CEPEX
About: Mr. Albert Calvo - Fluid Handling Product Manager
Mr. Albert Calvo obtained his University degree in Business & Administration and Advertisement & Public Relations. He obtained his Master's degree in Marketing and social media. He has been working in Fluidra Group in several positions for the past 17 years as NEEMEA region marketing manager, Cepex product manager, Cepex brand manager, Fluid handling and irrigation business manager, and Cepex marketing manager. Currently working as a Cepex marketing manager. He takes in charge of all the marketing and communication of the factory, products, sales. He has been dedicatedly working since the starting of marketing activities in Cepex and has achieved to create a well known brand with worldwide reputation into the swimming pool, irrigation and industrial markets for Fluid handling applications.
1. Could you describe the journey of CEPEX since its inception? What major milestones have been achieved over the years?
Cepex started its activity on 1982 as an injector of several plastic products for swimming pool under the Astralpool brand; after several years of improving quality and widening the range of products, we realized there was such a bigger market for the valves and fittings we were producing, so we started to work for other markets (irrigation, building…) and create the Cepex brand. Year by year we also created our own distribution network in some strategic countries. In 2008 Cepex was integrated into Fluidra Group, taking profit of its entire sales network. In 2010 we started to create the Extreme Series, a different range of products focused to the industrial needs (chemical, mining, water treatment, etc.).
2. What is CEPEX's strategy to increase energy efficiency in industrial processes? Can you give us a general overview?
Recently we are working in our factory in 2 fields: LEAN process and production improvement; our main efforts are in several fields as: reduction of stock (and so production only by objectives), factory order arrangement (to have less internal product movement), improving of product design (to use les material and better use of it), reduction of plastics in the packaging, material recycling, etc.
3. Last year, CEPEX has participated in the 4th TECHNICAL CYCLE: ENERGY IN THE INDUSTRY ACTIVITY. Kindly share your experience of working on the project.
Cepex is also taking care of the environment with several initiatives we presented in that forum: The importance of the water footprint of companies and the benefits of performing this calculation; the carbon footprint of products and services and the importance in decarbonising the economy, industrial energy communities as organizations facilitating energy transition and reducing energy costs in companies, trends in industrial waste management in the coming years.
4. What are the large scale projects that the company is currently engaged with?
Now we have achieved a good range of products for industrial applications with a very good quality level, we are trying to understand the different applications our products could be used for and to develop new products according to these applications as well as customizing our existing products according the needs of our clients.
5. As a fluid handling product manager, how do you see the company’s progress from its advent to till date?
We have made a good progress specially in the quality of the products, applying an integral quality system in all the manufacturing progress to be sure that no products get out from the factory with problems; also with the introduction into the industrial market we made a big jump in quality to adapt our products to a more demanding market. And now, trying to know our clients and its applications, we are creating new products specially designed for the markets where we are working.
6. What are your strategic plans for your company to stand out amongst your competitors?
We don’t have a complete range of products, so we are trying to offer the best quality at a competitive price, having different models and price ranges for every market we are selling them. It is also very important for us to be in constant communication with our clients to be able to customize our products attending to real needs.
7. Mention the various sectors and applications CEPEX is involved in the world’s rising economies?
We have sold our products (and sometimes helped with the prescription for the application) to several projects as sea water purification to transform it into drinking water, industrial reverse osmosis to reduce the wasting of water from factories, safe acid transport in mining, and some manufacturing process in several fields (metallurgical, microprocessors, chemical, etc.)
8. What is the level of efficiency, productiveness, and quality of the operations CEPEX offers eventually providing cost benefits to your customers?
In factory, we are constantly working on improve our manufacturing process and the effectiveness of material, design, etc. of our products. Usually this doesn’t involve a reduction in the products price, but it gives some other advantages to our clients as better service (faster delivery times, better answer to their special needs…), improving the products quality without increasing the price, better knowledge of the market and so better conception of new products, improving of the general quality level and reduction of the clients claiming, etc.