ITALY: Sapio Group, Italy's leading producer of industrial and medical gases, has established a service agreement to ensure reliable uptime. Their Danfoss service partner will provide the services DrivePro® Retrofit and DrivePro® Remote Monitoring as well as a condition monitoring service. This project demonstrates how DrivePro® services can address critical challenges while creating opportunities for long-term business growth for Sapio Group.
The challenge: Eliminate risk of downtime
Sapio Group supplies industrial gases, including oxygen and hydrogen, throughout Europe. Importantly, they provide essential gases direct to a major semiconductor manufacturer that requires extremely high uptime for its production facilities. Any interruption would result in expensive damage to the semiconductor production.
Sapio Group’s gas production facility was equipped with obsolete drives and experienced service issues, resulting in high downtime risk. With aging compressor systems and critical production requirements, Sapio decided to move to Danfoss Drives as reliable partner.
With Danfoss drives and services, we see potential to improve the reliability and efficiency of our operations. The customized support, including remote monitoring and condition-based maintenance, represent the innovation required in meeting our current and future targets—especially for critical deliveries to our strategic customers. We are currently finalizing the whole solution, but this partnership gives us confidence in expanding these solutions across other applications.
Delivering a customized service experience
Every AC drive application is different. The DrivePro® service portfolio is a collection of tailor-made products designed around individual needs.
To upgrade its operations for more reliability, Sapio chose the proposal made by Danfoss Italy, its local partner Viking Automation, and DrivePro® partner HS Progetti, which combined DrivePro® services and variable frequency drives from Danfoss:
- DrivePro® Retrofit: VLT® HVAC Drive FC 102 units replaced 3 obsolete drives
- DrivePro® Remote Monitoring: Monitoring of real-time data to enable proactive maintenance
- Condition monitoring: By activating integrated condition-based monitoring (CBM) functionality in the intelligent drive, the drive gathers and analyses machine data to give early warning of abnormalities, before they develop into problems which may cause downtime. The integrated functionality means there is no need for external sensors
The team optimized the sizes of the VLT® HVAC Drive FC 102 units, replacing two 315 kW drives and one 250 kW drive with two 250 kW drives and one 200 kW drive. Correct sizing, combined with the back-channel cooling used for heat management in these drives, improved efficiency – while also meeting the application requirements.
Initial discussions began in April 2023, and final equipment was installed and commissioned in May 2025.
The outcome: Remote monitoring for 24/7 surveillance
The system is in full operation with integrated condition monitoring (CBM) and DrivePro® Remote Monitoring. As a result, the operations now benefit from enhanced efficiency and productivity. Early warning of potential issues enables staff to react fast, to avoid unplanned stoppage - for more uptime.
A noteworthy aspect of this project is the requirement for customized services. Due to the critical nature of the application, the service agreement comprises:
- 24/7 availability with 48h response time
- Active monitoring of the DrivePro® Remote Monitoring platform
Viking Automation managed to provide a turnkey solution and all the necessary services to let Sapio achieve their targets. As a Danfoss partner, that’s what we do!
Unleashing the power of data
In today's rapidly evolving industrial landscape, effective condition monitoring is paramount for ensuring the reliability, efficiency, and longevity of critical equipment.
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