Larsen & Toubro and its associate company Audco India Limited participated in Valve World Conference and Expo, the pre-eminent valve industry event, which was held in Maastricht, the Netherlands, from 4 to 6 November 2008.
Maastricht, situated on the river Meuse, is one of the oldest cities in the Netherlands. The city’s name is derived from the Latin Mosae Trajectum (Meuse crossing) referring to a bridge built during the reign of Augustus Caesar. Masstricht secured its place in history when the treaty that led to the creation of the European Union and the Euro was signed there in 1992. The city has been playing host to Valve World from 1998.
Valve World, which draws valve users, consultants, contractors, manufacturers and suppliers from around the world, provides valve and actuator majors an ideal platform to showcase their capabilities. Further, the conference that runs concurrently, gives delegates an opportunity to learn from the experts as well as compare notes with members of the international flow-control fraternity. Major topics deliberated during the 2008 conference included design, standardization, materials, reliability, automated valves, fugitive emissions and procurement practices.
Emerging technologies and products was L&T’s theme at Valve World 2008. To quote Mr. A. K. Banerjee, Vice President, L&T Valves and member of Valve World Advisory Group, “L&T, having established itself as one of the top-three suppliers of Gate Valves to the global oil majors, is focusing on high-end products that address the booming pipeline and power segments as well as new technology products for the process industry”.
On display at the L&T stand were a three-piece pipeline ball valve (incidentally, the heaviest exhibit at Valve World 2008), high-pressure gate valve for power plants and triple-offset butterfly valve, billed as the product of the future. Complementing the exhibits were photo-panels highlighting the capabilities of L&T and Audco India in engineering, manufacturing, marketing and customer service.
Visitors to the stall included key personnel from the major oil & gas, power, chemical and petrochemical companies and global EPC contractors. The papers presented at the Valve World conference by engineers from Audco India on topics such as casting development, high temperature packing systems and product evaluation reinforced the Valves Vertical’s position as a technology leader in the valves domain.
