Water & Wastewater Treatment

Interview 4 WWT PUMP SUPPLEMENT DECEMBER 2017 £1BN The approximate size of the UK market for pumps. Water companies are the biggest customers in the market and expenditure varies with the demands of the AMP cycle 76 The number of BPMA member companies. BPMA members supply 85% of the pumps in the UK market, with the pump sector also being a net exporter 1941: The year the British Pump Manufacturers Association (BPMA) was founded. Last year marked its 75-year anniversary Interview by James Brockett P umps are such a long-standing staple of the water and wastewater sector – the British Pump Manufacturers Association celebrated its 75-year anniversary last year – that it might be tempting to imagine that when it comes to the key technologies and challenges involved, there is nothing new under the sun. Not so, says Duncan Lewis, UK Managing Director of water solutions company Xylem, who has just taken over as president of the BPMA for a two-year tenure. Not only are there always new regulatory challenges and market changes to adapt to - such as what will happen to asset standards a‚er Brexit - but innovation in both technology and processes are everywhere you look. All in all, the new president, who took over from Peter Reynolds of Grundfos at the association's AGM in November, will not be short of items in his in-tray. "The market is changing - and at a reasonable pace," Lewis tells WWT. "That's because as manufacturers we're not dealing with a pump in a box any more, we are looking to provide systems solutions. A lot of our customers are now talking about data capture, how we can make use of that data, resilience of assets – it's a different world from 20 years ago in terms of what the end customers are expecting from us as pump manufacturers. We have to adapt, in terms of how we meet those needs and come up with different offerings beyond that pump in a box." Evidence of this thinking can be seen in Xylem's recent activity, which included last year's acquisition of smart meter and data analytics provider Sensus, and the recent launch of a wastewater pump – the Flygt Concertor - which self-optimises its performance via the power of the Internet of Things. Innovations which allow better control of pumps, use of data and energy optimisation should be an attractive proposition for UK water utilities right now, at a time when they are looking to embed the Totex approach demanded in AMP6. So does Lewis feel that this is the case? "The water companies are definitely thinking about Totex, and it's a step change from five or six years ago," he says. "But I think it's still evolving, and there is probably still work to do to take it on board totally. New expenditure is talked about in terms of Totex, but where it is perhaps less embedded is where it's just an operational change: something is taken out, and something else is put in. That's when it's a lot harder, because of the time constraints, to actually have that Totex conversation." Manufacturers are now much more likely than previously to be asked to provide more detail around operational costs, spare parts, maintenance and downtime, he adds. With this extra scrutiny and emphasis, it's little wonder that many manufacturers are investing in a service offering to their clients, including installation, energy audits and maintenance agreements, that can ensure that the pumps they supply continue to function efficiently and offer reassurance in their performance in the long-term. With PR19 fast approaching, pump manufacturers will be watching closely to see not only how much water utilities have to spend in the next AMP period, The UK pump industry in numbers ↖ More than a pump in a box Whether it is data capture, servicing and maintenance or energy-saving optimisation, pump manufacturers now offer so much more than simply a pump, according to Duncan Lewis, new president of the British Pump Manufacturers Association (BPMA)

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