Rotork is a market-leading global provider of mission-critical flow control and instrumentation solutions for the industrial actuation and flow control markets. Customers rely on them for innovative, high quality and dependable solutions for managing the flow of liquids, gases and powders. The company helps customers around the world to improve efficiency, reduce emissions, minimise their environmental impact and assure safety.
Easy Engineering: What are the main areas of activity of the company?
We operate across three different divisions. These are Oil & Gas, Water & Power, and Chemical, Process & Industrial (CPI). This end-market-aligned structure means we are able to build close strategic relationships with our customers and directly meet their needs.
E.E: What’s the news about new products/services?
One of the most recent additions to our intelligent electric actuators is the IQ3 Pro with full mobile App integration. This evolution enables the continual development of new features that drive digitisation and future-proofing of electric actuation. The Rotork App provides intelligent control and communication capabilities for the IQ3 Pro and is a handy way to operate and configure the actuators.
The app has smart features, including a virtual Rotork Bluetooth® Setting Tool Pro (BTST), a valve configuration setup wizard, which streamlines commissioning and data logs from the IQ3 Pro actuators can be extracted via the App and exported to Rotork Insight 2 software or sent to Rotork’s cloud-based intelligent asset management (iAM) system.
E.E: What are the ranges of products/services?
Our comprehensive product portfolio and global service capability coupled with over 60 years of industry knowledge means customers can rely on us to understand the problems they face and to deliver reliable, economic solutions. We are the world’s leading manufacturer of flow control solutions encompassing electric, pneumatic and hydraulic valve actuators and control systems, valve gearboxes, valve accessories and precision control instruments – supported by the Rotork worldwide service network.
E.E: What is the state of the market where you are currently active?
Several sectors have experienced positive growth in the adoption of electric actuators, including energy, power, water, and chemical processing. Energy sectors, particularly LNG, play a critical role in driving demand, serving as a bridge to renewables. Water treatment sectors, including desalination and wastewater treatment, have also seen growth due to increasing efforts to address water infrastructure challenges. Industries like Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) and hydrogen are witnessing a pickup in demand, driven by their potential for large-scale growth and the need for innovative solutions.
E.E: What can you tell us about market trends?
Rotork understands that the world is changing and the markets it serves are benefiting from global mega trends such as the energy transition, automation, electrification and digitalisation. These trends play directly into their technology capabilities.
For example:
- Water quality: Rotork is enabling network infrastructure modernisation, water treatment and desalination.
- New energies: the energy transition is presenting a number of exciting opportunities for bridging the fuel gap, including LNG, biofuels, carbon capture utilisation and storage, green and blue hydrogen and concentrated solar.
- Electrification: electrification is a critical part of Rotork’s offering and is a driving force of Rotork’s emission reduction and improved control.
- Sustainability: sustainability is a major opportunity for Rotork, including through methane emissions and flaring elimination and low- and no-carbon fuels.
E.E: What are the most innovative products/services marketed?
Innovations in digitalisation has helped evolve valve actuators by enabling the integration of sensors, external inputs, and advanced microprocessors. This has led to enhanced data capture, more informed decision-making, and the emergence of predictive maintenance capabilities. Electric actuators, like the IQ3 Pro, have in-built data loggers so you can extract the data logs and send to Rotork’s iAM system. iAM helps reduce unplanned downtime by using analytics based on data taken from intelligent actuators to create a maintenance plan.
Additionally, Rotork has introduced a tiered approach to maintenance, segmenting the service into three levels that provide progressively-improved coverage and support. These tiers are basic, standard and premium. The bespoke nature of these programmes increases reliability and availability while reducing possible downtime.
E.E: What estimations do you have for the beginning of 2024?
Manufacturers of valve actuators face challenges in keeping pace with advancements in electronics and microprocessors. The transition towards software-based solutions necessitates effective management of supply chains and inventory to address part variance and ensure the timely availability of actuators.