FIP Industriale’s range and its EPD opportunity
FIP Industriale is a name many bridge and rail teams know for bearings, expansion joints, and seismic devices. Today the product catalogue lives under FIP MEC S.r.l. at fipmec.it, with the same core specialties. Here is a brisk read on what they sell, where EPD coverage appears thin, and how that affects specs on projects that prefer or require verified declarations.
What they make and where they play
FIP Industriale’s heritage is infrastructure. The portfolio spans four main families that show up on bridges, rail, tunnels, and building retrofits: structural bearings, expansion joints, anti‑seismic isolation and damping devices, and fittings for tunnel segments. Within each family sit multiple series and sizes that translate into dozens of catalog SKUs, and likely hundreds when sized by load and movement.
If you browse the current catalogue under FIP MEC, you will find lines like Elastofip elastomeric bearings, Spherofip and Sferopol spherical bearings, Vasoflon pot and sliding bearings, large‑movement joints such as GPE and RAN‑P, plus LRB lead‑rubber isolators and curved‑surface sliders for seismic work (FIP MEC, Products).
Public EPD coverage, at a glance
We were not able to locate product‑specific EPDs for FIP Industriale or FIP MEC in the major public registries checked as of December 19, 2025. That includes the International EPD System, IBU, and EPD Italy. The registries themselves are well established in Europe, with the International EPD System reporting over 18,000 published EPDs globally (EPD International, 2025) and IBU noting mutual recognition across several programs, including EPD Italy and UL Solutions, which helps with cross‑listing once an EN 15804 EPD exists (EPD International, 2025; IBU, 2025).
For Italy‑focused work, keep in mind that EN 15804+A2 verification has been mandatory for construction products since October 31, 2022 under EPD Italy rules (EPD Italy, 2024).
Why that gap matters commercially
On projects running whole‑building LCA or aiming for LEED v5 credits, specifiers penalize products without a third‑party verified EPD because they must use conservative default factors. That nudges teams toward suppliers with current declarations, which shortens deliberation time and reduces risk on carbon accounting. Without an EPD, even a technically superior bearing or joint can be swapped late in design when sustainability screens tighten. You may never see the RFPs you didn’t recieve.
Likely competitors on the same spec
Infrastructure owners often shortlist a familiar set of brands for these packages. In bridge bearings and joints, mageba, MAURER, Freyssinet’s CIPEC line, and D.S. Brown frequently appear. Some peers already publish EPDs in overlapping niches, which raises the bar on transparency:
- mageba RESTON SPHERICAL bearing, EPD published in EPD Hub on December 27, 2024, valid to 2029 (EPD Hub, 2024). (EPD Hub, 2024)
- Vossloh Nordic Switch Systems rail expansion joints, EPD in the International EPD System, valid to July 13, 2028 (EPD International, 2023). (EPD International, 2023)
Even if these are not one‑to‑one substitutes for every FIP configuration, they satisfy the same sustainability checkbox that gatekeeps many bids.
Where FIP seems strongest and what to EPD first
The brand’s historical strength is heavy civil: elastomeric and spherical bearings for high loads, large‑movement joints for road and rail, and LRB or curved‑surface isolation devices for seismic performance. If volume skews to standard elastomeric and pot bearings, those are natural first candidates for a product‑specific EPD because data collection is repeatable across many sizes. Large‑movement joints are another smart early win, since they feature prominently in tender documents and value engineering debates.
PCR picks without the headache
For construction hardware that does not have its own Part B rule, European teams commonly use the International EPD System’s EN 15804 framework for construction products. The program hosts the umbrella PCR 2019:14 for construction products, which many specialty components use successfully, while specific categories adopt c‑PCRs where available (EPD International, 2025). In Italy, A2 is the baseline and EPD Italy accepts EN 15804 EPDs and participates in mutual recognitions, which simplifies cross‑listing when you want visibility beyond one registry (EPD International, 2025; EPD Italy, 2024; IBU, 2025).
A quick process reality check for busy engineering teams
What slows infrastructure EPDs is not the modeling. It is the data wrangling for metals, elastomers, lubricants, machining, transport, and packaging across families and sizes. The fastest path is to scope a reference design per family, lock a clean reference year, document plant utilities and scrap flows once, then replicate the model across the size matrix with parametric bill‑of‑materials. That yields speed without sacrificing verification quality, and avoids burning your best engineers on spreadsheets.
One small website breadcrumb
If you are mapping certificates and approvals right now, FIP MEC’s download area centralizes company and product certifications, plus technical datasheets. It is a helpful starting point for the evidence trail you will need during verification (FIP MEC, Certifications).
Bottom line for product managers
FIP Industriale’s portfolio is broad and relevant to carbon‑screened tenders. Public EPD coverage appears minimal today, while peers already show verified data in bearings and rail joints. Publishing even a handful of product‑specific EPDs for your highest‑volume bearings and largest‑movement joints can de‑risk bids and keep your lines on the shortlists that matter. The work is finite, the ROI shows up in better spec stickiness, and the standards are clear enough to move now (EPD International, 2025; IBU, 2025; EPD Italy, 2024).
Frequently Asked Questions
What product families does FIP Industriale and FIP MEC sell into?
Structural bearings, expansion joints, anti‑seismic isolation and damping devices, and fittings for tunnel segments, with multiple series and sizes under each family.
Did you find published EPDs for FIP products in major registries?
We did not find product‑specific EPDs for FIP Industriale or FIP MEC in the International EPD System, IBU, or EPD Italy as of December 19, 2025. This observation is about public listings, not internal documents.
Which competitors in similar applications have EPDs today?
Examples include mageba’s RESTON SPHERICAL bearing on EPD Hub, valid to 2029, and Vossloh Nordic Switch Systems’ rail expansion joints on the International EPD System, valid to 2028. These are adjacent categories that often compete for the same project slots.
Which PCR should cover bearings and joints if we start EPDs?
In Europe, the International EPD System’s EN 15804 framework for construction products is commonly used, anchored in PCR 2019:14. Where a specific Part B or c‑PCR exists, use it. Italy requires EN 15804+A2 verification for construction products since 2022‑10‑31.
About the Author
With a passion for sustainability and a love for complex data, Toby helps manufacturers efficiently collect data from across their organization and get their EPDs done right. He’s especially interested in how AI can support human expertise, helping R&D and factory teams work faster, smarter, and with less friction.
