Innovation leads, reliable assurance - strengthening full lifecycle solutions across multiple scenarios

May 6, 2025

Having entered the Chinese market for decades, Valmet has gained a deep understanding of the changes and needs of the local market and its customers through establishing long-term cooperative relationships with thousands of clients. In response to the characteristics of the times and industry pain points, Valmet focuses on reliability and high performance, creating innovative products and services from multiple perspectives across various stages of the full lifecycle, including design and selection, emission control, inspection and testing, use, and maintenance, to name a few. This approach continuously enhances the application experience and supports the long-term sustainable development of its users.

Valmet’s proven flow control solutions offer reliability for the energy transition.

By Laura Wang, KCI Publishing
This article was originally published as the cover story of Valve World Asia magazine, April 2025 issue, 维美德：创新领航，可靠保障——强化多场景全生命周期解决方案 - Valve World Asia. The translation to English has been provided by the publisher.

Since entering the flow control industry in the 1950s, Valmet has established itself as a global pioneer, underpinned by its profound technical expertise, unwavering commitment to reliability, and an extensive track record of performance. By consistently pushing beyond both self-imposed and industry limits, Valmet has harnessed its expansive product portfolio and diversified service offerings to adeptly cater to a wide range of needs, with particular excellence in tackling extreme and demanding operating environments. Today, the company, recognized for its excellence in pulp and paper, oil and gas refining, mining, and chemicals, is also actively contributing to the energy transition. It has achieved remarkable success in the hydrogen and oxygen sectors by providing reliable valve and automation systems, setting benchmarks for quality, reliability, and safety in its field.

Innovation empowers every key link throughout the entire lifecycle of solutions

As a leading global provider of technology and services, Valmet holds a significant position in the field of flow control, thanks to its extensive product portfolio and renowned brand lineup. Brands such as Neles™, Neles Easyflow™, Jamesbury™, Stonel™, Valvcon™, and Flowrox™ have been proven reliable and stable through decades of practical applications by users worldwide, under a variety of operating conditions, including extremely harsh ones. This has had a long-term positive impact on the industry and its users. Despite its leading position in the industrial flow control field, Valmet never stops innovating. The company is committed to optimizing valve lifecycle solutions, from product selection to application maintenance and final disposal. This dedication to product reliability and high performance runs through every stage of the process, ensuring that Valmet meets the diverse needs of various industries.

Selection

To further enhance user experience, Valmet offers the Nelprof™ sizing and selection tool. Regardless of the process requirements, Nelprof can easily assist customers in selecting the most suitable valve, and it is available to customers free of charge.

It maximizes process efficiency, minimize raw material losses, and avoids common mistakes in valve selection, such as oversizing. Additionally, it can select the most compatible valve and actuator combination for specific requirements. Zheng Naiqi, Country Manager of Valmet Flow Control China, said, " Valmet takes valve selection seriously, focusing not just on performance, quality, and price, but also on the valve's lifecycle performance, including durability, maintenance costs, reliability, and adaptability to specific environments. Therefore, we invested in developing Nelprof software to provide customers with scientific, reasonable selection recommendations for optimal valve performance in actual applications.”

Testing

Testing plays a crucial role in Valmet's new product development process, ensuring superior performance and high reliability. From flagship products like the Neles™ NDX 2.0™ valve controller to the Neles™ XH ball valve, every step of development undergoes rigorous testing, aimed at comprehensively verifying their quality and reliability.

Valmet boasts industry-leading testing facilities capable of covering all necessary verifications for new product development. Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT), a critical component, can be witnessed either onsite or remotely, ensuring transparency and impartiality in the testing process. These tests encompass cryogenic, fugitive emissions, and high-pressure gas tests based on major industry standards, simulating extreme operating conditions in real-world applications.

It is particularly noteworthy that Valmet's newly built high-pressure gas testing facility integrates numerous advanced features, including the utilization of collaborative robots, the establishment of safety walls, an electrical locking system, oxygen detection, and video surveillance systems. These innovations collectively create a safer and more efficient testing environment. Although the traditional bubble count method continues to serve as the basis for evaluating leakage rates, Valmet has incorporated advanced electronic devices to automate this process, thereby greatly enhancing the precision and efficiency of the tests.

