Bürkert now holds a wide variety of the more common valve designs including ball valves, butterfly valves and quarter-turn valves in standard sizes on the shelf. This increase in the product line represents a considerable investment in stock-holding, with more than £1 million worth of stock now held in the UK, to compliment industry recognised angle seat, globe and control valve packages.
Neil Saunders, Bürkert UK General Manager, explains the move: “Quite simply we are adding convenience for our customers by offering more of what our systems customers and distribution partners want on a same day / next day availability basis."
Cost effective solutions
Cost pressures are everywhere, so conformity of fit and compatibility can make a big difference in ensuring a process automation project is commercially successful. This is why all Bürkert's new products complement the existing range of more specialist valves and are designed to work in harmony with Bürkert’s numerous pneumatic and electric actuators and control heads. Every product is quality audited and built to the highest standards with full traceability of materials and certifications provided on request.
This improved product offering enables Bürkert to deliver a more comprehensive solution, especially for larger scale projects where consolidation of supply is a significant factor. Now, Bürkert can provide a cost-effective package that is supported by expert design and specialist application knowledge, as well as on-demand supply of more general-purpose process valves for water, steam and air.
This reduces costs for project teams and simplifies the purchasing process by involving fewer vendors and cutting the number of purchase orders that need to be raised.
Real-world savings example
The principle is illustrated by a recent project for a biotech company that previously had only used Bürkert to supply its specialist products. The original quote was for several ball valves with actuators, integral pilot valves and feedback switches for use in Zone 1 (potentially explosive atmospheres), all from stock.
Having submitted the quote, the electrical department from the same customer subsequently contacted Bürkert looking for a number of ATEX pneumatic control panels. Further discussions about where the panels would be used revealed that they were for the same project as the ball valves.
Due to the nature of the working environment, the electricians did not want to run two armoured cables to the valve, one for the pilot valve on the side of the actuator and another for the switch box. The aim was to use the additional control panels to reduce the amount of cabling going to the valves.
The Bürkert engineers then explained that the ball valves that had been already quoted for the project included an integral switch box with the pilot valve inside it, so only one multi-core cable would be required. As a result, the additional control panels would not be required, saving the customer approximately £80,000.
One-stop shop
By increasing the range of products available, Bürkert UK is better placed as a project partner, offering high quality products, design expertise and customised logistics for improved project efficiency.
With larger scale projects involving hundreds of valves, potentially from numerous suppliers, maintaining an effective logistics process can be difficult. As an integral supply partner to a project, Bürkert can implement a customised logistics process that packages together all the components for a specific area of the installation. Deliveries are timed with the build process and tagged to ensure they are delivered to the right location, saving time and money on the installation.
As a one-stop shop for process control components, Bürkert aims to help customers with the design, procurement and installation of new and replacement equipment, as well as support its distribution partners with better access to a wider range of product. Now, with a massive UK stock-holding, it can provide immediate delivery on a wide range of common products as well as sourcing more complex, application specific components within a short timeframe.
