TANKS & LOGISTICS 17
INTERNAL AFFAIRS VALVES • FORT VALE HAS INTRODUCED A NEW RANGE OF PFA-LINED VALVES. MARKETING DIRECTOR GRAHAM BLANCHARD EXPLAINS WHY INDUSTRY SHOULD BE EXCITED IT’S BEEN A strange year, a year of lockdowns, furloughs, restrictions and masks. Uncertainty has been the defining mood of 2020, but it has also been a year in which innovation has been a key factor. In the future I think that 2020 will be seen as a year that was defined not so much by the chaos of coronavirus, but by the response. Ingenuity and agility from the industrial sector have repurposed factories and saved lives - globally. In Burnley, Lancashire, Fort Vale has continued as usual. We are fortunate in that self-sufficiency is an important part of our ethos so that, when the world began shutting down in April, we were able to stay open and keep
FORT VALE’S NEW RANGE OF PFA-LINED VALVES IS ALREADY BEING WELCOMED BY THE MARKET
manufacturing as normal. Fort Vale owns all its manufacturing facilities, having total control over all processes from foundry to testing. We were able to swiftly introduce new working practices that protected our staff whilst operating at almost full capacity - this was important, as in the early months of the epidemic we found ourselves picking up work from competitors with supply chain problems - and now that a semblance of normality has returned, we are ideally placed to roll out the new developments that we have been working on all year. One of these is our new range of PFA-lined valves. Valve corrosion is a major problem for fuel and chemical transfer systems, but PFA-lined internals substantially improve corrosion resistance against aggressive products. At Fort Vale, we prefer to have
complete control of all our manufacturing processes, and we have found that successful and profitable tank operation relies upon the technical integrity of each and every component, so when the decision was made to introduce this new range, we decided to build in this capability from the ground up. INVESTING IN THE SHOP Given that we use 316 stainless steel base material as standard (it gives excellent corrosion resistance for our many products), we also invested in PFA lining equipment to bring the process in-house, as well as a new paint shop specifically for chemical resistant paint applications. This also means that we can offer optional chemical-resistant painted external parts - to offer increased corrosion resistance against product splash or product vapour. A breakthrough in casting tool development means we can reduce the cost of this specialised equipment and offer them across a wide range of products, including pressure relief valves, ball valves, angle valves for rail applications, butterfly valves and bottom outlet valves. The results have been impressive, and we are already seeing a lot of interest from the global market. We are the first manufacturer in the industry to have built a third party-approved test laboratory, where we conduct air-flow and liquid-flow testing. This gives us a unique insight into “real-life” scenarios and enables us to make significant and informed contributions to the safety of pressurised tanks. Our state-of-the-art manufacturing facility is equipped with the latest machines and technology which means that we can satisfy all high-volume requirements as well as highly customised requests. We can produce complex component parts to a high tolerance and superior surface finish at our lost wax investment casting foundry. Specialist and bespoke work is our key strength - we can develop a design concept through to a finished product completely in-house - quickly. In an increasingly unpredictable world, it’s nice to be able to offer some certainty, and whatever 2021 brings, you can be sure that Fort Vale will be at the forefront. Watch this space. www.fortvale.com
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