In the flow control industry, customers place great emphasis on professional experience and long-term product reliability. Valmet understands this well, and therefore, all products brought to market employ field-proven technologies and have undergone rigorous testing in top-tier testing laboratories. This relentless pursuit of quality ensures that Valmet's products can operate stably under various complex conditions, earning widespread trust and praise from customers.

Maintenance

Valve maintenance and repair are crucial in industrial production, impacting safety, efficiency, lifespan, and industrial development. Therefore, Valmet attaches great importance to this field, with particular focus on significant investments and innovative integration of smart technology to launch predictive maintenance solutions. Meanwhile, Valmet optimizes maintenance convenience in valve and actuator designs, significantly enhancing equipment performance and user experience.

Taking Valmet's highly notable Neles™ 6D ball valve series as an example in recent years, one of its highlights lies in its ease of integration with smart technology. The series' Neles™ 6DX actuator and smart controller integrate advanced diagnostic functions and achieve breakthroughs in predictive maintenance. By easily fitting onto the Neles™ 6D valve, these smart components enable customers to monitor the valve's performance status in real-time. This capability is vital as it allows customers to promptly identify and address potential risks before they cause specific issues. Based on this, customers can further optimize their maintenance plans, ensuring the valves' continuous and efficient operation while reducing losses due to unexpected shutdowns or failures. Valmet's innovation not only elevates the intelligence level of valve products but also achieves remarkable achievements in the field of predictive maintenance, providing robust support for the stability and reliability of industrial production.

Moreover, Valmet incorporates considerations for the ease of valve and actuator maintenance during the design phase. Kevin Zhao, Sales Director of the East area of Valmet Flow Control China, said, "Take our Neles™ XH ball valve as an example. It's not just a product; it's a vivid embodiment of our concept of convenient maintenance. When designing the Neles™ XH ball valve, we incorporated numerous innovative ideas. We ensured it is not only easy to maintain but also designed its spare parts with considerations for versatility and ease of access. This means when users need to maintain or replace parts, they can quickly find the required components, significantly reducing downtime and ensuring production continuity. More importantly, this design approach also extends the valve's overall service life. Users no longer have to worry about frequent maintenance or replacements and can focus more on their core business. At the same time, this indirectly supports users' sustainable development goals by reducing resource waste and downtime, which means a corresponding decrease in environmental impact."

Sustainable development

"Sustainable development" has always been a core development philosophy of Valmet, which is fully demonstrated in many of its product lines. For instance, the innovative Neles™ NDX 2.0 smart valve controller is compatible with both linear and rotary valves, including those from third-party manufacturers. Furthermore, Neles™ NDX 2.0 has been termed "Sustainable Development 2.0" by the Valmet team, as it can reduce air consumption by up to 90% compared to competing valve positioners. This translates into significant energy savings and reduced carbon dioxide emissions. To facilitate customers in quantifying these benefits, Valmet also provides online software for estimating savings.

The advantages of Neles NDX 2.0 extend beyond energy conservation. According to introductions, Neles NDX 2.0 excels in control performance, particularly in control accuracy, which directly enhances process quality and output. In other words, it stabilizes the process, thereby increasing production volume and profitability. Thanks to its modular design, Neles NDX 2.0 is easy to install and commission, features an intuitive operating interface, and can accommodate all valve sizes and operating conditions.

Another notable example is the Neles™ XH ball valve, which significantly optimizes size and weight. The Valmet design team achieved this lightweight design without compromising valve reliability, robustness, or performance. Consequently, the carbon footprint of the Neles™ XH ball valve is substantially lower than that of traditional valves of equivalent performance, a feature that aligns well with customers' environmental goals of reducing the environmental impact of their supply chains. "Safe operation is a fundamental requirement for every industrial valve, but with Neles™ XH, we have elevated safety to a new level, incorporating it into every stage of manufacturing, transportation, handling, and installation. This comprehensive approach to safety includes features like new detachable lifting mounts for larger valves, improving maneuverability and safety during installation," added Kevin Zhao.

Valmet emphasizes ease of maintenance, repair, and recycling in product design and implements various initiatives during valve manufacturing to reduce environmental impact and enhance product availability. Zheng Naiqi emphasized, "Our focus spans the entire life cycle, from selection and design to disposal. Innovation is not just about technological advancements; it also reflects Valmet's deep understanding of user needs and future trends."

