Valve World Americas 2011

A Review by Christian Borrmann, Valve World magazine

Mr Kees Meliefste from Dow (right) in discussion with a representative from GE Energy about their waterproof valve systems.

Mr Kees Meliefste from Dow (right) in discussion with a representative from GE Energy about their waterproof valve systems.

The Partial Stroking Workshop. This was moderated by Henk Hinssen from iHandl Engineering and generated a lot interest and follow up discussions as well as a blog.

The Partial Stroking Workshop. This was moderated by Henk Hinssen from iHandl Engineering and generated a lot interest and follow up discussions as well as a blog.


Speakers Corner took place on Tuesday afternoon on the expo floor. Rich Davis spoke about Fugitive Emissions and the two main standards, API and ISO, which generated a lot of interest.

Speakers Corner took place on Tuesday afternoon on the expo floor. Rich Davis spoke about Fugitive Emissions and the two main standards, API and ISO, which generated a lot of interest.


The delegate lunch area was a welcome spot for networking and post-workshop debate.

The delegate lunch area was a welcome spot for networking and post-workshop debate.


Mr Danilo de Tomi and Mr Andrea Lana from DeTomi, Italy

Mr Danilo de Tomi and Mr Andrea Lana from DeTomi, Italy


After years of requests from both valve companies and end-users, on 21 & 22 June 2011 the premiere staging of Valve World Conference & Expo Americas took place in Houston, Texas. The largest portion of the visitors came from North and South America but lots of interested people from Europe and Asia also attended. Day 1 On Tuesday morning, after the delegates’ Powerbreakfast (sponsored by Bray Controls) the conference kicked off. After short introduction by myself, Valve World Editor-in-Chief Christian Borrmann, Conference Chairman Mr Jerry D’Avanzo from DuPont Engineering took over the microphone and opened the Conference by officially welcoming all the delegates and sponsors. He also thanked the Steering Committee and all the moderators and panel speakers for their efforts and hard work that they had put into the organization of the workshops.

He explained that the Committee had taken the chance of having a new event and had tried a different approach to previous Valve World expos. Instead of having a call for papers and then sessions, where these would be presented, the committee decided to run a conference compiled of six plenary presentations and only eight workshops in order to increase the participation of the audience and invite the delegates to actively discuss matters. After this short explanation, Mr D’Avanzo continued with a presentation on the ‘Importance of Process Safety Maintenance’ on how important it is to maintain equipment. Following this came one of the most requested presentations. Mr João Henrique Rittershaussen from Petrobras in Brazil spoke about the company’s business plan for 2014 and beyond. The morning session was then rounded off by Mrs Marie Murphy, Cooper

Nuclear Power Station NPPD, who spoke about the importance of exchange of information amongst peers in order to build up expertise and efficiency. She used her experiences of being a long-standing member of various nuclear valve industry groups to illustrate how they work together and exchange information about problems, solutions and issues with valve companies, etc. After a short break, where the delegates descended into the expo hall for coffee and meetings with valve companies, the delegates broke down into three groups to attend the first round of workshops. The topics of these were ‘Predicting Valve Performance during the Sizing and Selection Phase’, ‘Standards & Organisations’ and ‘Unconventional Energy Sources’. All three workshops attracted big audiences and some rooms were so full at times that people had to stand alongside the walls in order to participate.

Day 2 On the second and final day of the event, the delegates had a full conference day, which left them time to walk the expo floor during the coffee breaks, lunch and the evening cocktail hour. There was also an increase in the number of delegates attending the second day. After breakfast, the conference continued with another set of three plenary presentations. After a coffee break, the second round of workshops took place and the topics covered were ‘Counterfeit Valves – A Threat to the Valve Industry’, ‘Fitness for Service’ and ‘The Good, the Bad & the Ugly of Partial Stroking’. Again, all three workshops were an enormous success according to attendees and organizers. And after the lunch the final round of workshops took place: ‘Supply Chain Management’ and ‘Cryogenic Testing’.

With the conference concluding, the number of expo visitors increased again. Talking to exhibitors, delegates and visitors, the reactions were very positive: “One of the best Valve World events ever” – “The workshop on counterfeit valves was a real eye-opener and I hope that we can keep this discussion going” – “The expo contained a good mixture of valve companies with a strong focus on the Americas”.

Valve World Americas returns in 2013 The Valve World Conference & Expo Americas comes back in 2013 and it will take place in the George R. Brown Convention Center, Houston, Texas on 25 & 26 June 2013. For further information please contact Christian Borrmann: Tel: +31 575 585 276 E-Mail: c.borrmann@kci-world.com


Published: 1st September 2011

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