The Story of Atlantic Bearing Services: A Vision That Turned into Reality – interview

 

Atlantic Bearing Services started its journey almost 25 years ago and became just during the first 3 years one of the 100 fastest-growing start-ups in the USA. With local presence in 15 countries spread over 4 continents, the company just had the best year in economic and growth terms in its history.

The Bearing News team had the chance to discuss the journey and story behind ABS during an exclusive interview with its Founder and CEO, Alejandro Pardinas.

What is the story of Atlantic Bearing Services?

ABS’ growth has been an exciting adventure filled with stories and coincidences that are hard to sum up in a few words. Above all, it showcases the effort and sacrifice of a firm commitment to developing its vocation of commercializing technical knowledge and engineering capabilities.

Our business began to take shape more than 30 years ago, in my native Cuba, after I had recently graduated in mechanical engineering, when two ideas resounded strongly in my head. The first was to look for a natural space to develop my entrepreneurial vocation in this admired country that has welcomed me and in which I am fully integrated. The second was to turn that dream into reality.

Shortly after that, in 1999, already in Miami, and together with businessmen Alvaro Ortega and Juan Manuel Ortega from Royse (Rodamientos y Servicios) and Luigi Valagussa from ZVL Italy, we founded the company Atlantic Bearing Services, which is the center point of the group of companies that make today, almost 25 years later, the international corporation of ABS.

We detected a gap in the supply of spare parts for heavy industry. We first identified the opportunities offered by the logistical coverage of the collection of bearings and other mechanical components. We set out to address the growing demand of the Latin American industry and some territories of the United States, accessing extensive inventories of bearings globally.

Not long has passed, but those were different times with different technology and systems. There was hardly any access to the Internet, and acquiring spare parts, original or not, for obsolete bearings was a challenging and costly endeavor.

We were also aware that many of the local companies in the United States needed engineering departments. When needed, they depended on the engineering service of the manufacturers themselves. This meant a new window of opportunity: integrating an engineering department into ABS to help complement supply management, offering our customers expert and independent technical assistance.

Subsequently, coming about naturally, we assumed the need to increase our competitiveness by fully controlling the supply chain. From our engineering department, we began to custom design bearings and other mechanical components for the power transmission, identified reliable external suppliers for the manufacture of the different components, and located in our Miami facilities the assembly process of the parts and the quality control laboratory. This way, the finished products were fully prepared and certified by ABS and ready for shipment.

Soon after, we had the opportunity to consolidate our first major collaboration agreement with SKF, a leading company in the sector, to complement its product offering in the Latin American market; this allowed us to accumulate, in record time, a technological and business knowledge base for which other companies would have needed more than a decade.

In just three years, ABS became one of the 100 fastest-growing start-ups in the US market. Since then, we have been progressively increasing our scope of activity, both territorially and sectorally, to become what we are today: a global benchmark for the supply of customized power transmission products and a solution for the heavy and wind energy sectors.

We have overcome many uncertainties in recent years, making ABS a reference brand in more than 15 countries on four continents. In economic and growth terms, 2022 was the best year in the company’s history, and 2023 presents even better prospects.

Which are the main products, brands, and services of ABS?

At ABS, we are specialists in designing, manufacturing, repairing, maintaining, and supplying customized engineering products and solutions for power transmission in heavy industry. This includes bearings, gearboxes, gears, couplings, engineered chains, and cardan shafts.

We currently have three custom manufacturing brands that result from close collaboration with each of our clients: ACB (Atlantic Custom Bearings), AEC (Atlantic Engineering Chains), both established in Miami, and MGS Gears, whose main offices are in Milan, Italy. All its products are highly engineered mechanical components that undergo the most stringent quality control to operate at full performance and with high guarantees for various industrial applications.

More than 17 years ago, outside the US, we opened our first wind sector-oriented workshop in Cartago (Costa Rica), integrating ourselves into developing a local and pioneering effort for the Costa Rican wind industry. This new line of business quickly expanded to other territories, giving rise to the global ABS Wind brand.

