If the market grows, boilers grow

Just emerging from the economic crisis it is already evident that the boiler manufacturing and distribution industry is fully dependent on the state of the global market.

by: María Cecilia Hernández

Thus, in the last year, the manufacture and marketing of boilers has taken small steps forward as a result of the stabilization of the global economic crisis. Such is the case in Colombia, where the demand for this product has rebounded favorably.

This is confirmed by Patricia León, marketing coordinator of the Colombian company Calderas Continental. "The boiler market in our country usually has a significant increase in the last quarter of the year. This has to do with many variables, mainly the fact that both the private sector and the state sector seek to close their investment budgets in this last period of the year and additionally try to close negotiations with the initially agreed prices.  The supply of this type of equipment is greatly influenced by the behavior of the national market, and externally by the entire economic and political environment of each country, the latter is a determining factor in exports, "says León.

Additionally, the slow recovery of the world economy and at the national level has allowed that since the end of last year many projects that had been projected are beginning to be launched or their study and subsequent approval has been reactivated for this new year 2011. Although the economic crisis did not have a very strong effect in some Latin American countries, it did directly hit other markets served by the boiler manufacturing industry.

A political context that affects
For Mexico, however, the issue of marketing is a bit more complex. The North American country has been going through, since last year, a crisis of internal security that significantly damages its climate and its financial image before countries abroad that intend to invest or buy.

According to Raúl Fernández, engineering manager of Calderas Clayton de México, a subsidiary of Clayton Industries in the United States, "we have a complicated outlook for this year due to the general conditions of the country. And while we're just coming out of the economic crisis that hit the whole world, that's not our only problem. We know and consider that it is urgent to maintain good integration policies, so we hope that the situation for entrepreneurs and for the country in general will improve."

Likewise, the businessman explains that the boiler market is a business of opportunities in which the best way to stay alive in the conditions that the situation of the country presents to them today must be sought, "in our case in particular our sales policies have been more aggressive and we have gained more ground".

The climate of insecurity that exists in the country is evident in many ways, even some businessmen refuse to respond to the media, even if they are issues that have nothing to do with the social and civil situation of the country, due to the fear generated by being recognized by the violent.

Internally, each line is dedicated to a particular market and as it progresses or stagnates this industry affects the line in question. This is how the official of Calderas Continental explains: "For example, the central water heating line is tied to the dynamics that the construction market preserves, since they are boilers dedicated to the service of buildings, clinics, hospitals, hotels and homes located in high socio-economic strata. For its part, the steam generation line depends on how the industrial sector behaves, where many times the projects are larger and much more significant in costs, but they depend enormously on how the political context and the national environment are presented at an economic and political level. "

For this reason in 2010 Colombia had an outstanding participation in steam line projects and in 2009 the line that stood out was the central water heating line.

Patricia León assures that Colombia has a good domestic market, "this is a market that fluctuates on a regular basis. The main companies that manufacture boilers export mainly to the entire part of Central and South America, with great demand from Venezuela and Ecuador. However, our main market is domestic. We directly import all the valve and automation part from the United States, and we buy from national distributors all the electrical part, sheets, pipe, although we know that these in turn import this material. The only thing we buy locally is the accessories."

Although the political conditions of his country are not the best, according to Fernández "in general in Mexico sales rose during 2010 and the products that sell the most are steam generators. Most of our inputs are imported from the United States and Belgium and we export the finished boilers to the Latin market: Mexico, Central and South America. Some of the countries to which we have sold are Brazil, Chile and Costa Rica. But it must be clarified that the countries that distribute this equipment the most are Ecuador and Venezuela."

New trends and good usage practices
Although in the subject of boilers the manufacturing procedure has been maintained and there are few cases of application of new technologies, it is crucial to emphasize the importance of doing good maintenance to the machines and follow the recommendations of use of the experts.

"In the field of implementation and innovation of technologies, the use of alternative energies, such as solar or thermal energy, has been tested, but they have not been extensive," says Fernández.

Already on the European continent they are testing a pilot experience that consists of implementing a biomass boiler that uses vegetable waste as fuel. The project aims to replace the boilers of a building, which run on natural gas and have been installed for about 20 years, with others made of biomass. Experts say that this experiment will reduce CO2 emissions per year by 48,600 kilograms. These are boilers that involve a much lower maintenance cost than a traditional boiler.

"Good maintenance of a boiler consists of cleaning the moving parts of the equipment, such as pumps, fans and the electromechanical part. There are very rigorous maintenance routines and depend on the type of review: weekly, monthly and annual, there are routines that are done in operation and others that are executed with stopped equipment. It is vital that before buying the equipment the person is advised very well and it is essential to do preventive maintenance, "explain spokesmen of the Mexican boiler company Myrggo S.A.

Raúl Fernandez agrees with this same procedure and adds that poor maintenance could have very serious consequences, such as the destruction of the equipment itself. "In the case of the boilers that we build, there is no risk of steam explosion in the pipeline, but obviously the fact of handling fuels implies a risk of explosion if the safety conditions established by the manufacturers are violated."

Fernández adds some recommendations that must be taken into account when operating a boiler equipment: "Read the operations and maintenance manual before putting the system into operation, the person who operates it must be a trained person, who knows perfectly what he has in his hands; in general terms what is used are hearing protectors. As the equipment has hot parts exposed, the operator must always have protection in the handling and must find a way to isolate the elements that may affect their physical integrity."