Lombardy is the center of Italy’s flourishing valve manufacturing sector. One of the more offshore-oriented engineering specialists is Fitech Italia, based on the northern shore of Lake Como.
The company was formed in 2006 by a small group of individuals with long involvement in the industry, and with strong connections to Norwegian offshore contractors and operators. Over the past five years, Fitech has contributed valves to some of the major new field development and re-development projects on the Norwegian shelf, more recently branching out into Brazil.
Top entry ball valves, 2 1/16 in. Class 5,000 psi according to API 6A.
Fitech designs and produces a wide range of ball valves, through-conduit gate valves, check valves, and cryogenic valves for topsides and subsea applications. The company’s quality assurance system has ISO 9001:2008 certification; it also has four API Monogram licenses for its valves, including API 6DSS “Specification on Subsea Pipeline Valves.”
Among Fitech’s strengths, which attracted the attention early on of Norwegian contractors, are its ability to deliver specially engineered solutions within a short time frame. The focus is on `just-in-time’ consignments undergoing strict quality control procedures, rather than on mass production. At all times, the company maintains a stock in-house of raw materials – it does not have its own machining shop, preferring to outsource all machining to the wide network of nearby specialist sub-suppliers.
The company’s engineering team designs all its valves using the latest CAD software, at all times applying finite element analysis.
In-house equipment at the company’s current headquarters in Delebio include facilities for pressure testing of valves, high pressure gas testing, and helium/nitrogen testing for cryogenic service. There is also a DEA machine for accurate 3D control of complex geometries, and NDT facilities.
Additionally, Fitech collaborates with the Politecnico di Milano to define new materials for oil and gas applications, and with international engineering contractos to update technical specifications.
Norway deliveries
Among the projects the company has worked on are Statoil’s Statfjord Late Life program in the North Sea. Between end-2007 and mid-2008, Fitech supplied several batches of trunnion and floating ball valves.
Earlier this year, Fitech completed delivery of a large batch of top entry 2 1/16-in. ball valves, rated to 5,000 psi, to BP Norge’s Valhall DP platform. All were manufactured from forged duplex stainless steel with a tungsten carbide coating – a first batch underwent testing in 2009 to API6A PSL3G, and a fire test on the prototype. Other Fitech deliveries include ball valves and slab/expanding gate valves made from 6Mo superaustenitic, superduplex and duplex stainless steel for the Ekofisk and Snorre A redevelopment projects; and numerous trunnion-mounted side-entry ball valves, some for cryogenic service, for Statoil’s Ormen Lange subsea compressor pilot project.
Last year, the company also delivered over 1,000 ball valves to J. Ray McDermott Far East for use on the FPSO for Statoil’s Peregrino development off Brazil. The order, valued at $13 million, was Fitech’s largest at that time, with the valves ranging in size from 2-20-in, in a variety of materials and construction styles, and different pressure classes. “It involved a big design effort,” says D’Ambrosio, “and one reason we were selected was that all the data sheets were written to Norwegian Norsok requirements, which we were more familiar with than were our competitors.”
Currently, Fitech can produce around 2,000 valves annually, with a turnover of Eur 15million. Eventually, it will transfer operations to a new complex 5 km away which is under construction in Piantedo.
Recently, Fitech signed a three-year agreement to supply various types of valves to a major oil and gas company.
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