Through ABS Wind, we are supplying major components and spare parts, as well as repair and maintenance solutions for the main wind turbine models installed in the market.We currently have a local presence on four continents and workshops equipped with test benches for wind gearboxes in Macaiba-RN (Brazil), Puebla (Mexico), and Texas (USA). The first of these, with a capacity to carry out tests of up to 2.6 MW, has the highest capacity in Latin America dedicated exclusively to the wind industry.

Concerning our Texas workshop came about because of the acquisition of a wind turbine workshop from Moventas (recently acquired by Flender/Winergy), where we still retained all key personnel.

How big is the ABS team and which markets are you serving mainly?

At ABS, we understand that our team’s training, availability, and proximity are the company’s most important parts. All our sales representatives are engineers with a wealth of experience and technical qualifications in their industrial sectors.

Being part of a global company gives us access to all the experience and expertise of our network of specialized workshops and engineers and to a worldwide supply management system that ensures demand is always met. As mentioned, we currently have a local presence in 15 countries spread over 4 continents, but our greatest commercial strength is in the USA and Latin America.

This scope, together integrated with advanced, up-to-date simulation technologies, allows us to address the particularities of each project from different approaches to offer precise, proven, and reliable technical solutions. In addition, for the analysis of complex projects, we rely on the input and analysis of our R&D department, which has contributed to the success of more than 700 engineering projects, proving to be one of the company’s most important and celebrated intellectual assets.

Can you share some industries and applications where ABS’s products and services are used?

You will find the ABS logo or any brands printed on any industrial work system where lifting, repositioning, turning, or moving is required. We regularly work with many companies in the following industries: Steel, Sugar, Cement and Aggregates, Paper, Oil & Gas, Mining, and Renewable Energies (wind, solar, geothermal, etc.)

In any case, I must emphasize the high capacity of our engineering again, the years of experience accumulated in a wide range of industries, and the full control of the supply chain; all factors that allow us to analyze any power transmission need, no matter how complex, and provide a customized solution for any industry and anywhere in the world.

We have noticed the many case studies where ABS is dealing in with design, repair, and maintenance projects. Can you share more information about these operations?

That’s right. We periodically share case studies, technical articles, and projects of interest for clients from different industries through our website and social networks. Throughout our history, we have been accumulating documentation of all the projects we have carried out, and we believe that is in a more informative format can help our clients and potential clients better understand the experience and capabilities of our company.

As you can imagine, this is a challenging task. We have material from more than two thousand technical projects that need to be ordered and elaborated, but little by little we are managing to share this type of content on our website and social networks.

We saw that in 2022 you joined the ABMA (American Bearing Manufacturers Association) board of directors. What does it mean for a company like ABS to be integrated into the main industry associations?

I am extremely grateful for this election which I humbly accept as an extension of my more than 30 years of dedication to the design and custom manufacturing of bearings, gears, and other industrial components. What ABMA and AGMA have provided and continue to provide to the bearing and gear sector is invaluable. This is a unique opportunity to work on the front line alongside other outstanding colleagues to develop and disseminate the industry, and a further step in recognition of our ABS company and our ACB bearing brand.

Our concern to understand and meet our clients’ demands in the most efficient way and our commitment to the improvement and recognition of the industry have prompted us to join and actively interact with the most relevant associations and research networks in the sectors and territories in which we operate.

How do you see the future of the industry further developing in the coming years?

The bearing industry will continue evolving and developing in the coming years. Some potential growth and advancement areas include using alternative, smart materials that can improve and modify their properties depending on their application; new manufacturing techniques that reduce overall process time and further improve accuracy; or developing improved sensors and applications for remote monitoring and diagnostics. In addition, increasing demand for renewables and international environmental awareness and agreements may drive the development of bearings with a lower carbon footprint. In this regard, the reuse and reconditioning of old components will likely increase. New sectors are also arriving, such as industrial robotics, which will imply growth in demand and new designs. Of course, we will follow how artificial intelligence is incorporated into the different industrial production processes.


More information about Atlantic Bearing Services can be found at www.atlantic-bearing.com and www.abswind.com


This article is published in BearingNews March 2023 issue

 

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