Founded in 1997, Neway Valve (Suzhou) Co., Ltd is a global leader in industrial valve manufacturing. Born during the digital age, Neway continues to grow and thrive with the times, moving forward with state-of-the-art technology and evolving ideas.
Fugitive Emissions Journal had the pleasure of speaking with Rob Beardmore, President and Managing Director – North America, about forward movement in the industry, the fight against carbon reduction, as well as their continued technological innovation.
By Charlie Evans & Shopia Ketheeswararajah
“Neway was founded in 1997 at the height of the ever-evolving, digital age, a time when computer technology was thriving, and more complex robotics were growing. With Neway being created during this time, the company’s inception began with the benefit of high levels of technology from the start.” said Beardmore. “I lead the Western Hemisphere of Neway, primarily North America. Things are getting busier in the United States and Canada. It is very exciting.” With the main manufacturing base and headquarters in Suzhou, Neway also has manufacturing and sales & marketing facilities all over the globe. These facilities are located in the Americas, the Netherlands, Italy, Singapore, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Africa, and its latest manufacturing location in Vietnam. Neway manufactures 10 different categories of valves from industrial gate, globe, check, ball and butterfly valves to API 6D valves, including subsea valves, API 6A high pressure forged valves for well-head applications, cryogenic valves, oxygen service valves, and nuclear power valves via the company’s N-stamp certification. Most recently, Neway has also created a new water valves division, Neway Water Technologies, which produces valves for wastewater, water treatment, water transmission and potable water applications.
Neway continually improves its processes. “Since 1997 when Neway was started by four brilliant businessmen, it has been built from the ground up and has been constantly moving forward.” The company went public on the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) in 2014 and has six valve manufacturing bases currently producing over 650,000+ valves per year globally. It operates four casting and forging foundries that total over 3,838,511 sq. ft of production capability under roof. Neway’s overall factory operations under roof is 9,781,646 sq. ft.
Between 1997 and 2023, Neway has supplied over 10 million valves to over 90 countries, including 9,500 projects. Over 1,000 of these projects were mega scale. Providing flow control solutions on a global scale requires effective collaboration from teams spanning multiple countries, organizational levels, and professional skill sets. Neway’s 3,000+ employees are spread across the globe, contributing their expertise in sales, accounting, marketing, human resources, engineering and quality control, and research and development (R&D). Neway offers a variety of value-added services to their customers: pre-sale services as well as in-sale and after-sale services.
Neway is ISO 9001:2015 certified and operates and produces valves in accordance with over 50 different international quality standards. Neway’s valves can also be custom-designed and produced following a customer’s additional unique requirements, which are sometimes more stringent than the industry’s standard requirements.
Forward Movement
Neway continually reinvests in their company to continue to create state-of-the-art facilities. “In the last two years, Neway has opened a new world class forging foundry, which can conduct a steel forging that is up to 45,000 pounds or 22.50 tons.”
“Neway has also opened new casting facilities for both investment castings for small bore valves and sand castings for large bore valves. A new butterfly valve factory which features computer and robotic assisted smart factory production technology also came online two years ago. These are significant production capability additions to our company portfolio which bring value to our growing global customers,” continued Beardmore.
Neway has also invested in building three international R&D centers in China, Italy, and the U.S. The technical team consists of over 200 personnel segmented into four groups: application, R&D, design, and process. It is a four-in-one formula that ensures the R&D efforts reflect what is required in the application process. Neway harnesses its global perspective, proactive research and development, and contemporary manufacturing processes to predict the needs of emerging applications.
From the Process Flows Success
Neway employs seven smart systems that help interact with and cultivate a relationship with their customers. The current production output amounts to over 650,000 valves per year and growing annually, so the computation and coordination of all the data must be accurate and reliable. The system includes the following:
- SAP – Neway’s global primary business platform
- CRM – Customer Relationship Management
- PDM – Process Design Management
- SRM – Supplier Relationship Management
- APS – Advance Planning & Scheduling
- MES – Manufacturing Execution System
- DMS – Document Management System
Neway sends the customer’s order data to them in a digital file as part of the process. This file contains all the information about the valve(s) which they have purchased.
“Every single valve we make has its unique serial number. We have produced over 10 million valves globally, so there are over 10 million serial numbers out there.” With the serial number, individuals can look up the valve and view every piece of information available about said valve. “Since we were established during the digital age, every valve we have ever made is available with digital information. We know everything about the valve from the materials to the hands of every worker that has touched it.”
