Featured Story – Powell Valves: first in innovating for the future

Powell has maintained its longevity and stability in the valve industry by providing the highest quality products with cutting-edge design features, at competitive prices with excellent service, on-time deliveries and flexibility. Quality engineered products is a foundation. As Randy Cowart – Chairman, CEO & President explains “No Quality = No Sales. No Sales = No Jobs”. As a privately-held, family owned corporation, Powell can continue to build on their legacy of quality, innovation and family-style company culture.

“We have integrity in everything we do. We may be a smaller company, but we have big-company resources, opportunities, possibilities, and capabilities. It allows us to be nimble and be proactive versus reactive. If you are too trenched in, then you are forced to be reactive. By being flexible, nimble, and quick, we can get ahead in meeting our customers’ needs which is our core focus,” Brandy explained.

The flexibility and speed to move with their customer and industry needs are attributes which have served them well in the past, the present, and will continue in the future.

As a pioneer in the industry, the Wm Powell Company has always focused heavily on innovation and being a company of “firsts”. Powell’s rich history brings unparalleled knowledge and experience.

“Powell was one of the first innovators to really be committed to the control of fugitive emissions, both financially and by actually getting the products through individual product testing. There are a lot of companies in the industry that will follow the trends. Still, we committed to perfecting fugitive emissions technology very early on with our partnership with the A.W. Chesterton Company regarding packing. In this way, we made sure that we were providing our customers with the best options before they knew it was necessary,” said Brandy.

Despite the issues many have encountered with the economic downturns, Powell’s diversity has allowed them to grow continually. Powell recognized early on the importance of diversification, not only in the products they develop but in the markets, industries and customer bases they serve.

Foundation for our success

“Having a diverse customer base has been one of the biggest success points for the company. Through the years, there have been some tough economic cycles in one industry or another – be it oil & gas, electric power generation, chemical, paper or industrial gas. Very rarely are all of those industries on the downward slope economically at the same time. Having a diverse customer base in so many different industries has allowed us to maintain consistent growth,” revealed Brandy.

“A lot of our products are standard but can be tailored/upgraded for different industries with our immense engineering support and manufacturing expertise behind it. Our product diversity, engineering capabilities and diversity in our customer base is a big foundation for our success as compared to our competitors who may focus on one industry; they live and die by the success of that industry.”

Powell’s long-term strategy is to continue to expand on products that assist their channel partners in completing the package not only for their day-to-day MRO customers but for the large capital projects. “In recent years we added new product categories – floating ball valves, resilient seated butterfly valves and high-performance double offset butterfly valves. We have added these product categories in response to demand from our customer base; they are looking for more products from a single manufacturing source,” explained Brandy. “This brings a wider product scope under one stock order which results in freight savings and administrative cost savings. These new product categories are in very mature and competitive marketplaces, and our brand, expertise and engineering behind those products have been well-received in the marketplace.”

Recognizing the changing demands of the industry, Powell Valves has always made strides to identify the upcoming voids in the industry and develop ways to proactively fulfil the requirements before their customers even realize the need is there.

“As an engineering-based company, R&D is one of our foundations. Even though there are governing bodies that control a lot of the design parameters, there are still areas where we can maximize material cost, machining efficiencies and tolerances,” Brandy revealed. “Another factor in our success is Powell’s high-quality supply chain. Our casting, forging, and component suppliers are among the best in the industry, and we have total alignment and commitment to each other.”

Powell has a corporate engineering team in Cincinnati along with engineering teams in their manufacturing plants. The company states that its valve engineering has always been leading in the industry with a heritage of writing the foundation of many of the specifications in use today.

Powell also continues to invest in machinery, training, inventory and infrastructure at all of their locations. Acknowledging the growth in the industrial gas and LNG markets, Powell has made significant investments in state-of-the-art cryogenic clean room and testing facilities. They now have four global cryogenic clean rooms.

In addition to manufacturing and modification facilities, Powell continues to maintain a large inventory around the world to ensure that their products are readily available wherever their customers are. The company looks for channel partners that have a defined strategy, a good channel infrastructure and customer focus. Powell’s Distributor Channel partners are the Best of the Best with some relationships over 100 years old.

Maintaining a global presence has allowed Powell to remain competitive and successful in an industry that is fast-paced with urgent needs to be met worldwide.

By investing in extending its global reach with the establishment of manufacturing and distribution centres in China to supply sales throughout Asia and the Middle East, Powell recognizes the importance of a worldwide infrastructure in support of their business. By establishing a distribution facility in Houston, Texas in 2014, Powell positioned itself in the centre of the valve industry to further support same-day emergency services for its customers and provide another contact point for its clients.

“The Houston and Gulf Coast market is the hotbed of the valve industry. We established the facility in Stafford and stocked it up with inventory, so our products are at-hand for our customers. That was one of those customer-first decisions. They are going to run into materials that they need this afternoon, today, now and we are in a position to satisfy their needs,” said Brandy.

Powell has begun construction of a new Corporate Headquarters and distribution centre in Cincinnati, Ohio with an estimated move-in date in Spring 2021. The new facility will be 46,000 square feet and house the company’s executive team, engineering, sales (domestic & international), supply chain management, logistics, accounting and finance. Approximately 30,000 square feet of the facility will serve as an inventory hub to provide additional service and availability to our Mid-West distributor partners.

“Powell has a long heritage in the Cincinnati area. We are proud of that heritage and happy to be making the expansion and investment in our community. The new facility will provide a great environment for our employees and great service to our customers,” said Randy Cowart, Chairman, CEO & President. Brandy concluded: “Just saying the customer comes first may sound cliché, but that is the focus of everything we do. Taking risks and making investments is all driving to provide a better service, a better cost base and better quality for the customer. We want to be the customer’s favourite place to call, and we want them to call us first.”