Canadoil is an integrated pipe and fittings manufacturer and solutions provider, specialising in designs for highly demanding applications and environments. Principal products include line and process pipe, pipe fittings, pressure vessels and their coatings, as well as the design and engineering of turn-key solutions delivered as prefabricated pipe spools, instrumented skids and modules.
Canadoil piping systems are primarily used in the oil and gas and other energy industries including oil and gas gathering, subsea applications, transportation and processing, downstream applications such as refining petrochemicals and power generation.
Canadoil also supplies systems for applications in other industrial areas such as chemical processes, water treatment and the mining industries.
The principle manufacturing, coating, pre-fabrication and fabrication facilities are all located together at the Amata Industrial Estate in Thailand allowing this location to truly offer a “One Stop Shop”. Integral to Canadoil’s business are its strong track record and reputation for quality and timely delivery along with its unique “One Stop Shop” business model.
The “One Stop Shop” is a unique solution to all piping requirements because it enables Canadoil to handle all aspects of a piping system reliably to deliver a customised piping solution, on a timely basis, through a single interface that ensures full compatibility of all pipe and fitting components.
Canadoil’s manufacturing operations supply customers via the Company’s international footprint of distribution centers, called Regional Sales Offices (RSO), which are set up across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and throughout Asia.
Enhancing the “One Stop Shop”
The recent acquisition of Petrol Raccord, a manufacturer of high-quality butt-weld fittings based in Italy specialising in nuclear approved products diversifies Canadoil’s market base. Petrol Raccord delivers technically complex products to the high margin niche market serving the nuclear power generation sector. This industry specific set of Canadoil customers are highly risk averse and have no tolerance for defects and delays. The solutions that Canadoil produces to serve this segment are typically rich in materials technology and design and are often highly customised. These customers demand stringent testing and certification. All this supports profit margins that manufacturers of more commoditised products fall short of providing.
Canadoil has successfully partnered with SiemensVAI to engineer and construct a hot-rolled steel plate manufacturing facility located at the existing Amata Industrial Estate site. This hot-rolled plate manufacturing facility is designed to produce 1.2 million tons of steel plate annually and is expected to begin commercial production in 2013.
A keen understanding of the importance to have complete control over the entire production chain from raw material to project engineering and design has resulted in the vertical integration all the way into the raw material manufacturing as evidenced by this latest investment in plate manufacturing. This strategic vision, developed and implemented into reality, will further enhance Canadoil’s ability to meet customer needs and expands the “One Stop Shop” concept beyond anything the industry has ever seen.
Sustaining the competitive advantage
Canadoil believes that many of its smaller competitors lack the global scale, business integration, design and engineering experience to compete for business that involves the customised piping solutions offered by its “One Stop Shop”.
Many of its larger competitors are focused on maximising production volumes and capacity utilisation and thus are too large to flexibly re-configure their manufacturing processes to re-deploy assets economically to serve higher margin niche markets for customised piping solutions.
The inability of both small and large competitors to replicate Canadoil’s “One Stop Shop” business model provides the company with a sustainable competitive advantage.
The other pivotal strategy applied by the company is to continue to deepen the understanding of customer requirements by leveraging Canadoil’s affiliated sales network of 11 RSOs across five continents. These RSOs typically have engineering and industry knowledge and employ sales officers who have a cultural affinity with their target market, keeping the whole team close to the customers.
Canadoil originated in northern Italy in the 1960s, and today is one of the leading North American manufacturers of carbon, hi-yield, alloy and exotic pipe fittings. Its growth includes the establishment of the Coveco manufacturing facility in Venezula in the 1970s and the founding of Canadoil Forge in Quebec, Canada in 1982. In 1998, Canadoil’s very first stocking distribution facility CFC Canadoil, Inc. was established in Houston. Expansion to Asia began in 1999 with the establishment of Canadoil Asia.
Canadoil’s CEO Giacomo Sozzi’s family has been in the piping component business for over four decades. Over this time, the family and their associated companies have established relationships with the world’s leading companies in the oil, gas and other energy industries, including Siemens, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Alstom, Exxon Mobil, FMC Technologies and Shell.
Maintaining a worldwide technically experienced team of regional sales offices allows Canadoil to manufacture and provide daily hands-on solutions for use in highly demanding applications and environments involving extreme temperatures, pressures, corrosiveness and abrasion, allowing its end-users to exploit their assets or resources more efficiently. To compete in this segment of the global pipe and fittings market, significant technical capabilities have been developed.
