Company profilE - Neuman & Esser

Company profilE
NEUMAN & ESSER GROUP in Italy
NEUMAN & ESSER Italia:
The Catalyst for Growth
Deep roots
NEA Italia S.r.l., based in Milan, was founded on Jan. 1,
1992. As the first sales & application company in the
NEA GROUP, it became heir to a grand tradition.
NEUMAN & ESSER had already been serving customers
in the Italian chemical and petrochemical industries
since the 1950s, represented by „AZETA S.A.R.L
Costruzione Macchine Utensili Rappresentanze
Tecniche Industriali“. Then in 1983, NEUMAN & ESSER
bought an 80% share in this company. In the four years
from 1985 to 1989, when Klaus Peters was Managing
Director, he and his Italian team took a bold step that
was to have a significant effect on the later development
of the entire group; namely packaging compressors into
complete compressor systems with local suppliers. The
success of this business concept paved the way for the
founding of NEA’s first foreign engineering subsidiary.
AZETA’s limited shell was transferred to NEA Italia S.r.l.
and at the same time the management moved from Nino
De Bernardi to his successor, Euro Colombo.
Greatest group success
Since foundation, NEA Italia has been
able to set up over 250 compressors
with a total output of 70,000
kW, in Southern Europe and
the Middle East. Particular
successes included a single
order with a total value
of 44 million EUR – the
biggest order in the
history of the NEA GROUP! This is a direct result of the
high reputation for engineering the company enjoys in
the market. While NEA Italia began by supplying large
numbers of small V-machines to the PET market, the
company developed to become a reliable supplier of
niche products to the refining industry especially for
make-up compressors and boosters. The delivery
range also includes a great many large, high pressure
hydrogen and ethylene compressors for industrial plants.
applications on the “Dolce Vita” lable
Franz-Josef Ritzen, Managing Director of NEA Italia
since 2006, has been serving the Italian market for over
20 years. He is known for his “elephantine memory” of
unusual applications for NEA compressors, such as a
large CO2 compressor with an output of 1,000 kW,
which was installed for an Italian vintner in the year
2000. Since then, this customer has been able to bottle
the CO2 produced in wine-making, himself for commercial
uses. Other air compressors ensure the drying
process in the cellar of a Parma ham producer runs
smoothly. The Italians also knew how to make the third
most typical industrial application their own: production
management using instrument air for a famous producer
of racing cars. It goes without saying that working
there is great fun for the Italian!
Success through networking
Cooperation with the two sister
companies in Cairo and Dubai,
and a well-established network
of agents, means that the 20
person team in Milan have a
wider circle of influence in
sales, engineering, pack-

aging and the installation of complete
systems than one would
expect. While NEA Egypt Ltd. support
their Italian colleagues in the
acquisition of contracts for new
machines in Libya, Sudan and
Egypt; NEA Gulf FZE supports operators
in the Gulf states, Saudi
Arabia and in the Middle East.
Since orders from the Middle East
are increasing, the general upward
trend of 2011 will ensure that the
Italian order book remains wellfilled.
We wish everyone at NEA
Italia „buona fortuna“.
NEAC Compressor Service
Crosses Boundaries
NEAC Compressor Service S.r.l., the service provider in Milan, has
shown itself to be young, but very experienced. The increasing population
of NEA compressors in the Mediterranean region, and their
resulting need for servicing, meant that spinning off the service activities
of NEA Italia into an independent service company was an
obvious decision to make. This step was taken in Jan. 2005. Since
then, the firm has consisted of several staff members for sales, contract
handling and installation, headed by the “Sales & Operation
Manager’’ Luca Cini. NEAC uses the facilities of other local firms as
an extended workbench, for repairs to valves and sealing elements
and for the servicing and reconditioning of smaller compressor units.
All of these com-
panies have been
certified according
to NEAC guide-
lines, and so are
able to carry the “RCC
Level A’’ seal of approval
(cf. the cover story in issue
18 of NEA NEWS). Today, NEAC
provides maintenance for a portfolio of
over 500 compressors concentrated in
Italy, Spain and Greece. NEA Egypt Ltd., a
sister company located in Cairo, provides
important technical and commercial support for
NEAC, particularly in North Africa.