API: A huge resource

Source: Exec Digital Canada

Date :3/31/2008 5:41:08 AM

In a very fragmented industry, it is important to have a diverse product line across the globe. API is one of very few organizations in the heat transfer market with the resources to offer customers a true range of choice Written by Ian Armitage and Produced by Pat Harlow

API Heat Transfer is a global leader in the design and manufacture of a wide variety of heat transfer technologies that service virtually every industrial market including food and beverage, compressors, air separation, chemical processing, mobile vehicles, power generation, pharmaceuticals and HVAC, as well as a wide range of general industrial applications.

Indeed, API Heat Transfer has the resources to offer industrial customers a range of choice and a high degree of responsiveness.

Consciously positioning itself to lead the industrial heat exchanger market – excluding automotive - API Heat Transfer has a full line of heat transfer products. As one of North America’s largest producers in its field, the company serves a diverse industry mix and has the product diversity to match the right heat transfer technology to the needs of its customers.

A key slogan for API is: “You can settle, or you can choose”. This means you don’t simply have to decide on something because it will work, especially when there might well be a better solution available. Instead, customers can opt for expert advice, unrivalled product performance, and the most economical heat exchanger for their application.

API’s Airtech, Basco, and Schmidt brands are well-known for their innovative designs and outstanding quality. API Heat Transfer markets both standard units and custom designs to meet the individual requirements of its customers.

API Heat Transfer is one of the largest full service producers of industrial heat exchangers and heat transfer systems in the world, operating from four modern manufacturing facilities located in the United States, Germany and China, and providing local sales and service to customers through our global sales network. Indeed, within manufacturing locations in New York, Germany and China and sales support located around the world, API Heat Transfer has a proud tradition of outstanding service to both OEM’s and End-Users, offering best-in-class products with technically knowledgeable local support.

“We recognize that only through industry-leading innovation, strong technical support, customer service and best-in-class quality will we continue to be world leaders in heat transfer technology,” says the company.

Full service producer

Originally founded in 1947, American Precision Industries acquired the Basco brand of shell & tube heat exchangers in Buffalo, NY in 1962, thus starting what is today API Heat Transfer.

In 1986, the company developed a line of aluminum bar and plate air-cooled heat exchangers under the Airtech brand. This business moved into its current facility in Arcade, NY in 1997.

In that same year, American Precision Industries acquired Schmidt-Bretten in Germany, an industry icon in plate heat exchangers and thermal systems, who traces its roots back to 1879.

The fourth manufacturing facility was opened in 2004 in the Suzhou Industrial Park in Suzhou, China. Manufacturing all three technology types, this facility was expanded only one year later to more than double its original size.

Well respected in the industry

API Heat Transfer employs over 800 dedicated people who provide sales, engineering, and manufacturing expertise to valued customers - both OEM’s and End Users. It offers both standard pre-engineered designs, as well as complete customized designs to fit a specific application.

API Heat Transfer markets a family of brands well respected in the industry for innovative design, exceptional performance and reliable service. It serves a wide variety of industrial markets with an unmatched portfolio of heat exchanger designs, providing application solutions in the compressor, air dryer, air separation, process, power, general industrial, off-highway, truck and bus, food and beverage, and refrigeration markets. Its heat exchanger designs include standard shell and tube, custom shell and tube, extended surface plate fin, plate and frame, brazed plate, welded plate, semi-welded plate, brazed aluminum bar and plate, and brazed aluminum tube and header.

It also supplies complete thermal process systems including evaporation systems, pasteurizers/aseptic systems, deaerators, and dealcoholization plants.

So, whether the application is liquid/liquid, gas/gas or liquid/gas, API Heat Transfer can select a cost effective, reliable design just right for the job.

Technology & service

APU Heat Transfer strives, everyday, to provide two very important qualities to its clients – Technology and Service. Technology, says the company, means staying at the leading-edge of product design, software innovation and manufacturing efficiency. From propriety software tools to in-house product development expertise, the company invests heavily in its customers’, as well as its own, future.

Service, on the other hand, means responsive, knowledgeable support from start to finish. It knows that only by providing superior service both before and after the sale, will it further strengthen the opportunity to serve customers again.

One thing that keeps coming back with API is the breadth of its resource – which is a key strength for the company. In a very fragmented industry, it is important to have a diverse product line, across the globe. API is one of very few organizations capable of internally designing and manufacturing any of the commonly used industrial technologies and is thus a global success.