Photo : D.R.
Founded in 1901, ITT Water & Wastewater is the world leader in transferring and treating wastewater. This company, whose headquarters are located in Stockholm, Sweden, is today present in around
140 countries, and achieved a turnover
of some 2 billion dollars (1.4 billion euros) in 2008. It belongs to the American group ITT Corporation, a supplier of technological products and services in the sectors
of defence and fluid treatment. ITT Water & Wastewater France – formerly the
company Flygt, created in 1960 – employs
360 persons, based at its headquarters
in Nanterre, in the Île-de-France region, and 12 regional sites. Its turnover reached 118 million euros last year, bringing
the French subsidiary up to top rank in
Europe, and second in the world, behind the United States.
ITT Water & Wastewater France has made its niche in the raw and wastewater markets for transferring, treating,
filtering and disinfecting water. “We cover the whole of the water cycle,” sums up Gaétan Beaulieu, the company’s CEO. “And we are present in all markets:
municipal, industry, building – individual and collective –, public works, mines and careers, agriculture…, not to mention services, rental services and temporary pumping.” More specifically, the municipal domain constitutes the leading market of ITT Water & Wastewater France (60% of turnover), followed by industry
(18%), building (14%) and public works (8%). This diversification is a real asset
in times of crisis. “While the industry
and building sectors are beginning
to be affected, the municipal market is
still healthy,” considers Gaétan Beaulieu.
“In both, we expect to produce a similar turnover in 2009 to that of last year.”
ITT Water & Wastewater France offers integrated solutions for fluid treatment: pumps for clean and wastewater, drainage pumps, surveillance and
monitoring equipment, ozone reactors, UV equipment, aerators, agitators, filters, products for disinfection… For these,
it relies on four key brands: Flygt for pumping, Wedeco for UV and ozone treatment, Sanitaire for aeration, and Leopold for filters. On top of this, 70%
of its products are commercialised directly, as opposed to only 30% via distributors.
ITT Water & Wastewater France is
looking to set itself apart from its competitors by its service offers. Each of its 12 regional agencies comprises a repairs workshop, a control tank and intervention technicians. They are thus in a position to offer clients a wide range of services, commercial and technical: pump rental, installation of new material, on-site maintenance… “We are the only ones in our sector to offer these services,” boasts
Gaétan Beaulieu. “Our strength resides
in this proximity with our clients.”
The company can also rely on its hydraulic centre based in Nanterre. This
centre, run by company engineers, offers professionals in the sector research and demonstration tools. “We not only sell
a product, we bring a technical solution,” explains the CEO of ITT Water & Wastewater France. “We have engineers on each of our sites, and for more complex applications, a team of 22 engineers
at the head office.” The latter can notably aid advisers and installers in pumping
stations in developing their projects,
and thus share with them the experience and databases of the sector’s world leader.
And the company intends to carry
on this success. A rapprochement with Lowara, a hydraulic pump brand, should take effect from the end of 2009. “We
are already leaders on the municipal
market, and with this merger project, our objective is to become number 1 in wastewater and number 2 in raw water on the building market,” confides Gaétan Beaulieu. “
As building clients expect
delivery within 24 hours, we are currently reviewing our distribution mode and thinking about developing a centre in Tours, which would allow us to provide deliveries to 80 % of the territory within this time limit, and thus, penetrate
the market more rapidly.”
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