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Alfa Laval

Alfa Laval AB is a Swedish company, founded in 1883 by Gustaf de Laval and Oscar Lamm. The company, which started in the separation of solutions, now deals in the production of specialized products and solutions for heavy industry. The products are used to heat, cool, separate and transport such products as oil, water, chemicals, beverages, foodstuffs, starch and pharmaceuticals.

Alfa Laval is headquartered in Lund, Sweden and has subsidiary companies in over 35 countries around the world, including South Africa, Denmark, Italy, India, Japan, China, Netherlands, and the United States (Factiva, 2013). In 2012, Alfa Laval had a global workforce of 16,419 employees and revenue of $4,520.96 billion. Alfa Laval is a heavy industry company that focuses on the large scale operations, such as the Marine, Energy, and Food industries. As well as selling equipment, Alfa Laval provides individual solutions to the needs of heavy industry.

Alfa Laval in the Maritime Industry

Alfa Laval is known in the Maritime Industry as as producer of maritime equipment. Alfa Laval manufactures valves, pumps, heat exchangers, evaporators, distillers, oil separators, filters, and all other hardware vital to the operation of the a ship’s engine room. As of 2011, Alfa Laval consolidated its Marine, Off-shore, and Diesel divisions into one, Marine & Diesel, division in a effort to simplify logistics and administration of the marine wing.

Alfa Laval introduced PureBallast in 2006, which is the world's first commercially sold water treatment system for the Maritime Industry. It also is the first chemical-free solution to ballast water treatment. It works by filtering the water inside the ballasts tanks though an enhanced AOT (Advanced Oxidation Technology) process. The process of PureBallast creates free radicals that destroy the membrane of biological contaminates, such as plankton. Alfa Laval has updated its PureBallast system to Pure Ballast 3.0 that adheres to the new IMO (International Maritime Organization) regulations. South Korea, the largest ship building nation in the world, has placed orders for the new ballast system.

History

Recently, Alfa Laval has been working towards the consolidation of its manufacturing of boilers. By 2014, Alfa Laval should have all its manufacturing of boilers located in Qingdao, China. The boiler manufacturing plant in Hai Phong, Vietnam will be shut down this year (2013).

As of 2012, Alfa Laval has a total of 32 manufacturing facilities. 15 of which are located in Europe, 9 in Asia, 6 in the United States, and 2 in Latin America and has done work in nearly 100 countries.

In 1983, Alfa Laval entered the biotechnology industry by offering seperators that can isolate genetic samples.

Alfa Laval’s Major Competitors

There are two major competitors to Alfa Laval that offer equipment and solutions for heavy industry: Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Co., Ltd. based in South Korea, and Harbin Electric Co. Ltd. based in China.

As of 2012, Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Co., Ltd leads the industry with 8,654.85 billion dollars in global sales. Although Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Co., Ltd only has 6,871 employees, (compared to Alfa Laval’s 16,419 employees), it has a strong international presence, especially in the rapidly-developing middle east. Doosan competes with Alfa Laval in nearly every sector, - coal boilers, gas turbines, steam generators, heat exchangers, etc. South Korea is the ship building capital of the world and its government protects the Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Co. Ltd with stimulus funds and legislation. .

Alfa Laval is the second leader with 4,520.96 billion dollars in global sales. Western Europe and the United States continue to be Alfa Laval main customers. The two Asian companies, Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Co. and Harbin Electric Co. Ltd, present a huge challenge to Alfa Laval and its growth in the Asian market. Alfa Laval’s products tend to be more expense than its foreign counterparts. However, third party suppliers, such as ShipServ.com, rate Alfa Laval products higher than all others.

Harbin Electric Co. Ltd. is the largest of the three competitors with 20,106 employees, however, trails behind with 4,121.19 billion dollars in global sales . The Chinese economy is slowing, and attempts to expand sales to Africa and South America has not been as successful as the General Manger of Harbin Electric, Wu Weizhang has hoped. . In 2011, Harbin Electric went private with the help of the China Development Bank Corporation, allowing the senior leadership team to focus on global competitiveness rather than the liquid asset of corporate shares. Harbin Electric competes with Alfa Laval in the production of industrial rotary motors and other equipment required of the energy industry.