The South African valve industry is currently in an interesting stage of evolution, owing to local manufacture transformation and innovation challenges, states designer, manufacturer and distributor of valves and related products Rexus Trading MD Allistair Balutto.

Citing a recent study by a prominent patent attorney firm, which indicates a major decline in patent submissions in South Africa since 1994, Balutto says a lack of innovation in the country has negatively impacted the eng- ineering field and the valve industry in particular.

“Most local valve manufacturers are peddling designs that are heavy and outdated, while imported products are churned out of factories in the East, which mass produce the same design for dozens of suppliers, with the only difference being the supplier’s logos attached to the product,” he says.

Further, he notes a significant decline in technicians that have a good understanding of pipeline and valve design and who can provide meaningful input in the application of the products they are selling in the past 20 years, adding that “formal training in the industry started tapering in the mid-1990s and has become virtually nonexistent in the current market”.

Meanwhile, it is hoped the industry will undergo a manufacturing transformation with the support of the local valves designation policy, of which the instruction note was issued in February by the National Treasury, setting the local content requirement for valves at 70%, he adds.

Other challenges include a lack of investment in automation and/or efficiency improvements in the foundry industry, which renders the average South African valve manufacturer uncompetitive and extends delivery to double or triple the delivery times, compared with delivery of an imported valve, he says.

However, Balutto emphasises that competitive local manufacturing can only be realised through innovation, adding that Rexus Trading is driven by innovation, and “seeks to buck” the general trends within the valve industry.

“Our innovation is driven by a hands-on approach from spending time in the field with municipal maintenance teams and with design engineers. By sharing our experiences and gathering the experiences of these individuals, the challenges, solutions and the kernels of innovation result from these interactions,” he says.

Further, Balutto notes that the company has established a range of South African Bureau of Standards-tested products under the Rexus, KII and AirFlo brands, emphasising that each of the products comprise innovative solutions for end- users that either have a capital savings and/or a life cycle cost benefit.

While valves installed in valve chambers require fittings and couplings to connect the valves to the pipeline, Rexus Trading also locally manufactures the fittings and couplings and often also supplies the pipe, Balutto says.

“Rexus Trading believes that the performance of a pipeline is highly dependent, not only on the quality and performance of the valve, but also on how well that valve is matched to the fittings and the configuration of the valve chamber,” he explains.

Further, the company developed manufacturing processes that allow for one- to two-day delivery of the end rings for the couplings, which are traditionally the most costly and have the longest delivery periods, Balutto points out.

“An imported coupling can take up to 12 weeks to be delivered. However, Rexus Trading assembles on average 2 500 to 3 000 couplings every two weeks, allowing us to replenish our stocks faster than any importer and to sat- isfy market demand much better than our competitors,” he says.

The company has received several orders for several prominent local and Southern African projects. In addition, Balutto notes that, as Rexus Trading has focused on local manufacture since its inception, this focus resulted in an increase in employment opportunities, with the company’s staff complement doubling over the last three years.

“Rexus is in a good position to grow from the niches that develop as the market evolves, as this is reflected in a healthy, but stable, growth rate over the last three years as our products and services become better entrenched. This is proof that innovation in manufacturing processes, as well as product function- ality, can result in rapid but sustainable growth,” Balutto concludes.