Written By Jeffrey Roth
Many Carroll County residents may be surprised to learn that a Taneytown-based manufacturing plant is part of one of the world’s leading producers of fluid control technology and equipment.
The plant is part of Flowserve Corporation, which maintains its global headquarters in Irving, Texas. The Taneytown operation is one of the international company’s 30 pump-manufacturing centers.
The corporation, with annual sales in the billions of dollars, produces and sells fluid control systems for a wide variety of users; from the oil and gas industry to municipal water and sewer plants. Flowserve employs more than 14,000 people in 56 countries.
The multinational corporation traces its roots to the Simpson & Thompson Co., a London pump manufacturer formed in 1790. Flowserve Corporation was formed in July 1997 when two independent flow management companies – BW/IP Inc. and Durco International Inc., merged.
The Carroll County facility was built in 1971 as a joint venture between the Weir and Worthington companies, which both produced pumps for industrial customers, said Bjorn Haldorsen, general manager of the Taneytown operation. It was acquired as part of the merger that created Flowserve.
“If you look at the history of the company, we are well known from a brand-name perspective that goes back to the pump patented by Thomas Simpson,” Haldorsen said.
Worthington produced a split-case pump product and motor that is used to separate the flow of municipal drinking water from waste water, Haldorsen said. The pumps and motors manufactured in Taneytown are based on the same design as those produced by Worthington, but with improvements and new models added.
Used in everything from geothermal and nuclear applications to NASA equipment that helps buffer shock wave levels during the launch of the space shuttle, Flowserve products, according to a company publication, are protected by almost 500 active patents around the world.
Nicolette A. Kaszak, Flowserve’s human relations manager, said the Taneytown operation employs about 255 people. The 246,000 square-foot facility houses customer service, product management, engineering support for design and drafting; a documentation department that produces manuals; manufacturing and logistics departments, and a finance division.
“We essentially have the whole support infrastructure here,” Haldorsen said. “We make small pumps as well as very large equipment. We offer a whole range of products for various markets. For example, Westminster, yesterday, ordered equipment for its water treatment plant. With very few exceptions, we deal with every major municipality in North America. We are also found in almost every major industry.”
The same basic pump and engine technology is used for different industrial needs, he said. Depending on its use, the equipment is designed to meet various engineering specifications. For example, Haldorsen said, the specifications for water pumps are different for pumps that control the flow of chemicals.
Pumps that are in various stages of production at the plant range in size from small machines that can be moved by hand to large equipment weighing tons and are moved by a ceiling crane. Some of the pumps are destined for use by municipalities and some of the submersible pumps will be used in mining operations, said Haldorsen.
“Efficiency is obviously important to customers,” Haldorsen said. “The fundamental technology hasn’t changed that much in pumps. What has really changed is the metallurgy and the machine tolerances and capabilities. We push very hard to have lower maintenance and operating costs for customers.”
On site, the manufacturing process begins after orders are received. Rough-cast parts, made by foundries that supply Flowserve, are delivered to the Taneytown plant. Based on customer specifications, the castings are machined to exacting tolerances, Haldorsen said. The pumps are assembled, tests are conducted on site and the product is then prepared for delivery.
The manufacturing process may only take a few months., he said, but the order and design process may take nearly nine months.
The company provides customer support for installation and maintenance of the pumps and motors, as needed. It does not do any of the actual on-site installation or equipment maintenance, but it does manufacture replacement parts for its products.
Haldorsen said the company in general, and the Taneytown plant in particular, works with customers to adapt equipment for specific project needs. In addition to the design, manufacture and shipping of its products, the plant also has an on-site testing facility.
Unlike the mass-production automotive industry, the Taneytown plant does not utilize robotics. Because its product specifications are unique, it takes skilled engineers and machinists to meet customer requirements; work that robots are not suited to perform, Haldorsen said.
“It is difficult to find qualified employees. ÔMachinist’ is a dying profession,” Kaszak said. “We are working very closely with the county to promote the fact that, contrary to public opinion, manufacturing is not dying in the West. It is difficult to find skilled machinists for the type of machines we have here: manual and computer-based machines.”
Kaszak said she works with the Career and Technology Center in Westminster to encourage students to enter the manufacturing and machine trades. The company is also discussing strategies with local educational institutions to increase the number of skilled crafts people available.
“We are also working with the Business and Economic Resource Center in Westminster and Carroll Community College to start a manufacturing consortium,” she said. “We have hired graduates of the Career and Technology Center.”
Carroll County, she said, is a great place to live and raise a family. Part of the focus of the manufacturing consortium is to educate the public that there are major employers in the county that have a real need for skilled employees.
“We are part of a global company, but we are also a local company,” Haldorsen said. “We work closely with Taneytown and Carroll County officials and that close relationship is key to our success.”
Both Haldorsen and Kaszak said the majority of the plant’s employees live in Carroll County and southern Pennsylvania. Kaszak said the company has a need for both professionals, such as engineers and computer specialists, as well as skilled machinists.
For more information visit, www.flowserve.com.
