A História da Fisher Controls | Page 80

78 | The Fisher Story Fisher-Marshalltown manufacturing focuses on engineered products. 2003 Design GX control valve, Design D4 control valve, FIELDVUE ® Performance Diagnostics, Design V150S slurry Vee-Ball ® valve, and Type DL3 digital level transmitter are introduced. Fisher-Marshalltown shares engineering resources with the Valve Automation Division. VAD focuses on electric and hydraulic actuators. Worldwide manufacturing sites attain ISO 9000:2000 registration. New PlantWeb performance lab and technical conference center open in Marshalltown. Sherman plant receives the Emerson President’s Plant Operational Excellence Award. Design GX advertisement Slurry Vee-Ball rotary valve Sherman employees, 2003 GX Control Valve T he GX valve was a real team effort from the start. Market research and extensive customer interviews were conducted in Europe and Asia. Design responsibility was shared between Marshalltown, Chatham (U.K.) and Cernay. Materials staff in Marshalltown, Szekesfehervar, Singapore and Nilai helped identify the best supplier for each component. Finally, the Singapore and Szekesfehervar staff teamed up to design and build a new advanced flow line for assembly of the product using the latest technology and lean manufacturing methods. This assembly line was designed to produce 7,000 valves per annum based on 2 shifts with 3 operators in each shift. The operators perform valve and actuator assembly, seat-leak and friction testing, instruments mounting, final assembly testing and packaging in this assembly line. “The GX and DVC2000 is the biggest opportunity we have had to impact the European market since the introduction of FIELDVUE,” said Trevor Sands, vice president of valves EMA. The Szekesfehervar plant manufactures the GX for EMA requirements (2005). The GX process line is the centerpiece of the Wuqing factory (2005).