Bonomi North America recently announced it has been accepted as a supplier partner in the AD buying and marketing group.

“We now are going to be able to grow our business dynamically,” Bonomi North America’s Rick Wentzell told Supply House Times during the recent AHR Expo in Atlanta, Georgia. “Most of our current AD PVF customers have been coming to us for very sophisticated actuation assemblies. Now, we will be able to sell them other products as well — assemblies they may or may not have been getting outside the buying group. This helps AD members. AD now is member-owned, so their incentive to stay within the buying group is greater than ever. AD now has a true actuation manufacturer and valve company vendor that focuses primarily on valve automation, for all its members.”

Wentzell said the AD move possibly could double the company’s sales over the next two or three years. Wentzell added Bonomi will have a heavy education presence for AD mem-bers. “We will train all AD members as we do with all our customers,” he explained. “We will be offering special training meetings for their members. If a PVF member is not currently involved in automation right now, we have the ability and resources to put that member into that business.”

Wentzell noted Bonomi North America is part of the world-wide Bonomi Group, which features three independent manufacturing facilities, including the Valbia actuator division. “We have been making actuators for 30 years,” he said. “We also have another division (Valpres) that makes carbon and stainless flanged, threaded end and weld-end valves. Our RB (Ru-binetterie Bresciane) facility is one of the foremost brass ball-valve manufacturers in the world, making up to 60,000 valves and forgings a day in its 1.2 million-square-foot facility.

“Combining those three companies gives us a window into the plumbing and commercial plumbing markets, as well as the industrial PVF market, including chemical and petrochem-ical markets,” Wentzell said. “The actuators give us an avenue to the OEMs. We also are the only company in the world that makes its own direct-mount low-torque ball valves, electric actuators and pneumatic actuators, making us unique in the market.”

—Mike Miazga reporting from Atlanta