Cover Story
Founded in Montreal, Quebec,
Canada- where its corporate headquarters remain today-
Velan has pushed the boundaries in innovation and technology to consistently meet its customer’ s requirements. The company not only reflects on its insightful past but looks ahead to a bright future, consistently serving the global flow control industry.
Steve Fennell, Valve World Americas
The impressive 78-inch Torqseal ® triple-offset valve, the largest butterfly valve built at Velan.
Velan at 75: From the past to the future
A
. K. Velan approached innovation not as a trend but as a driving force behind progress. As the founder of Velan Engineering Ltd. in 1950, after immigrating to Montreal, Quebec, Canada, from Czechoslovakia, the entrepreneur quickly established the company’ s footprint by engineering and manufacturing bimetallic steam traps. The technology became the first of several successful patents and achievements throughout the company’ s seven-plus decades in the flow control industry. As Velan celebrates its 75 th anniversary this year, Valve World discussed the company’ s storied past and current position in the global valve market with James Mannebach, Chair and CEO of Velan, and Daniel Velan, Chief Revenue Officer.“ A. K. cared deeply about offering the market the best products,” explained Velan.“ His first invention, the bimetallic steam trap, offered a really novel approach to keep steam lines efficient. Velan looks quite different today than it did in those early years, but that ideal is still very much a part of our culture.” His innovative and entrepreneurial spirit was a catalyst for the Montreal-based company to become a major player in the global piping and valve industry. Throughout the 1950s and mid- 1960s, the company established strong business relationships with manufacturing facilities in the U. K. and Upstate New York, a second facility in Montreal, and a sales office in Germany.
Simultaneously, Velan Engineering Ltd. secured numerous contracts for its quality-tested steam traps, brand Piping King, and a series of valves through leading distributors in the U. K., parts of Europe, the Middle East, India, Singapore, and Japan. The company successfully established, and has since maintained, a strong presence in steamrelated power generation applications, especially in the nuclear industry. Notable nuclear projects were with the U. S. Navy, designing qualification-tested forged parallel slide gate valves for the USS Nimitz Class Aircraft Carriers. Velan also supplied cooling system valves for Ontario Power Generation’ s Pickering Nuclear Generating Station, which was the largest nuclear generating station in the world when completed in the 1970s. In 1970, they were the first valve manufacturer to achieve the ASME N Stamp. Over the following decades, they changed their name and branding to Velan Inc. and expanded their global presence. These entailed earning key industry certifications, including being the first North American valve manufacturer to earn ISO 9001 Standard in 1991, establishing advanced manufacturing facilities, and developing extensive international distribution networks. Throughout this growth, two constants remained: a strong commitment to forward-thinking product growth, and the core principles that A. K. firmly rooted in the company’ s DNA 75 years ago.
8 Valve World December 2025 www. valve-world. net