TPi November 2019

Fittings, valves, flanges & connectors

Axel Johnson expands offering in Irish valves market

in the water and wastewater, which complements AxFlow’s sales of PD pumps in this sector. IPV has a good geographical location outside Dublin, so this will provide AxFlow with the opportunity to grow another service facility for its pumps business, as well as developing service and testing for valves.” Axel Johnson International AB – Sweden axinter@axinter.com www.axinter.com AxFlow Ltd – Ireland info@axflow.ie www.axflow.ie Irish Pumps & Valves Ltd – Ireland

Established in 1998, Irish Pumps & Valves is based in Carlow, Ireland, where it holds an extensive stock range of gate, non-return, ball and butterfly valves. Its portfolio also includes pneumatic and electric actuators, flanges, fittings, gaskets and fixings. The company offers full assembly and test facilities at its County Carlow premises, together with on-site customer service backup. AxFlow Ireland has a well-established presence in these industries through its pump distribution and service facilities, and by adding valves to its portfolio it will be able to offer pump and valve packages for large-scale projects. AxFlow Ireland managing director Stuart Flood commented, “Irish Pumps & Valves is an established business in the Irish market, and they are strong overcame significant technical challeng- es. Hobbs Valve and Heap & Partners both confirmed that their respective elements were among the largest orders they have ever received. Heap & Partners’ sales and marketing director, Andrew Will, instigated the collaboration after noticing a valve enquiry published via the BVAA’s business leads service for members. “On reading the specification, we knew immediately that the project was significant and achievable,” he explained. “However, we also knew that with expert advice we could potentially save the customer a great deal of money. What’s more, to fulfil the order we’d need to work with third parties that we could rely on. The BVAA was the perfect place to find those partners – through its various committees and events I’ve come to know, trust and respect many co-members. I was confident that we could build a consortium with the required qualities, products and services to successfully bid for and deliver this complex order.”

AxFlow Ireland, part of the fluid han- dling solutions business group of Axel Johnson International, has acquired Irish Pumps & Valves Ltd (IPV). IPV is a major Irish supplier of valves, actuators, pumps and ancillary equipment with service capabilities, serving the waste- water, power generation and process industries. “This acquisition will enable AxFlow Ireland to enter the valve market in the wastewater sector,” said Ole Weiner, CEO, AxFlow Holding. “The strategy of adding valves to our product portfolio has already realised benefits in the food sector with the introduction of SPX products. This is a big opportunity for us to grow valve sales in sectors which AxFlow Ireland has never explored.” Three businesses specialising in valve manufacture and engineering analysis have completed a high-value, technically advanced triple offset butterfly valve project in a consortium facilitated by the British Valve and Actuator Association (BVAA). Heap & Partners, Hobbs Valve and PDL Group worked together to devise an effective, highly engineered approach for the project, which comprised more than 100 stainless steel valves with bore sizes of 10", 12" and 14". All the valves had to achieve high seismic test spectra, verifying their ability to withstand a seismic event. Some of the valves also needed to operate within a two-second window. Actuator specialist Orbinox was enlisted to achieve this with an assembly comprising an Elomatic actuator, ASCO solenoid, Westlock switchbox, Orbinox quick exhaust valve and bracketry. The combined expertise of the valve and fluidics engineering specialists

info@valves.ie www.valves.ie

Collaborative engineering resolves complex valve project

The project demanded extensive, ongoing cooperation between the businesses over a three-year period. Hobbs Valve’s group sales director, Gavin Wheeler, commented, “Three years of hard work went into refining the package for the customer. It involved extensive physical testing, sometimes of unusual parameters, and we had to prove the designs with finite element analysis and computational fluid dynamics.” Established in 1939, the BVAA has established links with end-users as well as valve and actuator businesses. It operates various services that enable members to identify and act on business opportunities, including an online marketplace where end-users can post their needs, triggering alerts to relevant members who have signed up to the service and bi-weekly market intelligence bulletins. British Valve & Actuator Association – UK www.bvaa.org.uk

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November 2019 TUBE PRODUCTS INTERNATIONAL