The company
Dear business partners,
We would like to briefly introduce to you our COMPANY (I.B.C. Praha spol. s r.o.), a traditional manufacturer and supplier of industrial valves.
The COMPANY was founded in 1994 as a company focused on the assembly, design and sale of industrial valves from Czech and foreign manufacturers to meet the demand for this range among Czech investors, operators of industrial equipment, energy and gas infrastructure. Since the end of the nineties, the management gradually developed the company’s activities; production facilities were created at the former valve plant in Krnov, which was a sister company and operated under the Armaturka Krnov a.s. brand. Thus, the COMPANY acquired production capacity and began to modernize the existing production range, gradually expanding not only individual product lines, but also introducing into production new equipment, important from the point of view of market demand for the integrated design and sale of entire packages of fittings for large investment projects, especially in petrochemistry, chemistry, gas industry and classical energy. Further to this, the owners of the COMPANY acquired shares of the former Research Institute of Valves of the Sigma concern, the company ARPO a.s., which, in addition to the competence of professional employees, also had important archives and research reports for the past period and practical experience in supplies to nuclear power plants. Thus, the structure of interacting organizations was gradually built up, with all engineering, sales and procurement activities concentrated in the COMPANY, which ensured supplies in the entire scope of business order execution, i.e. the production and configuration phase was added to the commercial, construction and design work already carried out.
In 2019-2020 the company Armaturka Krnov a.s. was sold to the German holding Klaus Union and this company continues to operate on the market under the brand name Klaus Union CZ spol. s r.o. In connection with this transaction, in 2020-2021, the COMPANY obtained all assets and personnel of MPower Engineering a.s.. (MPE), Ostrava, which had experience and good reference primarily in the field of energy, including nuclear. The sole shareholder was Mr. František Koníček. With its technologies and competent personnel, MPE has worthily complemented the COMPANY’s business program and has become the main production base for the manufacture of high-pressure valves for traditional and, above all, nuclear energy.
In connection with the sanctions imposed on the main market of the COMPANY until 2022, namely the Russian Federation, a decision was made to transform the activities of the COMPANY. This transformation has been ongoing since 2022 and is now effectively culminating in the introduction of new products with high added value and the highest level of quality and reliability, i.e. the COMPANY becomes a manufacturer of specialized equipment for nuclear energy in all safety classes for the primary and secondary circuits of nuclear power plants. During 2022, the COMPANY definitively completed the transfer of all assets and personnel of MPE, which became part of the COMPANY and continues to operate as a manufacturing plant in Ostrava. During 2022 and 2023, MPE was significantly strengthened in terms of personnel, a number of investments were made in the modernization of technical equipment, including the renewal and accreditation of testing equipment, the construction of a new paint workshop, the modernization of the welding workshop and the machining workshop. Since mid-2022, a new global production management and organization system TPV2000 has also been introduced, and the Solid Works design software and Solid CAM-based CNC machine programming software have been updated.
The main direction of sales is the supply of industrial fittings for process equipment for traditional and nuclear energy, petrochemical, chemical and gas industries. Fittings for these segments make up about 90% of the COMPANY’s total production, the rest being smaller supplies for metallurgy, water supply or waste disposal. The COMPANY has equipped design and engineering workstations, and also uses the services of independent expert institutes in order to be able to precisely offer the necessary products for subsequent technological design to investors, design institutes or EPC contractors. In its segment, the COMPANY carries out a whole range of engineering and evaluation work, which begins with the selection of suitable materials for various working environments, temperatures and pressures and continues with the creation of product specifications, product certification, creation of the necessary design documentation, including calculations, as well as development, modernization and production of certain types of fittings with subsequent with subsequent configuration, financing and implementation of supplies, installation of equipment, training of technical personnel and after-sales service.
The share of domestic Czech orders in sales generally depends on the current investment activity in individual segments, therefore in different periods it fluctuates between 25-50% of total sales volume. The remainder of sales is provided through exports, with gradual changes in the geographical structure of sales over the past 5 years towards greater diversification of territories with a focus on clients in the energy and oil and gas refining sectors.
Considering the significant export orientation of the COMPANY, the importance of foreign customers increases. These are mainly clients from Eastern Europe, Slovakia, former CIS countries, Türkiye and Finland. A growing market is Finland, where the COMPANY mainly supplies high-quality high-pressure valves from its own production for use at high temperatures in the energy sector. From a long-term perspective, the COMPANY‘s main clients are located in Türkiye, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Iceland. The share of sales to Slovakia is relatively stable, however, with the exception of the energy sector, it does not constitute a significant share of the COMPANY‘s total sales. Also important is cooperation with major business partners for supplies to third countries.
We thank you for your trust throughout the existence of our COMPANY and believe that we have something to offer you in the future as well.
Management of I.B.C. Praha spol. s r.o.