WORLDWIDE LEADER IN HIGH TECHNOLOGY SEALING SOLUTIONS FOR CRITICAL INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS

In a particularly regulated market, every day FDS Group increasingly establishes itself as a reference. The group, which gathers Flexitallic, SiemSupranite and Novus Sealing, works primarily for large groups in fields such as refining, fine chemistry and petrochemistry, as well as in the particularly sensitive nuclear sector, in which the company has more than 30 years of experience.

The product range offered by SiemSupranite primarily includes joints for bridles and devices (made of elastomeric fibre, graphite, PTFE, metal...) and bindings for valves, pumps and other rotating machinery, highly technical products that are used, for example, during major Turnarounds.

Based in Houston, Texas and in Manchester, England, Flexitallic is developing renowned know-how and it has a significant roster of customers for its industrial sealing solutions intended for refineries, chemical and petrochemical plants in the American and British markets, but also South America, the Middle East... In all, Flexitallic has a total worldwide sales force of more than 750 partners and distributors in some 46 countries.

 2010 turnover : 84.4 million euros

Rémi Toledano,
CEO of FDS Group

Prospects
FDS Group posted a clear rebound in 2010 thanks to sustained organic growth driven by resumed maintenance programmes and projects and the ongoing roll-out of its solutions in emerging countries.

Growth factors include the group's expansion in the Middle East through a joint venture in Kazakhstan and Dubai. Rémi Toledano, the group's CEO since January 2010, believes that this region offers strong development potential for FDS Group. Growth also came from Asia, in particular India and China where the group now generates US$7 million in revenue. FDS Group is developing intercompany businesses on the high-growth Chinese market but also plans to make the country a profit centre, duplicating the company's business model and focusing on high value-added solutions. FDS Group aims to increase the French subsidiary's future export revenue from 7%-8% to 25%. A sales director was recruited for this purpose.

FDS Group continued to develop its industrial organisation by integrating its different components, notably in application of the decisions taken by the seven-member Group Executive Committee (GEC), in charge of defining the company's long-term strategy, but also its values and ambitions shared throughout the group companies. Along with the GEC, FDS Group set up the "Academy of Joint Integrity" in 2010, with a two-fold role: train stakeholders (customers, distributors, employees and high-potential managers) and define work guidelines and methods jointly.

In addition to expanding in high-growth countries (gains in market share and set-up of local operations) and offering customer guidance to meet their specific needs, FDS Group will continue to innovate for the future. On the 2013-2015 horizon, the company is preparing to launch solutions for SOFC, fuel cells partly made of a very special material: "Thermiculite".

Sustainable Development

In 2010, the GEC defined a company mission designed to "create a safe and sustainable environment on the cutting edge of new industrial requirements", which is rolled out by all managers and their teams in the group's different entities.
For example, this mission is reflected at Flexitallic Ltd by the PIP Performance Improvement Project and the LIFE Little Improvement From Everybody programme. These two company-wide projects aim to optimise group efficiency (cost-cutting, energy savings and improved product and service quality) and increase the employability and motivation of employees (ensuring long-term employment, skills development and sharing of initiatives).

Each entity defines its own risk prevention programme concerning health, safety and working conditions.
For example, Novus Sealing Ltd obtained BS OHSAS 18001 accreditation: British Standard Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series.

All FDS Group sites are ISO 9001 certified, 2000 version. The Novus Sealing Ltd site (United Kingdom) is also ISO 14001 certified.

FDS Group is involved in organisations related to its business sector (member of the ESA, European Sealing Association, and the Energy Institute) and opened the "Academy of Joint Integrity", a training centre which offers eight training modules for professional qualifications. It is open to all sector professionals. It is also involved with NGOs through its support of development programmes, mainly in India.