Valve Magazine - Spring 2012

Valve MAGAZINE

www.ValveMagazine.com

The Industry Outlook—

Slow, But Steady

EDITORIAL REVIEW BOARD
Richard D. Oaks
AUMA AC TUATORS, INC.

Mike Hendrick CONVAL, INC.

Doug Clendenin
CRANE FLOW SOLUTIONS

John Wells
EMERSON PROCESS
MANAGEMENT

Ed Holtgraver QTRCO, INC.

Andrew Shuman CAMERON

Christopher Warnett ROTORK CONTROLS, INC.

VALVE MAGAZINE (ISSN No. 1057- 2813) is the official magazine of the Valve Manufacturers Association of America (VMA) and is published quarterly by VMA, located at 1050 17th Street NW, Suite 280, Washington, DC 20036-5521; 202.331.8105; Fax: 202.296.0378.

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Subscriptions are free to qualified readers in the United States and Canada; $40 per year to unqualified readers in the United States and Canada; $60 per year for all subscribers outside the United States and Canada. Statements of fact and opinion made are the responsibility of the authors alone and do not necessarily imply endorsement or agreement on the part of the officers or membership of VMA. Materials may not be reproduced in any form without written permission of VMA.

O
ur recently issued Market Forecast of Industrial Valve Shipments in the
United States for 2012 shows that the valve industry is continuing on its
road back to the high levels reached in 2008 when shipments from
Much of the growth reported by VMA members has come from
international business while domestic business has remained about the same.
However, members also report optimism about the domestic market for
2012, saying they are going into the year with strong backlogs that will
materialize as gains. Most feel new projects and new facilities will be built
here in the United States in the near future.

Meanwhile, our monthly internal economic report shows that more than 45% of our members are again adding personnel to their production teams, which is another sign of a positive outlook. This is the highest percentage addition reported in more than six months. Another statistic produced in the monthly report shows that 90% of reporting members forecast shipment growth in 2012.

So what end-user industries will benefit by this growth? Based on our forecast, the growth seems to be across the board, including power, oil & gas, chemical and nuclear. The one questionable area seems to be the water and wastewater market, which depends heavily on the direction municipalities follow.

One area not in question is international activity, which will continue to be a bright spot for U.S. and Canadian valve manufacturers, with Asia and South America at the forefront of that activity. I’ll provide some added insight on international activity in the summer issue of Valve Magazine, when I’ll share the outlook for our European counterparts—I will have just returned from that area of the world’s Annual Congress in Paris.

Look for additional information on our industry on page 6 in the Industry Capsules section. It will back up my claim that it’s good time to be in the valve industry. VM