One-stop service: leveraging strengths to create additional value across multiple applications

Valmet's flow control business boasts a long history and an impressive track record, demonstrating exceptional performance in new construction, renovation, and upgrade projects alike. Its technology, proven through field applications, has been utilized in various industries such as oil refining and chemicals, mining, pulp and paper manufacturing, and renewable energy for an extended period, providing reliable support to numerous industrial facilities. These extensive case studies fully attest to product performance and have generated significant added value for customers.

Leveraging its extensive product portfolio and diversified service capabilities, Valmet continues to unlock new application scenarios in line with the development trends of the times, particularly in the field of new energy. For instance, in the hydrogen energy sector, Valmet's valves for hydrogen and oxygen have been widely applied in practical scenarios.

Addressing the issue of fugitive emissions in hydrogen service environments, Valmet has specifically developed valve stem packing and sealing solutions, taking into account the potential risk of hydrogen-induced embrittlement during material selection to enhance product reliability. Additionally, Valmet boasts substantial experience in valves for oxygen service conditions, with over 30,000 units in operation globally. Furthermore, Valmet's hydrogen valves have been proven in both atmospheric and pressurized alkaline electrolysis cells, and for solid oxide electrolysis cells, it can also provide high-temperature valve solutions. Its valve products, including V-port valves, butterfly valves, ball valves, and more, can basically cover all valve needs in fields related to energy transition, whether involving hydrogen, oxygen, or carbon dioxide applications.

Deepening roots in the Chinese market and continuously upgrading user experience

Valmet’s Flow Control business (formerly Metso and Neles), since its entry into the Chinese market decades ago, has always regarded this market as a strategic core. It has established long-term and stable cooperative relationships with thousands of customers and gained widespread recognition in various industries such as pulp and paper, refining and petrochemicals, industrial gases, and metal mining.

As a technology-driven company, Valmet continuously drives innovation in flow control products and solutions to maintain its industry-leading position. In recent years, Valmet has successfully upgraded multiple cutting-edge technology products and introduced them into the Chinese market, aiming to provide Chinese customers with a low-energy, high-reliability user experience and also helping them achieve a more "intelligent" production mode.

To better serve the local market, Valmet has established a full-product supply manufacturing center in Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province. Today, nearly 95% of Valmet’s Flow Control products that end up installed in China are produced and assembled here, ensuring a rapid response to customers' diverse needs and faster delivery. Meanwhile, Valmet has reorganized its sales team to be closer to customers, deeply understand their actual needs, and provide them with more precise services.

Rain Li, Jiaxing Plant Director of Valmet Flow Control, said, "In the current market environment, the agile manufacturing capability of factories is crucial. The Jiaxing factory relies on efficient production scheduling and a lean manufacturing system to quickly respond to customer needs, shorten delivery cycles, and enhance market competitiveness. By optimizing production processes and introducing intelligent manufacturing technologies, we ensure that products meet high-quality standards while achieving flexible and efficient delivery."

Regarding tariff issues, Rain Li believes they are both a challenge and an opportunity: "The Jiaxing plant is actively optimizing its supply chain management to reduce intermediate links, thereby lowering overall costs while ensuring delivery stability and competitiveness. Through precise supply chain planning and localized production, we can more flexibly respond to changes in the global market and provide customers with more advantageous products."

Valve maintenance and repair are crucial for industrial production, directly affecting safety, efficiency, equipment lifespan, and industry development. Valmet attaches great importance to this and has innovatively integrated intelligent technology to launch predictive maintenance solutions. Rain Li added, "The Jiaxing factory is actively adopting AI technology for production monitoring, quality analysis, and predictive maintenance of equipment to improve overall operational efficiency. In addition, we use intelligent data analysis to help customers optimize valve selection, enabling them to make better decisions and thus improve production stability and economic benefits. With AI and digital tools, we can predict potential equipment issues in advance, reduce unplanned downtime, and enhance production efficiency."

Having deeply rooted in the Chinese market for decades, Valmet is keenly aware of local demand dynamics. Based on this, the company has strengthened technological innovation, enhanced competitiveness, and optimized services. Regardless of the industry, application, or operating conditions, Valmet can provide high-quality valve and actuator products for conventional products or flow control solutions for specific processes. The company continuously upgrades its product line, committed to delivering the highest-quality products to the Chinese market and creating a new height of industrial application experience.