two entities merged; the solidity of the North American multinational and the versatility of the Italian company.
Johnson-Fluiten solutions have all the features that customers can expect from the range offered by a large group: safety, stability and quality guaranteed by accurate and certified control systems.
In addition to this, the company's know-how built up over decades and in-depth knowledge of the different application sectors and their special requirements are capitalised on by Johnson-Fluiten's engineers to offer customised solutions, demonstrating flexibility and speed of time to market that is hard to match. Even those who do not find the best product in the wide range already available will be able to get a tailor-made solution in a time frame that matches the requirements of their production process.
For those who are not familiar with the company, can you explain what Johnson-Fluiten does?
Victor Caronni: Our company designs and manufactures rotary joints for applications that use water, oil, oil-water mixtures, gases and other fluids.
Production includes single-pass and multi-pass rotary joints, which are capable of handling multiple fluids simultaneously. The range is very wide, with joints in the catalogue ranging from quarter-inch to eight-inch sizes and the capability to create different sizes according to customer specifications.
The core of our product is the quality of the mechanical seal: Fluiten's leadership in this area has transferred to Johnson-Fluiten's offering, which is unique among rotary joint manufacturers in using in-house manufactured sealing rings rather than using subcontractors. Companies that manufacture seals themselves, on the other hand, do not produce joints: full control over all components, coupling and seal, is an exclusive Johnson-Fluiten feature that is evident in the quality of the final product.
Fluiten's know-how is not limited to rotary joint segments but extends to other components, such as centrifugal pumps, allowing Johnson-Fluiten to use their expertise in a wide variety of seals and applications.
Which industry sectors are most relevant to your portfolio?
Marco Golla: Rotary joints are used in almost all sectors of the mechanical industry: Johnson-Fluiten has customers in all of these segments, but some are particularly interesting for us. Starting with machine tools: these often require lubrication of the tool to allow constant machining and avoid overheating. The passage of lubricating fluid from the fixed part to the rotary spindle requires a rotary joint with enough strength and sealing to ensure a constant and correct supply of lubricant to the tool under all conditions of operation without getting it where it shouldn't.
One area where rotary joints play an essential role is in plastics processing systems; these joints are also used in film production, while for moulding they are only used in special cases, such as rotational moulds.
The Food & Beverage industry is another interesting market for Johnson-Fluiten's rotary joints: from the baking of jams to sugar production, yoghurt preparation and the processing of meat waste (rendering), there are plenty areas where rotary joints are used. Stainless steel couplings are suitable for these uses. Stainless steel is an ideal material for contact with food, as it can be cleaned with aggressive cleaning agents without altering its qualities, thus meeting the strict hygiene standards that understandably apply in the industry.
Rotary joints are also essential in the rubber industry, particularly in the automotive sector, where they are used both by large OEMs in tyre manufacturing and by car makers for spare parts production.
The major players in the metal industry are also familiar with Johnson-Fluiten rotary joints that are used in steel, aluminium and alloy production facilities; in particular, they are deployed to deliver the cooling fluid for continuous castings.
In the chemical-pharmaceutical sector, joints with certifications issued by different authorities are requested; from ATEX to FDA, so our duly certified joints are also appreciated in this segment.
There is also plenty of opportunities for rotary joints in other industries, from textiles to corrugated cardboard manufacturing.
In all sectors, Johnson-Fluiten has the expertise to approach machine manufacturers directly but is also at the service of system users for any improvement or replacement of existing components.
What differentiates Johnson-Fluiten products from the competitors?
Marco Golla: Let us start by saying that the Made in Italy label, even in mechanics, definitely has its charm: our products, made entirely in Italy in the company's own factories, without using foreign subcontractors for the seals, are appreciated for the greater reliability into total quality control and for the warranty of an outstanding mechanical seal, with near-zero tolerance against leaks, even in critical applications with high speed, temperature and pressure.
Because of their safety, they are particularly appreciated by the mid- to high-end category of machine builders and especially by those who sell their systems abroad, where an initial investment in zero-maintenance components translates into a significant reduction in the need for servicing.
Finally, some products are not comparable to competitor solutions just because we make them by ourselves: this is the case with rotary joints that incorporate our exclusive Quick Replacement Design (QRD), a technology that allows any maintenance work to be reduced to a matter of minutes.
What benefits do customers have in dealing with Johnson-Fluiten?
Marco Golla: Using Johnson-Fluiten joints means being able to simplify different aspects of the production and management process thanks to the versatility of our products: while most of our competitors' joints are adapted to a particular type of operating condition (speed, pressure, temperature and type of fluid) where each condition has its own specific joint, our solutions can be used in all conditions, thanks to the special mechanical seal: this drastically reduces the number of parts that need to be kept in stock, with clear advantages for logistics and productivity.
