Giving gas

By acquiring a small but impor­tant compo­nent, ebm-papst can now offer its gas blowers as complete systems. The compo­nent is a safety valve for regu­lating the gas supply. In this process, it directs the gas from the distri­b­u­tion system into the heating unit. The acqui­si­tion of the gas safety valve product group from Karl Dungs GmbH & Co. KG at the start of Fiscal 2011 completes an entire series of strategic acqui­si­tions in the heating engi­neering sector. The acquired line of busi­ness includes not only existing product groups, but also tech­nical exper­tise from Dungs, providing a foun­da­tion on which devel­opers can build for future parts.

For ebm-papst, this is an impor­tant step towards growing into the role of a system supplier in the heating and condensing boiler sector. “This acqui­si­tion is a response to the needs of our customers,” explains Enno Vrolijk, the Product Line Manager respon­sible for heating systems at ebm-papst. “Market trends are clearly heading in the direc­tion of solu­tions from a single source.” This strategic repo­si­tioning offers a number of bene­fits to customers.

The most impor­tant of these is obvious: A complete system can be put into oper­a­tion imme­di­ately after it is deliv­ered, with all neces­sary compo­nents built right in. This also means less admin­is­tra­tive effort. The customer now has only one supplier for a device, who is familiar with each indi­vidual part. This is partic­u­larly prac­tical for later main­te­nance or upgrades to the machine. The bene­fits are also notice­able in the effi­ciency calcu­la­tion: If the compo­nents of a complete system are opti­mally matched to each other, they make better use of fuel, thus increasing effi­ciency. “A welcome side effect of this is that the complete system gener­ates lower noise and pollu­tant emis­sions,” adds Vrolijk.

“The more compact design also improves the power density and elec­trical input capacity.” Ulti­mately, all of these factors result in signif­i­cant cost savings. A complete system means higher perfor­mance, but also places higher demands on the devel­oper. Vrolijk was conscious of this respon­si­bility. “We proceeded with the greatest caution during the acqui­si­tion, making sure the prod­ucts were a perfect fit for us.”

The crit­ical factor for deciding in favour of Dungs valves was their high degree of reli­a­bility and their versa­tility for various appli­ca­tions. They are partic­u­larly suited for appli­ca­tions of small appli­ances in the private house­hold. Thus the compo­nents fit seam­lessly into the ebm-papst concept and were able to be combined quickly with the existing gas blowers. Produc­tion of the complete systems is already sched­uled to start in April of this year.

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