Major oil and gas companies, such as Chevron, Total, Engen, PetroSA and BP, are benefiting from valves actuator company DEMCA Actuation Solutions’ valves retrofitting service, the company says.

DEMCA sales manager Ross McAslan says a thorough knowledge of the electric actuator market and competitor’s products, as well as 35 years of retrofitting experience, enable the company to offer quality valves retrofitting ser- vices, which have at times included the refur-bishing of actuators that were more than 30 years old.

He says retrofitting projects undertaken by DEMCA include surveying existing equipment, upgrading existing manually operated valves, replacing old actuators, designing and manufac-turing adaption arrangements, and installing complete valves control systems involving two wire supervisory and control.

“We are able to offer products of equal specification to those of our competition, at a cost saving. Our goal is to offer the best product at the best price, with the same exceptional after-sales service our existing client base has enjoyed for more than 35 years.”

McAslan says customer service and backup of the product has always been of primary importance to DEMCA. “Over the past few years, we have expanded this philosophy to also include offering our customers the best actuation solution at the best possible price.”

He tells Mining Weekly that one of the obstacles the company faces when providing services for the mining industry is convincing customers to consider using DEMCA products and services other than those that they are accustomed to using.

“However, we deal with this by responding quickly to quotation requests, as well as provid-ing good technical support, which is a clear indication of how serious we are about protecting our growing good name in the actuation market,” says McAslan.

He adds that this has ensured the company’s steady growth over the past five years, resulting in its opening a branch in Gauteng, from its base in the Cape regions.

DEMCA has undertaken projects that include retrofitting actuators onto existing valves at the Koeberg nuclear power station, in Cape Town, as well as at reservoirs, pumpstations, pipelines and water-treatment works for Cape Town and other municipalities.