Garlock Sealing Technologies President Paul Baldetti

Critical Issues

As a component supplier, we may have a unique perspective on the fluid sealing and pump industries. Today's maintenance and engineering departments are leaner and thus more dependent on outside expertise to determine and implement the "right solution." The timely supply of high-quality critical parts remains the gold standard by which we are judged, but we must also provide "know-how" along with the parts we supply.

Today, fluid sealing manufacturers do much more than just manufacturing. We help customers keep their products and processes running smoothly. We help manage the supply chain. We help set standards and propagate best practices throughout the industry. Application engineering, product development resources, and product training programs must be available at all times, in multiple languages, on multiple continents.

Current Trends

We continue to see significant strength in the oil, gas and refining markets - as evidenced by the growing number of projects to expand capacity. The power generation industry has been strong globally and should remain so. In general, the industrial economy has been healthy. Even in slower growing markets, we see significant activity in refurbishing older equipment to improve safety or meet current standards.

Globalization is not a zero-sum game, but dramatic consequences have impacted some North American and European manufacturers as the process industries globalize. These industries continue to face consolidation in the developed world as a consequence, along with unprecedented growth opportunities in the developing world.

One significant trend is the move toward greater environmental consciousness. Regulations have tightened, but regulations alone are not driving this mindset. Corporations are justifiably concerned with reducing fugitive emissions, conserving water and reducing energy consumption whether or not regulations demand it. Even more telling, the movement to adopt "greener" products is increasingly being led by environmentally progressive companies rather than government regulation.

Dramatic investments by large corporations in regions such as India and China have created substantial global growth opportunities. These major corporations want global suppliers who can provide local service everywhere they do business, not only in their home markets. Suppliers must invest in infrastructure that can meet customer requirements when, where and how they want to be served. Such infrastructure requires both significant financial resources and a reservoir of product and application expertise that can be deployed on a global basis.

This has created a trend toward global partnering. Successful fluid sealing companies are establishing alliances, affiliates, and strategic partnerships worldwide, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region because of that area's market growth and distance from established points of supply.

Technologies Offering the Most Competitive Impact

Product designs which reduce or eliminate the risk of catastrophic failure are the holy grail of the fluid sealing business. While preventative maintenance will always be important, end users would prefer predictive or fail-safe technologies that alert their maintenance organizations in advance of catastrophic failure. This maximizes their process availability and minimizes their consequences of failure.

To accomplish this, investment is required in advanced materials technologies and product configurations with inherently increased resistance to abrasive fluids, harsh chemicals, high temperatures and pressures. We need advances in the state of the art to develop the technologies that will make such fail-safe products possible.

Materials research and development is ultimately the key to creating breakthrough fluid sealing products. These new products need to address not only the traditional fluid sealing benchmarks, but also the environmental, safety and health concerns of today's more progressive chemical and hydrocarbon industries.

Additional Insights

Aside from the challenges associated with globalization, fluid sealing companies must contend with the unique challenges associated with providing an engineered product that may look like a commodity. Proprietary formulations often offer "step change" improvements in sealing performance but can be visually difficult to distinguish from lower cost, lower performance materials.

Moreover, most fluid sealing products are relatively low-cost but high-consequence products. A seal often protects equipment worth one thousand times or even one million times its value. If a seal fails, production may shut down until the problem is resolved, equipment may be damaged, and a negative environmental release could possibly occur.

These consequences point to how important it is for manufacturers to assess the quality and reliability of fluid sealing products and suppliers - and for suppliers to provide both quality products and also expertise on "the science of sealing."

Original article published by Pumps & Systems, January 2007