Working Towards a Cleaner World Environment
Neway manufactures valve products for flow control solutions to support many of our major customers in their initiatives to provide cleaner energy. These customers are in industries such as LNG, FLNG, Hydrogen, Offshore Wind, Biomass Energy, and Geothermal Energy.
“We communicate a lot with our end users and really listen to them,” said Beardmore. “We had a major energy company, who we do a lot of business with, collaborate with us about a new packing they felt might perform better in high temperature applications, keeping packing integrity and fugitive emissions minimized at these higher temperatures. Even though our current valve packing was low emission and performing very well, the ability to provide additional packing integrity and performance in high temperature applications was an added innovation that would enhance our overall product even more.”
“We did an initial test of this packing in our laboratories, as well as third-party testing, and then we compared the results. Ultimately, the testing proved the new packing provided improved performance. Everybody wins when you can improve your products, it is good for the customer, good for Neway and benefits the environment in which we all live” explained Beardmore. “This case is a prime example of how Neway’s culture is constantly looking for areas of innovation and improvement, no matter how small.” Having its own laboratories and research capabilities, Neway is constantly innovating and adding newer technology and updated components in its valve products to ensure they provide industry leading performance and reduced carbon emissions.
Neway has also implemented the use of new environmental protection equipment to achieve the goal of carbon reduction in their factory manufacturing processes. Neway’s contribution includes using solar panels on top of their factories and facilities as an energy source. The company has also switched to emission-reducing, variable-speed compressors in its pressurized air that is needed to operate air pneumatic machinery and devices which perform cutting or grinding processes in valve production. Neway also monitors and records the number of tons of carbon that have been reduced annually.
Continued Technological Advancements
“Neway is a global technological leader in the production of industrial valve products for flow control applications and has many major approvals from some of the world’s largest energy, petrochemical, chemical, and other flow related industries customers. A prime example of this technology is in the number of robotic systems which Neway employs to enhance consistency and reliability of the production processes. Neway features robotic storage and retrieval of valve production components, robotic machining, robotic welding, robotic assembly lines, and robotic painting.” In concert, these robotic processes do a significant portion of the work in building a valve. There are still important functions that must be done by people, but for the most part, the robotic capabilities greatly enhance the ability to churn out consistent quality valve products.
Another aspect of Neway which many people do not know is that Neway also manufactures computer-numerically-controlled (CNC) machines that do computer-controlled parts machining. “We make our own CNC machines and sell them worldwide to all types of industries. Companies buy our machines and make all sorts of parts and components to manufacture many items we all use, all around the world in our everyday lives. You may have parts in your automobile, dishwasher, or some other product that has components which were machined on a Neway CNC machine,” said Beardmore.
“Keep innovating,” said Beardmore. “That is at the core of Neway’s business approach and is really the core of all humankind’s past and future evolution. Neway innovates by overseeing everything related to its production chain. This includes forging and casting manufacturing, machining, assembly, testing, packaging, logistics, scale, volume, and resource consolidation.”
“A major portion of Neway’s business comes from global projects which can require some special flow control challenges. One of the things Neway is most proud about is that we do things for customers which no other valve manufacturer will do.” A customer approached Neway with a flow control challenge requiring a gate valve of 88” inside diameter. “A valve this big allows a man over seven feet tall to walk through it standing up and not even ducking his head! Neway has made those valves and we have even done other valve types which are far bigger than that. We meet unusual and difficult requests quite often from our valued customers all around the world. We meet with our R&D team to check them out, and typically, they come back within a day and say… we can do it.”
Embracing the Future
“Neway is a company driven to innovate,” said Beardmore. “Anybody that is in manufacturing must always be in the business of innovation. No matter how well you build something today, something may come out tomorrow via new technology, new materials, or new processes that allow you to build it better.”
When asked about Neway’s future, Beardmore’s response is simple: “Change. We recognize the need to embrace change because that is the continued evolution of our world and all industries that are in it. Industries around the world are constantly researching ways to serve demanding and growing energy and product needs,” continued Beardmore. “Neway is a global company that is at the world’s service. We are always ready. We have the people, the teams, the processes, the technology, the facilities, the capabilities, and most importantly a friendly, vibrant and positive spirit and culture that always believes we can supply… solutions. Neway is committed and well positioned for the world’s future flow control challenges, and we are always poised to say…we can do it!”
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the profiled company and may not reflect the position of Fugitive Emissions Journal.