Houston Texas
June 29, 2011
• IDS’s Director Ginger Restovic along with Steve Butler of Shell’s Projects and Technology Group co-chaired a workshop/panel discussion on “Counterfeit Valves – a Threat to the Valve Industry” at the recent Valve World of the Americas 2011 Conference held in The Woodlands on June 21-22, 2011. The Panel was a diverse group of highly respected valve industry personnel representing end users, distributors, manufacturers, engineering companies and industry supply chain experts. On the panel was:
Max Casada – Conoco Phillips
Bob Smith – McJunkin Redman (MRC)
Ron Merrick – Fluor
Ionel Nechiti – Platform Management
Doug Jones- Array Products
Tom Hannafin – KITZ
Michael O’Quinn – ISV Valve
Steve Butler – Shell (co-chair)
Ginger Restovic – IDS Tag Tech (co-chair)
Counterfeit valve products have long been a problem for the industry as a whole and can cause any number of issues if allowed into service. The issues can be as severe as death and injury, environmental pollution, down-time at a facility, added costs, liability, etc. The panel focused on education and awareness of the issue of counterfeit valves in the supply chain and what the industry could do to help foster change and prevention. Solutions were gathered from the audience and a blog site is being created for industry wide response and additional suggestions on how to best curb this illegal activity.
There was a general consensus in the panel as well as in the audience that stricter rules and use of technology could help solve/reduce the problem.
Now with the ability of new technologies such as RFID and other methods, it may be possible to stem this tide and mitigate or eliminate the issue by allowing for complete traceability and verification of authenticity of valves thru the supply chain as well as the valve’s complete life cycle. With new technology and more stringent requirements in place, we may see a decline in counterfeit valves for the first time in history. For more information, please read the blog and register your thoughts and comments on the best approaches and practices to improve the industry standards and stop this illegal activity.
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