Metal Valve & Pipe Fitting Manufacturing

Metal Valve & Pipe Fitting Manufacturing

Brief Excerpt from Industry Overview Chapter:

Companies in this industry manufacture metal industrial and fluid power valves; hose and pipe fittings; plumbing fixtures and trim. Major companies include units of integrated process control companies such as Curtiss-Wright, Emerson, Flowserve, and Parker Hannifin (all based in the US), as well as valve manufacturers such as Crane Co, Mueller Water Products, and Watts Water (all based in the US), and IMI plc (UK), Kitz (Japan), KSB (Germany), and Tianjin Dazhan Group (China).

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Demand depends primarily on the level of manufacturing and construction activity. Construction activity in the chemical, petroleum, utilities, water treatment, and housing industries is especially important. Large companies have advantages in efficiency of operations and economies of scale. Offshore subsidiaries are frequently used for low-cost manufacturing. Smaller producers compete by focusing on specialized product offerings and superior customer service. The US industry is concentrated: the 50 largest companies generate about 70% of revenue.

PRODUCTS, OPERATIONS & TECHNOLOGY

Major product categories are industrial valve applications used primarily in water works and municipal water systems (about 40% of industry revenue). Fluid power valves are used in compressed or pressurized applications (35%); and plumbing-related valves and fixtures (about 20%). Valves control the flow of liquids, gases, slurries, or dry materials through a pipe or similar passageway, and may also control the rate of flow, volume, pressure, and direction. Some of the most common types of valves are gate, ball, butterfly, pressure relief, and custom engineered for...