Key Facts on the U.S. Industrial Pipe Fittings and Valves Industry

3 MIN. READ

All the pipes in the world would be useless without fittings and valves. These are the parts of pipe systems that allow changes in direction and control of flow.

This flow can be liquid, such as water, or gaseous, such as compressed air. As you would expect, fabricated fittings and valves are closely linked with the health of the pipe industry overall.

Industry Status

The industrial pipe fitting and valve industry is doing quite well for such a relatively small segment of manufacturing.

Data from MNI shows that the 1,172 companies that make up the sector averaged $19.6 billion in sales over the past year. This represents an increase of nearly 2% over the previous year. The number of jobs has remained nearly stable over that same interval with 20,687 individuals employed by the sector.

Roughly 38% of these companies distribute internationally which is 10% higher than the average for manufacturing as a whole.

The Chinese trade war could have had a larger effect on the sector if not for the increasing worldwide demand for valves and fittings. The biggest consumers of valves and fittings are various energy and water projects around the world.

Valves and fittings are made of materials such as PVC, copper, brass and iron. Until the advent of reshoring, many of these materials were found and sourced from overseas suppliers. However, today only 19% of manufacturers import raw materials.

Geographic distribution of valve and fitting manufacturers exhibits a high-low split among the four U.S. regions. The South and Midwest have 39% and 31% respectively and are considered the high regions.

The West and the Northeast both have the same 15% distribution, representing lower production in those areas.

Types of Fittings and Their Uses

There are many types of fittings within a few major categories. Elbows allow for discreet changes in pipe direction, usually 22.5, 45 and 90 degrees.

Couplings and unions connect pipes of the same size. Related to couplings are reducers, which join pipes of different sizes. Crosses and tees allow multiple pipes to join into one.

Fabricated fittings are customized assemblies that let customers specify unique angles, sizes and materials compared with mass-produced or molded fittings.

Thus, the companies in this space all possess superb machining skills and work to very high tolerances. After all, a fitting may be used anywhere, from an office building to a nuclear reactor.

Advances in Design

Technological changes in the fitting and valve industry are relatively slow based on the limited opportunities for improvement.

The biggest focus is currently on tighter tolerances, better materials and integration of smart sensing and control systems.

These systems can enable valves to respond not just based on local data but on entire system status. The addition of wireless activation will remove a potential source of leaks compared with older remote activation techniques.

Your Industrial Needs Resource

If your systems require fittings or valves to make them fully operational, please look through our free database to find the supplier for you.

IndustryNet gives you the resources to not only find manufacturers but connect with them and receive multiple simultaneous quotes using our built-in tools. Start your free search today!

Article Sources:

https://www.indelac.com/blog/bid/340156/Industrial-Valves-Innovative-and-Practical-Products-of-Technological-Advancements

https://www.flowcontrolnetwork.com/home/article/15552230/qa-key-trends-in-valve-technology

https://www.modernindustrial.com/blogs/news/faq-what-are-fabricated-fittings

https://theconstructor.org/building/types-of-pipe-fittings-in-plumbing/12541/

https://blog.ansi.org/2016/03/valves-and-fittings-in-nuclear-industry/

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/3-9b-instrumentation-valves--fittings-industry-outlook-2020-2025---integration-of-iiot-enabled-instrumentation-valves-to-minimize-unexpected-downtime-300986786.html