Following its announcements of 5 May 2021 updating the New Industrial Strategy proposed in 2020, the European Commission has further indicated that it will rely quite heavily on industry to deliver on the major challenges faced by our economies and societies in Europe. This is particularly the case in relation to sustainability, digital transformation, and global competitiveness, as well as the need to overcome the crisis provoked by the Covid-19 pandemic. The EU Recovery and Resilience Plan launched in Spring 2021 is largely building on the capability of European industry to design and produce the building blocks of the twin green and digital transition. At the same time, the EU is shaping a dense regulatory framework that does not always support the freedom and flexibility needed for companies to grow and compete globally.

The European technology industries, and in particular our pumps, compressors, taps and valves sectors, have for a long time considered the enhancement of their global competitiveness within the challenges of societal and environmental challenges, notably by contributing to the preparation of energy efficiency and ecolabel regulations. In parallel, digitalisation has provided increased opportunities and brought new challenges, including debates on the appropriate regulatory level (sharing of industrial data, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, etc).

These developments, amidst ever more fierce international competition, require that public authorities and industry in the EU work increasingly more closely to design and deploy strategies that reinforce our competitiveness and our contribution to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This will be the subject of the initial debate kicking off our Joint EU Policy Conference, which will bring together key policy makers from the three EU policy institutions in charge of the Industrial Strategy and three Executives representing and illustrating the achievements enjoyed, and challenges still faced, by these three key sectors of industry.

Specific Technical and Policy Issues

As the regulatory landscape across Europe, and indeed the whole world, becomes ever more complex, the burden on industry only increases. It therefore falls to sector specific trade organisations, such as Europump, CEIR and Pneurop, to identify and advise on those technical and policy issues most relevant to their respective sectors. In our particular arena, that relates, of course, to the manufacture, distribution and use of pumps and all pump related equipment – a huge and important subset of industry, given the width and breadth of pump applications.

Against this backdrop, one of the main considerations when determining the core themes for the joint conference was to maintain a direct reference to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). Within this focus, the three associations intend to highlight how, together with the importance for companies to address technical aspects impacting their daily business operations, they consider the positive role of industry in addressing societal challenges. Indeed, all the sessions will have a technical theme matching the most appropriate UN SDG, and with representation from the European Commission along with technical experts from industry and/or research institutes, they will each be reflective of the current legislative terrain, as it relates to pumps and pumping systems in the following key areas:

• Circular Economy & Eco-design (Relevant UN Sustainable Development Goal no. 12: Responsible Consumption and Production)
• Industry’s Digital Transformation and Innovation (Relevant UN Sustainable Development Goal no. 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure)
• The restriction of use of materials and substances of concern (Relevant UN Sustainable Development Goal no. 6: Clean Water and Sanitation)

The regulatory and legislative landscape across Europe is becoming increasingly complex, and industry, in all its guises, needs to be aware and prepared for what is coming. By engaging with those trade organisations that represent your best interests, you can keep abreast of all the compliance developments as they affect your business and the areas in which you operate.

Europump’s 2022 Annual Meeting & Joint Conference will take place in Brussels on 9–11 May 2022 at the NH Collection Grand Sablon, Rue Bodenbroek – Bodenbroekstraat, 2, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium.

The full programme and registration process are available here.

Europump is the European Association of Pump Manufacturers. Established in 1960, it represents 16 National Associations. Europump members represent more than 450 companies with a collective production value of more than €10 billion and an employee base of 100 000 people across Europe.

GEA has designed the VARIVENT MX with elements that keep products from mixing with the cleaning liquid, even under exceptional loads. – Image: GEA

Manufacturers of food and other hygienically processed products face the challenge of maintaining reproducible processes so that their products have the appearance, taste, and consistency that consumers expect.

GEA has designed the VARIVENT MX with elements that keep products from mixing with the cleaning liquid, even under exceptional loads. The cavity chamber is fitted with a vacuum self-drainage system and balancers on both valve discs. For maximum physical safety, GEA makes use of the Venturi effect which is created by the special shape of the flow channels, causing a vacuum on the opposite seal during lifting, preventing pressure increases. As a result, no cleaning liquid can enter the opposite pipe carrying the product while a valve seat is being lifted or cleaned, even if a seal is defective.

When new systems are set up and adjusted in a short time, there is a higher risk of overpressure during operation. The valve discs must stay in place when water hammer occurs, and the valve must remain closed. For this purpose, GEA has equipped the valve discs in both pipelines with balancers – pressure compensators. This makes the closed valve resistant to water hammer up to 50 bar in the upper and lower pipelines. The new MX valve type also has an integrated balancer cleaning device. It ensures that the balancer is completely flushed from the outside during seat lifting at the same time as cleaning-in-place is taking place. All surfaces in contact with the product can be cleaned without any additional components protecting the product from contamination.

Ebara, Flowserve, Grundfos, Ingersoll Rand, Jabsco, Kirloskar Brothers, Seepex, SPX Flow, Sulzer, Tuthill, Vansan, Verder and Xylem feature in the 10 most-read business news stories on the World Pumps website during 2021.

Image: bht2000/Adobe Stock.

1. Ingersoll Rand to acquire German pump maker Seepex

Ingersoll Rand Inc has entered into an agreement to buy the German positive displacement pump manufacturer Seepex GmbH in a €431.5 million cash deal.

Seepex has an installed base of more than 210 000 pumps. – Image: tang90246/Adobe Stock.

2. Ebara to purchase Turkish pump maker Vansan

Japan’s Ebara Corp announced that it was acquiring Turkish pump manufacturer Vansan Makina Sanayi ve Ticaret AŞ in a US$108 million deal.

3. Kirloskar Brothers opens advanced technology division for nuclear applications

Kirloskar Brothers Ltd (KBL) has built a new Advanced Technology Product Division (ATPD) at the company’s Kirloskarvadi facility in India to manufacture products primarily for nuclear applications.

Kirloskar Brothers Ltd’s new Advanced Technology Product Division. –

4. Verder acquires Jabsco rotary lobe pump line from Xylem

The Verder Group has purchased the Jabsco rotary lobe pump product line from Xylem Inc.

5. Private equity firm to acquire SPX Flow in US$3.8bn deal

SPX Flow Inc has entered into an agreement to be acquired by an affiliate of private equity firm Lone Star Funds in an all-cash transaction valued at US$3.8 billion.

– Image: Péter Mács/Adobe Stock.

6. Sulzer to provide pumps for FPSO Anna Nery

Floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) services company Yinson has selected Sulzer to provide four large water injection pumps (WIPs) for the conversion of a former tanker into a new FPSO vessel that will operate in the Marlim oil field off the coast of Brazil.

7. Flowserve provides pumps for Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine production

Flowserve Corp is supplying pumps, valves and seals to pharmaceutical company Pfizer to support the production of its Covid-19 vaccine.

8. Grundfos to acquire US water technology company MECO

Grundfos has entered into an agreement to acquire Mechanical Equipment Company Inc (MECO), a US group that engineers and manufactures water purification solutions for a range of industries.

9. Ingersoll Rand to buy Tuthill Pump Group

Ingersoll Rand Inc has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Tuthill Corp’s Pump Group in an US$84.6 million deal.

10. Grundfos reports solid 2020 results despite Covid-19

Danish pump company Grundfos has delivered a solid financial performance in 2020 with net turnover of DKK26 340 million and consolidated profit for the year of DKK1931 million.