Dear Product or Marketing Manager:
What do you think of when you think of positive displacement flowmeters? Water meters? Residential meters? Gas meters? Meters that are being displaced by new-technology meters? All these things are true, and yet the positive displacement (PD) flowmeter market is the second largest flowmeter market worldwide, with revenues exceeding $500 million in 2001. Only magnetic flowmeters exceeded PD meters in revenues in 2001.
How can this market be so much larger than almost anyone realizes? Because it has been ten years since anyone has done a market study focusing exclusively on positive displacement (PD) flowmeters, and no one has actually contacted all those companies. There are more than 100 manufacturers of PD flowmeters worldwide. Only by talking to these companies, as we have done, is it possible to come up with an accurate assessment of market size.
Of course, these perceptions didn’t stop Flow Research from doing a superb job on a difficult subject. We didn’t compromise our standards to complete this study – we just talked to more companies. And after doing well over 100 interviews and writing 90 company profiles, when we found is a positive displacement flowmeter market that is alive and well. True, some segments are showing decline, due mainly to encroachment by new-technology meters. But other segments are actually growing, albeit slowly, because there are not yet any new-technology meters that can take their place. This will remain true for at least several more years.
Another important point that many people fail to understand is that this market is so large that even if it is showing a slight decline, it will continue to be one of the largest flowmeter markets for the foreseeable future. Just like differential pressure flowmeters, PD meters have a very large installed base. And because of the tendency by flowmeter users to stick with what they have unless there’s a problem, many of these PD meters will be replaced by other PD meters. In fact, there were more positive displacement flowmeters sold in 2001 than all the new-technology flowmeters combined.
We also found that there are some applications for which
PD meters are the best solution. There are few if any other flowmeters that are
better at handling low flowrates and high viscosity applications. Positive displacement meters have industry
approvals for use in utility applications, where flow can slow to a
trickle. Typical applications include
measuring the amount of water used in apartment buildings, hotels, and
manufacturing plants. They are also
sometimes combined with turbine flowmeters to handle high-speed flows that
sometimes occur during times of high water usage. These combination meters are called compound meters, and they are
widely used for utility measurements.
If you are a marketing or product managers of a flowmeter company, then this study is for you. This study will show you the strengths and weaknesses of PD meters, which segments are growing and which segments are declining, and what the growth prospects are. Because we talked to nearly all the manufacturers of PD meters, we have a good understanding of who the leaders are and what their products are. We also talked to users to get a balanced view from end-users of PD meters. This study will help you plan an effective market and product strategy.
Our worldwide turbine
flowmeter study is also complete and ready to go. You can order it or any of our 8-volume set of flowmeter studies
on the order form that follows this page.
If you have any
questions, please send an email to jesse@flowresearch.com. Or, call us at (781) 245-3200.
Best regards,
Jesse Yoder
Flow Research, Inc.
