Full Gauge Controsl is one of the most recognized companies in the refrigeration controller sector. We had the opportunity to be present at its facilities and meet a human group led by its founders.
by ACR Latin America
What better way to know the way of working of a company than to live the experience from within. ACR LATINOAMÉRICA welcomed the invitation of the Brazilian company Full Gauge Controls to observe with its own eyes how they have carved a path that today positions it as one of the most important companies in the world in terms of the issue of digital instruments for the refrigeration sector.
We learned one by one the processes that Full Gauge develops in its plant located in Porto Alegre, which is precisely in the process of expansion, as it will include three new floors and a heliport, adding more than 2,300 square meters to the area.
To learn a little more about the present and future of this company, we spoke with its founders: Antonio Gobbi, commercial director, and Flávio Perger, industrial director, who told us details and shared their concepts about the current panorama of the Brazilian market.
ACR: How did the name Full Gauge Controls come about?
Antonio Gobbi: He focused on our idea of manufacturing high precision products: Full (the maximum) and Gauge (measure), so we seek to combine both names so that when we look at our brand we understand that we always have to follow our path, that is our north.
ACR: How is the manufacturing process of the products that you offer to the market?
Flávio Perger: Initially the market is analyzed and information is obtained about the product development needs, from there our development engineering team produces and concentrates the products within Full Gauge. We create new methods and new solutions for the market.
AG: It should also be noted that we have knowledge in refrigeration and the mastery of electronic technology, so we know in advance how we can surprise our customers. We are also always looking for the most modern and advanced and bring that technology to our processes and our products. Customers also make suggestions to us to improve our products.
ACR: How did you identify that the product you make was necessary for the industry?
AG: We started our professional life in aviation, then we started working in refrigeration and saw that there was a great opportunity to manufacture electronic products that had precision. From there, it has been the work we have done over the years, always seeking to anticipate the demands and needs of the market.
ACR: What difficulties has Full Gauge Controls had to overcome to get ahead in this very competitive market?
AG: Our culture is to transform any difficulty into an opportunity and in this way we have conquered our important space in a market that a few years ago was dominated by manufacturers from European countries. In this field of electronic instrumentation, they helped us in a way to grow and educate our professionals. But everything we conquered was through coordinated actions between all sectors of the company and maintaining high investments. We invest heavily in Research and Development (P&D), in machines for production, in training of officials and customers, and of course, in marketing.
ACR: For your company, what are the most important countries where you have a presence?
AG: There are countries that are in a more advanced process in our market, which already automate their facilities with Sitrad, our administration software via the internet, that is, they not only make the control simple, as they want to access the facilities remotely. Therefore, we highlight Colombia, Mexico, several countries in the Middle East, South Africa, Peru and Canada.
ACR: What is the environmental contribution that Full Gauge makes to the industry?
AG: For three years Full Gauge has been certified with the ISO 14001 standard, which is recognized worldwide for establishing an effective environmental management system, reducing the environmental impact generated by companies. We achieved that certification after months of investments in structural adaptations of the company, in addition to a lot of training on the standard for officials. And our constant concern with energy saving is also an important factor for the insertion of our products in the market, that is why we offer products with specific characteristics for saving electrical energy and that make the equipment more efficient. All that attention we give to the environmental issue, allows us to grow physically in the middle of the community, as you could see, since we do not pollute soil, air and rivers.
ACR: How do you see your company in the next 10 years?
AG: We see it much stronger, certainly; we don't know how much better but we hope to be better positioned.
ACR: How important are the media and fairs in the sector for you?
AG: No good idea survives without being known, for that reason the media and fairs are fundamental for us to bring our developments and our products to the market.
ACR: What analysis do you make of the current refrigeration market in Brazil?
AG: The market is continuously expanding. In some moments it can slow down, but it soon grows again, because in the world of refrigeration we have observed that the user postpones a work but does not cancel it, so if one does not work because the economy is low, surely later problems of monetary correction will arrive.
ACR: Why do you think Brazil has such a remarkable leadership in the refrigeration industry?
FP: There are traditional companies in our segment in Brazil. In all of them you see something in common, including Full Gauge, which is high investment in technology and a very large effort in training technicians. In addition, there are many technical refrigeration schools in Brazil, which train hundreds of professionals, which will help transform our industries into leaders.
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