History and background
Novenco Fire Fighting (NFF) has delivered high quality fire fighting systems for more than 60 years. Its main market is the maritime and offshore industry. NFF develops, produces, installs and commissions fire fighting systems. The company is a world leader within water mist technology. Product development is focused on the NFF trademarked nozzle, whereas the remaining parts of the system are purchased from sub-suppliers. NFF was previously a department of Novenco, with business applications within HVAC/R. In 2008 NFF became a separate company and in 2012 the company was acquired by Wilhelmsen Technical Solutions (WTS).
Product and service portfolio
NFF defines itself as system developer and supplier, not as product supplier. The trademarked nozzle is only one element of NFF’s business, the company’s main expertise is in the configuration and dimensioning of the fire fighting system. NFF’s primary product is the XFlow System, a low pressure water mist system used for local protection, full protection and accommodation areas. In addition to the nozzle, the system consists of pumps, sensors, starter cabinets, power packs, valves, manometers and piping. NFF’s service offers are contracted with the customer and the company focuses on offering on-demand support for ordering spare parts or receiving product guidance. NFF also offers annual service on its fire fighting systems as well as inspection, repairs and crew training, offered when requested by a customer.
Business presence and service stations
NFF’s headquarters, storage and production are located in Denmark with approximately 35 employees. In addition the company also has production facilities in China. Furthermore the company has employees in Korea, Italy and China, who handle project management, sales and commissioning of the fire fighting systems, but currently not service. NFF is part of a service network with agents in Poland, Norway and USA that can service its systems. Currently it is not economically feasible for the customer to have a service technician sent out to manage a service inspection. A local fire fighting system costs approximately EUR 13,500 -70,000, whereas it would cost EUR 7,000 to send a service technician from Denmark to China. NFF has designated service technicians and a number of its project managers are available to travel overseas for occasional service assignments.
Business competitiveness
In the full protection market NFF offers low pressure water mist system solutions, which are more energy efficient and result in significant cost savings in comparison to CO2-based systems. In the local protection market, which is relatively new and arose due to an IMO regulative, NFF presents itself as the largest non-Asian producer. Due to the relatively low level of complexity in the product the competition is mainly on price. Furthermore, the market is relatively closed, due to the fact that to test and achieve approval from the classification companies for a new system can be a very costly activity, which creates a relative high market entry price. One of the selling points of the NFF system is that it is made of standard parts (i.e. easy maintenance by the owner), which often results in a limited after-sales market for them.
Motivation to participate in PROTEUS
NFF sees PROTEUS as a good opportunity to network within the industry. The company is interested in learning about how more systematically to develop new service concepts and to strengthen the service business activity. Another area of interest is to explore the generation of new PSS business models, trying out specific PSS concepts.