An extraordinary pioneering spirit and a passion for challenge have always been major forces driving Provides’ dynamic development. The company has always put a strong focus on research and development to support customers with innovative, reliable product solutions which are in great demand in Italy and all around the globe and that are often ahead of their time.
The company was founded in 1968 by the three committed entrepreneurs Provenziani, Villani and De Simone. In its early days, Provides concentrated on the production of metallic office furniture and specialized in the construction of racks, ladders and gas tanks before it shifted focus towards the air conditioning sector.
“The decision to enter the market for industrial air conditioning systems was probably the most crucial one in the company’s history and without adoubt a turning point,” explains General Manager Franco Provenziani. “This has spurred our developmen significantly t and accelerated the company’s growth.”
Today, Provides is a technological leader when it comes to industrial heat exchangers, guaranteeing high efficiency and maximum energy savings. Its core products are dry expansion evaporators that can also be used as heat pumps, condensers up to 6,600 kW, flooded evaporators EF and oil separators. They can be used with different coolants and are customized according to the final use.
“Right from the start, we focused on shell and tube heat exchangers, which is a complex and broad sector,” notes Mr. Provenziani. “Thanks to intensive research and development, we are in a position to support customers with the most advanced, high-quality products. We put great emphasis on environmentally friendly solutions. This is a major challenge we are constantly facing. Therefore, our heat exchangers work with a minimum of refrigerants.”
Provides’ products stand out as they come with specific functions to ensure maximum performance while reducing the use of refrigerants. One of its latest innovations – an especially compact heat exchanger – was presented at important trade fairs such as the ASHRAE (this year in Orlando, USA) the Chillventa, the Mostra Convegno in Milan and the China Refrigeration in Shanghai, where it got excellent feedback.
“Our aim has always been to develop products that are innovative,” states Mr. Provenziani. “We have always been keen to be different and better than our competitors by combining high efficiency and reliability with an extremely low impact on the environment.”
Provides’ ambitious quality approach is backed up by important certifications such as ISO 9001, ISO 18001, ARI and EUROVENT certifications. Traceability of each phase of the production cycle is a crucial part of the business philosophy.
“We fully believe in traceability,” says Mr. Provenziani. “All the products and materials we use are certified. Furthermore, it is important that we can adapt products to individual customer needs. We consider our customers to be partners, and we want to be their reliable solution provider. For this reason, we established a new laboratory last year. Now, we are in a position to test both complete machine systems and single machine components and to deepen our knowledge further.”
Today, Provides has 255 employees: 135 work in Italy, 85 in a Chinese subsidiary and 34 in a US subsidiary that was established in 2015. Thanks to this structure, the company’s main markets are perfectly covered. Global players like Daikin rely on Provides’ technologically advanced solutions.
“Daikin is one of the world’s leading air conditioning suppliers and our most important customer,” states Mr. Provenziani. “We support Daikin in Europe, Asia and the United States. In general, our customers are producers of air conditioning chillers.”
Right from the start, Provides has concentrated on foreign markets. Due to this approach, today exports make up 35% of the business. “Luckily, we operate in a very dynamic business sector,” points out Mr. Provenziani. “All markets, regardless if China or the United States, are booming. We hope to further consolidate our leading market position with additional innovative and environmentally friendly products. Therefore, we constantly look for suppliers that share our ideas and values and that are innovative with profound knowledge. Not everything is about low prices. We are interested in long-lasting partnerships with innovative suppliers to develop markets of the future based on intense research and development activities. These partnerships are essential to develop tailor-made solutions for end users.”
Fundamental experience and solid partnerships will help to master upcoming challenges of the future successfully.
