On-Off Valves, Actuators, and Switchboxes

The global on-off valve, actuators and switchboxes market witnessed moderate growth in 2019.  Most of the growth in 2019 can be attributed to the growing demand for new product sales in North America and APAC.  With the rise in shale extraction and liquefied natural gas (LNG) activities, ARC witnessed a steady growth in on-off valve and actuator sales recorded in both upstream and midstream oil and gas industries in North America during 2019.  A growing base of end users in APAC's refining and chemical production industry further helped drive demand for on-off valve and actuators in the region.

ARC does not anticipate a return to traditional growth rates in the global on-off valves and actuators market until 2022, as it expects the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic to linger through 2021.  A drop in domestic and commercial consumption of oil and gas has led to a severe downturn in global prices in 2020.  The demand for oil and gas is not expected to return to pre-pandemic levels until 2022.  Despite the gloomy forecast for oil demand, there are market trends expected to help stimulate oil companies’ investments in “smart” automation products for enabling remote operation and minimize human intervention.

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.

Strategic Issue for Users: Automating More Valve Types

Control valve installation and maintenance practices have dramatically changed, thanks to digital positioners, digital field networks, and predictive maintenance practices.  While there is still room for improvement, these changes help 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 isolation valves.  Automating and connecting isolation valves can provide significant economic benefits, but success depends on their willingness to embrace new technologies and change 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 isolation and pressure relief valves become more tightly integrated into plant control and safety systems.

Strategic Issue for Suppliers: Bringing Intelligence to On-off valves

Maintenance is the second largest controllable cost in a typical process plant.  The contributions maintenance makes to the enterprise in keeping physical assets in proper working order to avoid business interruption have a much greater impact on profitability and plant safety than previously acknowledged.  As end users continue to invest in asset management systems, they are looking to deploy intelligent field devices that can communicate with these systems.  The value of intelligent field devices is in the diagnostic capabilities, which greatly aid in the maintenance decision-making process.

End users are looking for features such as continuous asset monitoring, early fault alert, and storage of diagnostic data in their valves.  While high levels of diagnostic capabilities have been available for control valves for a long time, innovations to bring intelligence in the on-off space have started recently.  So far, very few suppliers have been offering intelligent on-off valve controllers.  Critical valve assets such as emergency shutdown and valves prone to frequent failure such as severe service on-off valves can be monitored for troubleshooting and reducing the overall unscheduled downtime.

Strategic Issue for All Market Participants: Economic Decline Due to COVID-19 

The COVID-19 outbreak has caused disruptions to global supply chains and business operations.  While the pandemic did not impact the 2019 demand for valve actuators, the market projections do take into account industry trends with ARC’s best estimates for how the COVID-19 pandemic will impact the on-off valves, actuators and switch boxes market in different vertical industries.