Aquafil and Atlas Copco Rental: a close-knit partnership

11 มิถุนายน 2560

Antwerp, Belgium, June 11, 2017: The excellent performance of Aquafil Group and Atlas Copco Rental merges into a long-term partnership.

Aquafil Group, located in Arco - near Trento, Italy, is nowadays a world leader in the production of nylon fibers for fitted carpet, car interiors and clothing; the Group operates in three continents, eight countries with 16 plants, 2700 employees and has a turnover of about 500 million euro.

The two plants of the company Tessilquattro, located in Cares and Rovereto (near Trento) are part of Aquafil Group too.

The common strategic vision of Atlas Copco Rental and Aquafil is based on eco sustainability and both companies exchange ideas on how to identify and reduce energy waste in order to be competitive in the world market.

In fact, Atlas Copco Rental stands out for the achievement of the triple certification for Quality, Environment, Health and Safety in the workplace, while Aquafil has always been oriented to the “green” economy. Therefore, "sustainable productivity" is the basis of any strategic business decision by the two companies and the way towards continuous investments and improvement.

Following their eco sustainability vision, Aquafil has created the brand ECONYL ®, a fiber made by regeneration of fishing nets in the aquaculture sector or recovered from the seabed and in general from nylon products that have reached the end of their life cycle. The different materials are stored and suitably processed for the regeneration process, so that, converted into fibers, they can be re-used in the textile field in a virtually endless cycle.

The long-term collaboration started mid-2012 thanks to Diego Zoccarato, Sales Area Manager North East Italy of Atlas Copco Rental.

The previous year Aquafil rented a GA 18 VSD for two weeks; they had to perform a test to verify pressure levels and the minimum usage of compressed air, in order to optimize the production with the least waste of energy.

Atlas Copco Rental’s vision oriented to sustainable productivity, associated to the presentation of Long Term Rental services to Messrs. Dellana, Grossi and Eng. Vitrano (plant responsible of Aquafil Group) aroused immediate interest and led to the development of several opportunities over the years. Moreover, compressors can be delivered with an energy recovery system, which sends the compressor’s heat through a heat exchanger, which can then be used in the production process, for example for the dyeing process in the Rovereto plant. This kind of solution was an immediate success and is another good fit with both companies’ “green” vision.

In 2012, the common journey of the two companies started, leading to these installations, some of them with Energy Recovery:

  • 1 compressor GA 250 VSDFF type, in the Scottish plant
  • 2 compressors GA 250 VSD type  + 2 compressors GA 132 type in Tessilquattro – Cares plant
  • 2 compressors GA 132 type in Tessilquattro - Rovereto plant

The program also includes additional tests for the installation of supplementary systems, aimed to optimize the compressors’ usage and achieve maximum energy savings.

The strong relationship between our Sales Area Manager Diego Zoccarato and Mario Vitrano has led to the decision by Aquafil to take advantage of hot water not only for production process, but also to heat Cares’s whole plant ; this process has been implemented with the installation of the most recent equipment in Tessilquattro.

The partnership is constantly changing with new opportunities to develop in the future.

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Atlas Copco is a world-leading provider of sustainable productivity solutions. The Group serves customers with innovative compressors, vacuum solutions and air treatment systems, construction and mining equipment, power tools and assembly systems. Atlas Copco develops products and services focused on productivity, energy efficiency, safety and ergonomics. The company was founded in 1873, is based in Stockholm, Sweden, and has a global reach spanning more than 180 countries. In 2016, Atlas Copco had revenues of BSEK 101 (BEUR 11) and about 45 000 employees. Learn more at www.atlascopcogroup.com.

Specialty Rental is a division within Atlas Copco’s Construction Technique business area. It serves customers in the industry segments around the world with temporary air and power rental solutions. The specialty rental services are offered under several brands. The divisional headquarters is located in Boom, Belgium.