The Critical Role of Qualified Technical Sales Organizations in Industrial Process Control

As industries evolve and new technological advancements emerge, the role of a highly qualified technical sales organization has become increasingly vital in various industrial sectors. Particularly in industries such as water treatment, petrochemical, chemical, pharmaceutical, food and beverage, and power generation, a specialized technical sales team that sells industrial process control instrumentation and industrial valves is crucial in achieving business growth and success.

1. Identifying Customer Needs: A skilled technical sales team possesses the knowledge and expertise to understand complex industrial systems. They can work closely with customers, identifying their specific requirements and challenges, thereby offering tailored solutions that best address their needs. This consultative approach builds customer trust and strengthens long-term relationships.
2. Supporting Business Growth: Technical sales teams drive sales and revenue growth by providing appropriate and optimal solutions to customers. They actively seek out new opportunities and target prospective customers with offerings that match their unique needs. Their in-depth understanding of the technology enables them to align the company’s products and services with diverse industrial sectors' current and future requirements.
3. Uncovering New Markets and Applications: A highly qualified technical sales team excels in discovering new markets and application areas where their products and services can create value. By leveraging their industry expertise, these sales professionals identify new opportunities and help expand the reach of their products into untapped markets. In doing so, they contribute significantly to the company’s growth strategy.
4. Delivering Product Expertise: Industrial process control instrumentation and industrial valves can be complex products requiring high technical knowledge. Sales teams specializing in these products deeply understand their specifications, applications, and benefits. They can explain the intricacies of these products, helping customers make informed purchasing decisions.
5. Providing Post-Sales Support: A qualified technical sales team doesn’t just close deals; they provide valuable post-sales support. Whether it’s assisting with installation, troubleshooting technical issues, or training the customer’s staff, these professionals ensure the smooth integration of their products into the customer’s operations. This service fosters customer loyalty and encourages repeat business.
6. Mitigating Market Risks: In volatile industries such as petrochemical and power generation, changes in regulations, technology, and market demand can create uncertainties. A proficient technical sales team keeps abreast of industry trends and regulatory changes. They help their organization adapt to these shifts by offering products and solutions that align with the changing market landscape.
7. Accelerating Innovation: Technical sales teams act as a bridge between the company and its customers. They collect feedback from customers regarding product performance, needs, and challenges. This feedback helps the company’s R&D team develop innovative products and solutions that meet emerging industry needs.
8. Enhancing Customer Satisfaction: By providing tailored solutions, excellent customer service, and reliable support, a qualified technical sales team enhances customer satisfaction. Satisfied customers become brand advocates, leading to increased referrals and new business opportunities.

A highly qualified technical sales organization is indispensable in the industrial process control sector. Their in-depth knowledge, industry expertise, and customer-centric approach drive sales growth discover new markets and applications, and build strong customer relationships. As technology continues to evolve and industrial requirements change, the importance of these technical sales teams will only continue to grow.

Ives Equipment

https://ivesequipment.com

610-768-1600

Lead-Free Valves from ASCO and Ives Equipment

Lead is extremely toxic. Tight US safety regulations affect manufacturers of products such as drinking water fountains, reverse osmosis systems, coffee machines. and commercial kitchen equipment. A lead-free system cannot contain soldering flux with greater than 0.2% lead content, or more than a weighted average of 0.25% lead in the wetted surfaces of pipes, pipe fittings, plumbing fittings, and fixtures. Under the law, lead free is a cumulative concept.  In response, Ives Equipment and ASCO have coordinated to provide a range of valve choices that meet the new regulations, are NSF certified, and come in the industry’s broadest range of characteristics in terms of pipe size, pressure or temperature ratings, and flow coefficients.

For more information visit https://ivesequipment.com/leadfree.

Don't Risk Equipment or Safety: Freeze Protect Your Plant Now

Don't let this happen at your plant.

Winter is here in its full glory. Plant engineers and plant maintenance have to pay special care in preventing freezing in pipelines, tanks, Vessels, conveyors, and impulse lines.  The cold temperatures in the Mid-Atlantic can often damage or destroy process equipment and it's valuable contents. Most commonly, pipes, instrumentation, and valves are the vulnerable items affected by the sudden drop in temperatures, causing devastating consequences, including costly downtime and unplanned outages. But there's also safety issues to be considered with snow and ice build up, so attention must be paid to snow and ice melting.

Main Categories for Industrial Heat Tracing

• Industrial Pipe Tracing Cable
• Industrial Tank and Vessel Heating
• Industrial Snow Melting
• Industrial Roof Gutter Deicing

Responsible facility management includes protecting buildings and equipment against freeze damage. There are many items in any given manufacturing plant to protect, including piping systems, process instrumentation, holding tanks, transfer vessels, and valves. For each of these items, there's a good freeze protection solution to be applied. Here are some of the more common heat tracing products used in these applications.

