On-Off Valves, Actuators, and Switchboxes

The On-Off Valves, Actuators, and Switchboxes Market Research study delivers current market analysis plus a five year market and technology forecast. The study is available in multiple editions including worldwide,all regions, and most major countries.

Digitalization Boosts Demand for Smarter On-Off Valves

ARC Advisory Group research on the on-off valves market reveals that although many manufacturing companies were already considering adopting Industrial IoT solutions, the pandemic pushed many companies that were "on the fence" to begin actively implementing these solutions. Manufacturers are realizing that secure data storage platforms that enable remote connectivity and enterprise-wide data access are becoming fundamental to optimizing manufacturing operations. As more manufacturing companies invest in these new data storage platforms and connected valves, many of them are also taking a closer look at valve remote monitoring services offered by many of the leading valve and actuator suppliers.

On-Off Valves Strategic Issues

In addition to providing a five-year market forecast, the On-Off Valves, Actuators, and Switchboxes Market Research provides detailed quantitative current market data and addresses key strategic issues as follows.

Automate More Valve Types

Valve installation, commissioning, and maintenance practices have changed dramatically, thanks to intelligent actuators, digital positioners, digital field networks, and predictive maintenance practices. While there is still room for improvement, these changes are helping to reduce costs and unplanned downtime for owner-operators that have successfully implemented these newer technologies and corresponding work processes. ARC feels the time is right for owner-operators to expand valve automation by automating more manually operated valves application. The automating valve actuation mechanism can provide significant economic benefits, but success depends on a willingness to embrace new technologies and resilience toward changing flow control practices that have been in place for decades.

A key benefit is that a single supplier assumes responsibility to ensure these components are integrated safely and securely and supported by the appropriate services. This will become increasingly important in the future as manually operated isolation valves become more tightly integrated into plant control and safety systems.

Choose a Digital Solution Provider Over Mere Product Suppliers

The automated valves space is currently witnessing an evolution, with several key market participants transforming their business, from mere equipment manufacturers and suppliers to complete solution providers. Cloud platforms and analytics engines are being employed for data management, processing, and predictive maintenance. End users should seek out such solution providers than just hardware suppliers that are willing to invest sufficient time and resources for process evaluation, product customization, digitalization service, and support to enable the successful deployment of the technology and long-term technology partnerships for optimizing overall plant efficiency and emissions.

Evaluate Wireless Technologies

ARC sees increased interest among process industry end users in applying wireless sensing technology in their installations. The availability of industry-standard protocols (WirelessHART and ISA100) provides a huge catalyst, but some end users still take a "wait and see" approach in hopes that the wireless field communications standards will converge—ARC believes that this is most unlikely.
 
Competing standards and battery life limitations have slowed wireless adoption, but since wireless devices offer both greater installation flexibility in hard-to-reach parts of the plant and can greatly reduce wiring costs, ARC encourages end users to continue specifying wireless devices as their technical limitations are overcome. 

End users need to prepare for wireless adoption as the technology continues to penetrate process automation architectures. While the business case is often relatively straightforward, implementation can be challenging, particularly for sites where the appropriate infrastructure is not in place. Suppliers need to recognize this hurdle and arm themselves with implementation guidelines and best practices to help smooth adoption and lower implementation costs.