Case Study
F+F Mechanical Company
F+F Mechanical Company is a full service mechanical contractor based in North Haven, Connecticut. Family owned and operated since 1982, F+F provides Mechanical Piping, Sheet Metal and Plumbing solutions for a wide variety of commercial, industrial, government and institutional clients. Members of MCAA, F+F leadership strives to continuously improve operations by integrating state-of-the art technology, promoting staff training, and continuously striving for a safe work environment for all its employees.
One of our core values is the belief that the only way to design and build the right system is to forge strong partnerships. Today, the company's success is driven by dedication to innovation and excellence with a focus on customer satisfaction.
The Business Challenge:
"We knew we needed to embrace technology," said John Ferrucci, Vice President of F+F Mechanical. "We needed to move into pre-fab units and modular construction. As we started this process it quickly became clear that pipe fabrication was taking too much time and eating into our budget - piping was the bottleneck to our progress. We had four men dedicated to cutting, beveling and prepping pipe."
Ferrucci continued, "We visited a few large fabrication shops that were using the advanced technology we were considering and it became apparent that we had to upgrade our capital equipment. We were looking at Watts and another manufacturer. Everyone we talked with urged us to look at Watts."
John Ferrucci,VP
F+F Mechanical
John grew up working in the family business. He holds a BA
in History from Fordham University, and has completed the Trane Graduate Engineer Training Program and earned several occupational trade licenses.
John provides executive supervision for every project serving as a liaison with clients, vendors and subcontractors. He serves several professional organizations including MCAA, the Associated Sheet Metal & Roofing Contractors of CT, Plumbing & Pipefitters Local 777 and Local 40 Sheet Metal Workers.
2023 Update
By John Ferrucci, VP - F+F Mechanical"After the original purchase of our W-244 machine, our production went up dramatically. It took 3-4 months to adjust to our new capabilities, but after those first months our production increased by 26%. We were able to take on larger volume projects, something we simply did not have the capacity to do prior to having the new Watts machine.
The increased production came from faster and cleaner cuts, making prep work almost non-existent. In addition, we also gained productivity from the 3D Profile Plus pipe cutting software. Pipe measuring, marking and setup is almost eliminated. Most of our jobs have repeated cuts - maybe 20 20ft pipes to be cut with exactly the same specs. Our machine operator inputs the specs once, then there is virtually NO setup on the next 19 pipe cuts."
The Watts Difference:
Ferrucci also offered some comments on why F+F Mechanical selected Watts: "For the quality of the machine and all the features, the price was competitive, but what got my attention was that every other mechanical company I asked raved about Watts machines."
"I attended the annual MCAA conference," Ferrucci continued, "and Watts had a booth, so I introduced myself to David Carr and told him about our needs.
Working with David Carr was really great. He has so much knowledge of the industry and honestly told me what we really needed, steering me away from the more expensive options I thought we needed."
"Watts training was great," said Ferrucci. "After we installed the machine two of our machinists (foreman and CAD operator) did webcast training to learn the software. On the third day our guys were cutting pipe."
"We rarely have support issues. We had one issue; we took photos and sent them to Watts, got on the phone with one their technicians and within a day he walked us through a fix. With the help of Watts Support we were up and running in one day which is excellent."
