Vincent Volpe, the former CEO of Dresser-Rand, and international energy specialist private equity firm Bluewater, can today announce that together they have launched a new venture, Fox Innovation & Technologies (FIT), as a platform to service the energy and industrial compressor and rotating equipment market.
Vincent served as the company CEO of Dresser-Rand for the last 15 years of his 34-year tenure, which included an IPO in 2005. Over the subsequent 10 years the Company’s stock (NYSE:DRC) appreciated by over 350% and led to the subsequent $7.6bn acquisition by Siemens in 2015.
The Company will be led by Vincent Volpe, as CEO, who is assembling a team comprising leading experts in the compressor and rotating equipment fields and is backed, and majority owned, by Bluewater.
FIT will target the after-sales segment of the compressor and other rotating equipment markets, helping to improve, modify and service existing compressors and turbines that can result in immediate improvements in efficiency and reduction in operating costs.
FIT has developed a proprietary technology and design approach to produce impellers and the associated gas flow path that focuses on optimizing and maximizing the efficiency and operating range of in-service equipment and mitigating performance degradation due to common variances in operating conditions or new processes introduced over the life of a gas field. FIT’s concept is to produce a “cartridge” that can fit in any OEM’s existing compressor casing with a simple bespoke design process using internal detailed criteria sources from end-user clients’ files.
FIT has the capabilities to do its own design work and manufacture the cartridge to be inserted in the existing casing when the equipment is made available during planned turnaround and maintenance periods. The efficiency, cycle time and OEM-agnostic ability to work on any of its target customers’ equipment, supported by the local ongoing operational support, will make this attractive to members of clients’ C-Suites, focused on sustainability and the environment, as well as operations leaders, focused on reliable production at the lowest possible operating cost.
The addressable market, which includes gas compressors, gas turbines and steam turbines, is worth approximately $20 billion.
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