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| Fisher Controls | |
|---|---|
| Name | Fisher Controls |
| Industry | Control valves and actuators |
| Founded | 1870s |
| Founder | Emerson Electric (acquisition) |
| Headquarters | Marshalltown, Iowa, United States |
| Products | Control valves, actuators, positioners, regulators, process control systems |
| Parent | Emerson |
Fisher Controls is a manufacturer of industrial control valves, actuators, positioners and associated process control equipment with roots in the late 19th century and integration into a multinational conglomerate. The company has been associated with major developments in valve engineering, instrumentation and process automation through collaborations with industrial firms and technical institutions.
Fisher Controls traces lineage to engineering work in valve design and steam regulation linked to inventors and firms active during the Industrial Revolution and the rise of chemical industry in the United States, later becoming prominent during campaigns of expansion in the Petroleum industry and Natural gas distribution. The firm became widely known through its acquisition by Emerson Electric amid consolidation waves that included ties to multinational corporations such as Schlumberger, Baker Hughes, and partnerships with original equipment manufacturers in regions like Gulf Coast, Texas, North Sea, and Persian Gulf. Over decades the company intersected with regulatory episodes involving standards bodies like American Society of Mechanical Engineers, collaborations with academic institutions such as Iowa State University, and contributions to major projects overseen by national energy firms including ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch Shell.
Fisher Controls' product range encompasses control valves, pneumatic actuators, electric actuators, valve positioners, pressure regulators and digital control systems applied in process control environments. Technological developments reference classic designs such as single-seat and double-seat valves used in projects by BP and TotalEnergies, smart valve positioners integrating communications protocols like HART and Foundation Fieldbus, and materials selection strategies aligned with standards from ASTM International and ISO. The company has supplied specialized valve trims for cryogenic service to shipyards contracted by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and corrosion-resistant alloys for refineries managed by Chevron and ConocoPhillips.
Manufacturing capabilities have included foundries, machining centers and assembly plants located in industrial regions including Marshalltown, Iowa, Houston, Texas, Aberdeen, Scotland, Singapore and Shanghai. Facilities have been equipped to handle casting, forging, CNC machining and testing processes certified under quality systems such as ISO 9001 and subject to audits by operators like Shell Global Solutions and National Petrochemical & Refiners Association. The company’s testing laboratories have used infrastructure comparable to those at research centers run by Oak Ridge National Laboratory for materials evaluation and by university engineering departments at Purdue University for flow testing.
Products have been deployed across sectors including Oil refinery operations, Petrochemical industry complexes, Power generation plants, liquefied natural gas terminals operated by firms like QatarEnergy, and municipal waterworks managed by authorities such as Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. Other applications include upstream platforms in fields developed by Equinor and midstream pipeline systems managed by Kinder Morgan, as well as process units in chemical companies like BASF and fertilizer plants owned by CF Industries.
As a business unit integrated into Emerson Electric, the company functions within a corporate matrix alongside sister brands and reporting lines that interface with global sales divisions, regional operations in Asia-Pacific, Middle East, Europe, and Americas, and procurement groups that source alloys from suppliers linked to Outokumpu and Allegheny Technologies Incorporated. Ownership and corporate governance are aligned with public company practices overseen by the Securities and Exchange Commission and investor relations activities engaging stakeholders including institutional investors such as BlackRock and Vanguard Group.
R&D efforts have focused on control dynamics, flow characterization, material science and digital integration, often collaborating with universities like University of Iowa and national laboratories such as Sandia National Laboratories. Innovations have produced patents in areas of actuator mechanics, valve trim geometries and diagnostics supporting predictive maintenance programs used by Siemens and ABB customers, and academic dissemination through conferences organized by ISA (The International Society of Automation) and technical papers presented at venues like the American Institute of Chemical Engineers meetings.
Safety programs and product designs conform to codes and standards from bodies such as API (American Petroleum Institute), ASME, ISO, and regulatory frameworks enforced by agencies including the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency. The company’s valves and actuators are used in safety-instrumented systems that integrate with programmable logic controllers from vendors like Rockwell Automation and distributed control systems provided by Honeywell, and are subjected to third-party certification by organizations such as TÜV.
Category:Industrial automation companies Category:Valve manufacturers Category:Emerson Electric