Self-regulating Heat Tracing Cable

These self-regulating, cut-to-length cables are normally installed in commercial and light industrial applications, to maintain pipe temperature and/or prevent freezing. These heating cables are available in 120 and 240 voltages and are designed for use in ordinary or hazardous locations (with proper selections and application). Typical applications for this product are freeze protection and low watt density process temperature systems such as product pipelines, fire protection, process water and dust suppression systems.

Constant Wattage Heat Tracing Cable

Constant wattage heater cable is ideal for use in maintaining fluid flow under low ambient conditions. The product is used for freeze protection and process temperature maintenance systems such as product pipelines, process water, dust suppression systems, lube oil and condensate return.

MI (Mineral Insulated) Cable

MI Cable is a metal sheathed cable that uses a metallic conductor as the heating element. It is custom designed and fabricated for specific applications. MI Cable is a high performance, industrial grade heat tracing cable used for applications requiring high temperature exposure, immunity to stress corrosion, high maintain temperature, under tank heating (cryogenic tanks), high power output, constant power output over entire, rugged cable construction heater length, and extended heater life.

It is critical to consider the specific application requirements for any heat tracing application. The following checklist always needs to be clearly understood:

• The mass and material of the item being traced
• Insulation availability - type and thickness
• Temperature to be maintained
• Minimum ambient temperature
• Minimum start-up temperature
• Available supply voltage
• The chemical environment - expose
• Maximum intermittent exposure temperature
• Electrical area classification

Always share your heat tracing requirements and challenges with a process heating specialist. There are many options and product variants from which to choose. A consultation with an expert can help direct you to the safest, most efficient, and most cost effective solution.

US Navy Supplier of MIL-SPEC Valves, Instrumentation, and Analyzers

Ives Equipment is an authorized US Navy supplier for ASCO, Worcester Valve, Niagara Meter (Venture Measurement), Siemens, and REOTEMP , registered under Cage Codes 1H855 and 6F024.

https://ivesequipment.com/navy
(877) 768-1600

Expertly Applying Process Control Instrumentation, Valves, and Process Equipment for Over 60 Years

Ives Equipment, founded in 1954, provides a diverse range of process control equipment, including valves, regulators, wireless products, flow products, pressure gauges, control products, level instrumentation, sanitary products, temperature instruments, analytical products, electric heat trace and bio-pharmaceutical products.

Ives Equipment Business Groups

Ives Equipment organizes its extensive product line into four distinct groups:

Ives Equipment and Controls, providing instrumentation and control products to the chemical, petro-chemical, refining, bulk storage, primary metals, pulp & paper, powergen, gas & oil distribution and OEM markets.

Pharmaceutical, Bio-pharm, and Sanitary, providing hygienic, ultra-pure and sanitary instruments, connectors, fittings, tubing and gaskets to the pharma, bio-pharm, food and beverage, life-science and labortory industries.

Analytical Instruments, used to analyze process material samples and record the data for quality, conformance and compliance.

Water and Wastewater Treatment, providing instruments, analyzers, valves and controls for the transfer, storage, analysis, treatment, and logging of municipal and industrial water treatment systems.

New Ives Equipment Video

Ives Equipment, founded in 1954, provides a diverse range of process control equipment, including valves, regulators, wireless products, flow products, pressure gauges, control products, level instrumentation, sanitary products, temperature instruments, analytical products, electric heat trace and bio-pharmaceutical products.

For more than 60 years, Ives Equipment Corporation has successfully served the industries of eastern and central Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, metro NY, New Jersey, Virginia and Washington DC with the latest in process control equipment and services.

The Ives business is built on a foundation of quality people, highly trained and experienced, who take a keen interest in finding the optimum solutions to customers' control problems.

New YouTube Welcome Video for Ives Equipment Channel

We just added a new welcome video for our Ives Equipment YouTube Channel. Check it out.

Solenoid Valve Operating Principle

Solenoid magnetic field

A solenoid is an electric output device that converts electrical energy into a linear mechanical force.

At its most basic level a solenoid is an electromagnetic coil that uses magnetism produced by the flow of current to physically move the armature of a solenoid. The armature that is movable can be a rod or a metallic arm. One of the most common uses of solenoids are as the operators of valves.

