WINTER
Cost Increases: A Painful Fact of Life
Brooke Stoddard, freelance writer
Steel, health care, energy…what do they all have in common? Rapidly rising costs, say valve and actuator manufacturers, who are struggling with how to soften the blow for their customers.
BACK TO BASICS: The Subject is Valves
Tom Christian, Genentech
We kick off a new series designed to educate newcomers to the industry about the most common types of valves and actuators.
Harnessing the Power of Web Technology and E-Business
Godard Abel, Big Machines Inc.
Web technology and collaboration software help streamline the specification, quoting and ordering of valves and actuators.
Selecting Stainless Steel for Valves
Ralph Vender, Carpenter Technology Corp.
Here’s a method to help you choose an appropriate stainless steel for your application.
Variable Speed Pumping: A Guide to Successful Applications
Hydraulic Institute
In this excerpt from a recently published book by the Hydraulic Institute, variable speed drives are discussed as a way to lower life-cycle costs.
PRODUCT FEATURE: Software Solutions
Mark Francis, VMA staff
Once tedious and time-consuming manual tasks are increasingly being handled by software. Take a look at some examples of products designed to make your job easier.
An Integrated Diagnostics Strategy for Digital Positioners
Jorge Keisbauer, SAMSON AG
A new kind of graded diagnostic strategy involves the data being collected online in the positioner where it is evaluated to create on-board status alarms.
SPRING
Pharmaceuticals: Valves are Part of the Cure
Brooke Stoddard, freelance writer
The pharmaceutical industry is a demanding one, but valve manufacturers demonstrate they’re up to the task.
Pulp & Paper: What a Mill Manager Wants
David Lazar, Lazar Creative Group
Foreign competition and rising costs mean today’s mill managers need all the help they can get.
BACK TO BASICS: The Ever-Popular Gate Valve
Greg Johnson, United Valve
It may be low-tech, but the gate valve still plays a major role in nearly every refinery, chemical plant, power plant, and industrial facility in the world.
Digital Instrumentation in a Nuclear Power Plant
Bill Fitzgerald, Emerson Process Management and Charles Linden, Omaha Public Power District
Aging plants have increasingly longer lives. Many believe it’s time to update the instrumentation in these plants rather than just “replace in kind.”
Copycats & Thieves: Knock It Off!
Dan Velan, Velan Valve
If you don’t deal exclusively with reputable manufacturers, distributors and repair facilities, you and your plant may be in for some very unpleasant surprises.
PRODUCT FEATURE: Spotlight on Suppliers
Judy Tibbs, Valve Magazine
Valve and actuator manufacturers are suppliers to many of this magazine’s readers—but who supplies products to the folks who make the valves and actuators? Find out here.
SUMMER
PVF Distribution: The Laws of Supply and Demand
Mark Ward, Sr., freelance writer
The “just-in-time” mindset, globalization and an increasingly integrated supply chain are affecting North American PVF distributors who share their views with Valve Magazine readers.
Open-Flow Remote Monitoring of Offshore Shutdown Valves
Stan Hale, Gary Hill and Andrea Huels, Crane Valve Services
Offshore safety has taken a major step forward in the North Sea through adoption of an online leakage monitoring system for riser shutdown valves.
Technology of the Buckling Pin
Julian Taylor, Taylor Valve Technology/Rupture Pin Technology
When used as a sensor and actuator, the buckling pin valve provides an alternative for relief valves, emergency shutdown valves and quarter-turn valves.
Final Control Solutions for Safety Systems
Tom Jeansonne, Emerson Valve Automation Division
The development of new standards that identify risk tolerance and probability levels reveal the increasing importance of Safety Instrumented Systems.
BACK TO BASICS: How to Select an Electric Actuator
Howard Williams, Rotork Controls
These handy guidelines will help you choose the right electric actuator for your application.
FALL
2006 Market Outlook: An Economic Mixed Bag
Judy Tibbs, Valve Magazine
Put together a dozen economists and industry gurus, and what do you get? A dozen different opinions about the outlook for the coming year—good, bad and in between! PLUS: A look at how Katrina is affecting the U.S. economy.
BACK TO BASICS: Pressure Seal Valves
Donald Bowers, Jr., Velan Valve
Pressure seal gate, globe, and check valves provide a wide range of industries—including power, pulp and paper, and refining—with a safe, leak-free, pressure-containing boundary.
Valves and Castings: Cycle of Concern
Mark Ward, Sr., freelance writer
Will it take another Bhopal disaster to focus attention on the inconsistent integrity of valve castings? Industry observers hope not, but worry that history could repeat itself.
The U.S. Cracks Down on Export Controls
Eric McClafferty, Kelley Drye Collier Shannon
Many valve manufacturers, distributors and users risk significant criminal and civil penalties by failing to comply with export controls on valves and other fluid handling products.
The Product Development Process
Paul Gassman, Emerson Process Management
Here’s how one control valve manufacturer makes sure its newly developed products meet customer expectations for performance and reliability.
VMA: Leading the North American Valve And Actuator Industry
VMA staff
Yes, the Valve Manufacturers Association of America publishes Valve Magazine, but there’s a lot more to learn about the only organization that speaks for the North American valve and actuator industry.
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