Focus on the core business, a clear strategic direction, no detours—just the shortest route to a well-defined goal: key messages that sound absolutely great to many business leaders. As in real life, however, there are situations where the forward-thinking entrepreneur, taking a holistic view of the system, recognizes that a single piece of the puzzle outside their own product range could have a lasting positive impact on the core business. But what if that piece isn’t available? Instead of lamenting the lack of availability, the forward-thinking entrepreneur defines the task and simply sets to work themselves. That is how we experienced it and set a development with enormous reach on track.
Solutions beyond the product range
We were aware of a problem that affects many companies: water quality in cooling water systems. It’s important to understand that water quality in cooling circuits has a decisive impact on energy efficiency, operational and process safety, as well as the operating and maintenance costs of production facilities, system circuits, and their components. At the forefront are costs caused by contamination or biological fouling in the cooling water. The spectrum ranges from production interruptions and the resulting cleaning of tools, heat exchangers, and in some cases even the entire cooling water system, to the purchase of biocides and the replacement of equipment and facilities destroyed by corrosion.
Practical experience shows that a relatively large number of companies struggle with high operating and maintenance costs due to poor cooling water quality. This therefore raises an issue that should be important enough for suitable specialists within the respective company to address it intensively. However, because this problem does not lead to complete system failures and it is difficult to quantify the cost burden, efforts remain limited to stopgap measures or compromises that do not actually solve the problem. What is simply missing here is a solution that is effective as a holistic system.
Over the past few years, we have repeatedly attempted to develop a suitable system solution in collaboration with renowned manufacturers of water treatment systems. One partner was able to get the chemistry under control, another handled mechanical filtration, and a third managed the control technology. However, no one was able to truly bring all these areas together in conjunction with measurement lines, pumps, and hydraulic integration into the overall system.
ONI: Partner for Industrial Companies Across All Sectors
As a system provider in the field of energy plant engineering, we are a partner for industrial companies across all sectors. We design plant systems on a project-by-project basis—from complex cooling systems to cleanroom technology in the medical sector—install the systems for our customers, and offer maintenance services. However, we source the system components used in these installations—from pumps to control technology—from partner companies. Of course, we contribute our system expertise to the further development of products at suppliers, but we are not a typical developer of components or complex devices—and suddenly, almost overnight, the exception proves the rule.
Because when you manage to assemble a small, high-performing team that is enthusiastic about the idea and mobilizes all available brainpower to develop a corresponding system solution, then as an entrepreneur you can simply count yourself lucky. This is exactly what happened at ONI. The result is a system technology called “ONI-AquaClean,” which solves the problem of cooling water contamination by bacteria, viruses, algae, and fungi, as well as by solid particles—ranging from rapidly settling coarse particles to dispersing fine particles—in a single step. Of course, the first attempt didn’t hit the mark right away, but the second one did, and it far exceeded expectations.
Now we see that plant operators are enthusiastic about the rapid progress in cooling water quality improvement and its impact on the overall system, and that doors are opening that were previously closed. This has led us, more or less overnight, to an innovation that helps accelerate our successful business development even further. Ultimately, therefore, a sound business decision that generates additional success.