A plunger solenoid contains a movable iron rod that is inserted into a coiled cylinder. The rod is connected to a plate with two contacts. With the aid of a spring the contacts are normally open. When an electrical current passes through the coil, it generates a magnetic field that attracts the rod into the coil chamber. The movement of rod will move the contacts into a closed position. When the current is turned off the magnetic force is removed and the tension in the spring forces the rod back out to its original resting position. This back-and-forth motion of the rod to control a circuit is used to operate a variety of mechanical devices such as valve seats and pneumatic poppets.

Solenoid valve components

A solenoid valve is a combination of two basic functional units:

• The solenoid (electromagnet) described above.
• A valve body containing one or more orifices.

ASCO Redhat Solenoid Valve

Flow through an orifice is controlled by the movement of the core when the solenoid is energized or de-energized. The core is enclosed in a sealed tube, providing a compact, leak tight assembly.

This video provides a very basic visual understanding of the solenoid operating principle and how the mechanism works. From this video it is easy to understand how the linear movement created by the solenoid can be transformed into the movement necessary to open and close solenoid valves.

For more information about solenoid valves, contact:

Ives Equipment

http://www.ivesequipment.com

877-768-1600

Introduction to Electrically Actuated Valves (Motor Operated Valve or MOVs)

Electric valve actuators for MOVs

The two most common methods of opening and closing industrial valves are by pneumatic actuators and electric actuators. This video introduces the viewer to electric valve operation.

Commonly known as "motor operated valves", or MOVs, electric operators can be fitted to any quarter-turn valve (90 deg. rotation) (such as a ball, butterfly or plug valve), or linear movement valve (such as a globe or gate valve).

Most often electric actuators are used where electric power is readily available and a pneumatic air systems are not. They are available in a variety of voltages and torque outputs for various size valves. Accessories such as limit switches, positioners, and hazardous area enclosures are available as well.

Going International With Your Design - Solenoid Operated Valves

This is where your customers are now.

It's no secret to you, Engineer, that the world is densely populated with standards and approvals. No matter where you live or work, the process equipment designs that flow from your workstation, your team, your company, are more likely than ever to end up on foreign shores.

Solenoid Valve

Solenoid operated valves are ubiquitous, even a little mundane in their apparent simplicity, but still require expertise for proper specification and application. The jurisdictional requirements for a valve assembly applied in the same manner can vary from one country to another. This can be especially important when designing equipment or processes that may be installed in different parts of the world, such as United States and European Union production plants of a single company.

Fortunately, many manufacturers now provide valves with multiple approvals from around the world to facilitate the use of a single component across a wide geographic and jurisdictional range. Even with this accommodation, it is still the specifying engineer’s responsibility to select the correct valve, not only for the application, but for a regulatory environment that is populated with standards and approvals that can be difficult to coordinate with confidence. One prominent valve manufacturer has authored a white paper that provides some insight into navigating this challenge, outlining an array of international approval agencies and providing a clear explanation of how T-codes (temperature codes) vary between US and EU agencies. The white paper is available on request and is a must-read for any engineer specifying or servicing solenoid valves.

Put A Process Control Sales Engineer On Your Team For Improved Outcome and Efficiency

When it comes to specifying engineered products
a technical sales rep may be your best source.

Projects and tasks are best completed and accomplished through the proper application of the right resources. There exists an access point to high level technical knowledge and assistance that can be easily tapped and brought to bear on your successful task or project completion.  
Local distributors and representatives for process equipment and control manufacturers provide services that may help you save time and cost, while also achieving a better outcome for the entire project. Consider a few elements the technical sale rep brings to your project…

Product Knowledge: Sales engineers will be current on product offerings, proper application, and capabilities. They also have information regarding what products may be obsolete in the near future. This is an information source at a level not generally accessible to the public via the Internet.

Experience: As a project engineer, you may be treading on fresh ground regarding some aspects of your current assignment. There can be real benefit in connecting to a source with past exposure to your current issue. 

Access: Through a technical sales engineer, you may be able to establish a connection to “behind the scenes” manufacturer contacts with essential information not publicly available. The rep knows people, makes it his/her business to know the people that can provide answers to your  application questions.

Certainly, any solutions proposed are likely to be based upon the products sold by the representative. That is where considering and evaluating the benefits of any proposed solutions become part of achieving the best project outcome.

Develop a professional, mutually beneficial relationship with a technical sales team. Their success is tied to your success and they are eager to help you. 

Welcome to the Ives Equipment Blog

Thanks for visiting! In the upcoming weeks, months and years we hope to fill this site with interesting and useful information on a wide variety of process control topics. From pressure, temperature, level, flow, and analytical instrumentation, to control valves and valve automation, this blog will provide its visitors insight to how things work in industrial automation and process engineering.