Another benefit that our customers find is the expertise of our technicians, which results in a free consultancy service from the first contact: we can talk to the most prepared customers as well as those with more basic knowledge, providing them with the right information to identify the most suitable solution and lead them in their choice. Our range is so wide that in most cases we can find a standard solution available in a very short time.
But it is when a project requires tailor-made solutions that the expertise of our technicians is most appreciated: from the analysis of the process and of the product type that the customer wants to make, they already have a clear idea of the joint needed, which is then refined during further discussions with our technical department in Italy to lead to the proposal of the ideal joint in a short time.
A good 30 per cent of our customers use this service and end up with customised products; otherwise, if we can find the right product in our catalogue, and we only have to perform minor adaptations, we go directly into production with the required quantities.
For more extensive modifications - for example, to change the flow rate of a spindle from 30 to 200 litres per minute - we go through a prototyping and testing phase: depending on the complexity, the preliminary design can take a couple of weeks (and in 90% of the cases it turns out to be successful without the need for further adjustments). Within 6-8 weeks, the prototype is ready for testing: the tests carried out in-house before delivery are meticulous, with components such as rotors tested before assembly and tolerances of less than 2 microns. The assembled joints are then submitted to dynamic testing (typically, cycles of 60-90 seconds at 15,000 rpm and pressurised liquid) and finally tested after sales, on-site, with our full availability to step in for any adjustments. If better performances are required, we do not simply replace the coupling with a new one, but carefully study the situation and make customised modifications, with great care, which seems to be handcrafted, but is actually linked to sophisticated industrial control, filing and data storage systems.
Environmental topics are central to many of your target markets: how do you deal with these problems within your company?
Victor Caronni: From an environment-friendly point of view, Johnson-Fluiten has fully embraced the Kadant philosophy, which in 2021 was awarded the prestigious SEAL Business Sustainability Award and nominated for the second year in a row by Business Week as one of the most sustainable companies in the world; all companies in the group focus their strategies on offering customers solutions that make production more sustainable.
Johnson-Fluiten has a positive effect on the environmental compatibility of its customers thanks to the maximum tightness of its joints, which guarantees minimum leakage and, as a result, optimal use of resources, but it is also committed to sustainability: the company is completely plastic free and uses fully recyclable packaging. Like all companies in the Kadant group, it uses energy from 100% renewable sources; 80% of its suppliers are audited for compliance with environmental protection regulations.
During 2022, what strategies have you deployed to overcome the challenges faced in almost all industries, such as supply shortages and longer delivery times?
Victor Caronni: What sets us apart is a constant focus on customer needs; we could not ignore the time delivery factor, which we know has a huge influence on our customers' business. Time is a component of quality: meeting delivery is essential to satisfy the customer's needs.
Thanks to the establishment and retention of a network of trusted partners and the investments in production departments and warehousing, we have managed to complete more than 90 per cent of deliveries in advance or within the agreed timeframe: a performance that is significantly higher than the market average and fully comparable to the results achieved in the pre-pandemic era.
From this point of view, being part of a large group like Kadant is certainly crucial: we have worked to improve vertical integration and have our supply chain understood entirely within the group, thus achieving particularly short delivery times.
Marco Golla: In addition, there is the efficiency of our new fully automated warehouse that meets smart factory criteria. We are now able to fulfil a considerable share of orders within 24 hours, but it is not only automation that makes us efficient: in special cases we have delivered the joints ourselves to their destination, providing a tailor-made service that no level of automation would have made possible. This is one of the winning aspects of our reality, a company with craftsmanship flexibility and creativity supported by a large industrial group.
A technical aspect that allows us to further speed up deliveries is the fact that the majority of our joints are in stock already assembled, zeroing the time required for preparation: this is an investment in terms of available space and processing time that benefits our customers.
What goals do you set for 2023 and how do you plan to achieve them?
Victor Caronni: It may seem quite ambitious to talk about double-digit growth targets at this time, but we have become very comfortable with them by now: for several years our sales have been growing at rates of around 10 per cent annually, and we are determined to continue on this path. We have therefore invested in human resources, with the hiring of a new sales technician, and we also intend to explore more carefully the areas where we have traditionally been less present.
To keep our relationship with customers strong and grow, we will invest above all in service, ensuring that we can be in the market quickly when needed; however, we will not lose sight of international events, investing in online and offline communication activities related to major events so that customers will always know that we are by their side
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