Centrifuge systems built by Kenosha-based Centrisys Corp. are used in water and wastewater treatment, oil processing and recovery, food processing and biofuel plants throughout the world.
Unlike most centrifuges, those made by Centrisys spin on a horizontal axis, allowing more efficient fluid flow to and from the centrifuge.
Most of the company’s sales, 60 to 70 percent, are to water and wastewater treatment facilities. In wastewater plants, the centrifuges are used to extract solid materials from sludge at the end of the treatment process, said James Andresen, project director with the company.
“When the centrifuge spins, it looks like a jet engine,” he said. “It spins at about 3,000 RPM, and the water spins out. There’s a pretty dry material that’s left over.”
The company’s centrifuges are in Wisconsin cities such as Fond du Lac, Madison, Janesville and Oshkosh.
Centrifuges are more expensive than other, older technology used in the wastewater treatment process. However the higher initial price tag pays eventually, Andresen said.
“They’re more cost-effective over time, and they will do a lot more material,” he said.
Other than wastewater treatment, Centrisys’ centrifuges are used to extract accumulated solids from crude oil, pull juice from grapes destined to be made into wine, pull small pieces of meat from crabs, and process corn for ethanol production.
“There’s lots of work in oil recovery,” said Jack Glynn, one of the company’s salespeople. “When crude oil stands in tanks, solids accumulate over time. We have a three-phase centrifuge that takes out the oil, water and solids.”
Although its centrifuges for wastewater treatment are its biggest sellers now, the company’s oil recovery models have the largest distribution. Centrisys has a partnership with a Texas company that installs and services centrifuges for oil recovery all over the world, Glynn said.
Alternative energy sources such as ethanol and other biofuels are newer markets for Centrisys. Its centrifuges are in use in three of Wisconsin’s seven ethanol plants, located in Oshkosh, Jefferson and Monroe.
Outsourcing model
Centrysis’ employees that work on its manufacturing floor perform finishing touches on components, assemble and test its centrifuges. Almost all of the company’s individual components are made by other manufacturers in southeastern Wisconsin and northern Illinois, said Michael Kopper, president and founder.
“We design and purchase critical pieces,” Kopper said. “We outsource all of the fabricating and marketing to local Wisconsin and northern Illinois companies. When the parts come in, we do the quality control, quality assurance, assembly and balancing.”
Repairs and Upgrades
One of the reasons that Centrisys uses so much outsourcing is that about 50 percent of its revenue comes from repairing and upgrading older centrifuge systems.
Most of the machines it repairs are made by European manufacturers, Andresen said, because the majority of horizontal-axis centrifuges on the market are made in Europe, and sending the large machines abroad is both costly and time consuming.
“We repair maybe 70 percent of our competitor’s equipment,” he said.
Kopper formed the company in 1987 as a repair shop for European-made centrifuges because those manufacturers weren’t servicing their equipment well, Andresen said. The company quickly gained a reputation for quick, reliable service, and by 1995 it was getting requests from customers to build new centrifuges.
“There was a client that called Michael who said he couldn’t wait for a centrifuge from Europe,” Andresen said. “Michael said ‘No problem, we’ll build you one.’ That’s what got us started in building new (centrifuges).”
Multi-faceted growth
Today, Centrisys has about 60 employees, most of them working from its 66,000-square-foot headquarters and manufacturing facility in Kenosha. The company recently moved eight workers into a 20,000-square-foot sales and repair facility in Stockton, Calif., where its services clients on the west coast. It also has a small sales and repair office in Pennsylvania.
Several factors are helping Centrysis grow now – Kopper’s reputation within the centrifuge industry, the company’s focus on developing markets such as biofuels and the weak dollar compared to the Euro.
“Michael is an international authority on centrifuging,” Andresen said. “Our first foot in the door was the lack of service (European manufacturers were delivering). We still get a ton of work out of it. When we offered manufacturing, the niche door opened again.”
Kopper’s reputation has helped Centrisys develop its own reputation for superior designs and better performing machines, Andresen said.
That reputation has helped the company increase sales and revenues by 25 percent in 2007, Kopper said.
“We’re on a similar target (for this year) as we speak,” Kopper said. “We hired eight new people last year, and I expect a similar market this year.”
The company’s sales have also been helped by the weak U.S. dollar, with many European customers electing to buy Centrisys centrifuges instead of European-made models. Last year, the company formed a joint venture in Germany named Zentrifuge Allianz. The venture has 12 workers there – most work in sales, Kopper said.
“We’re proud to say that we can manufacture in Europe, but to do so with this exchange rate would be foolish,” he said.
Centrisys builds its centrifuges that are sold in Europe, in Kenosha, and ships them in large components to Germany, where workers perform final assembly.
“We ship the heart and soul of the machine to be put into the shell,” Kopper said.
While Centrisys is focused on growing international sales and refining its current designs, its research and development team is working on several new designs, Kopper said.
Those include improvements to a wastewater treatment centrifuge, intended to thicken the sludge sent into the centrifuge, Kopper said. The company is also working on a new centrifuge that will work with cutting-edge biofuel generation, he said.
“Algae is a big R&D thing we’re working on now,” Kopper said. “It’s a great source for biodiesel.”
Centrisys Corp.
Address: 9586 58th Place, Kenosha
Industry: Horizontal axis centrifuges for water, wastewater and industrial use
Employees: About 60
Revenue growth: 25 percent in 2007, anticipated 25 percent for 2008
Web site: www.centrifuge-systems.com
