1.

Tell us a little more Flowserve and your role

Throughout our 230-plus year history, Flowserve has solved some of the world’s toughest flow
control challenges while building the water industry’s most complete flow control solutions
portfolio to make the world better for everyone.
From the Industrial Revolution to the COVID-19 pandemic, our legacy has endured and we will
continue to adapt to meet the needs of our customers through this next chapter in history:
Industry 4.0. In my role as the global product leader for digital water in Flowserve, I’m
responsible for developing specific strategies, tactics and actions to increase Internet of Things
penetration in all Flowserve products with a strong emphasis on Digital Water

2. What are some of the biggest water-related challenges facing your clients?

There is a global water crisis and the water sector itself is facing four challenges:

• The demand for water is exceeding supply. With a global population of 8 billion people that is
continuing to increase and resource-intensive economic development on the rise, many countries’
water resources and current infrastructure are inadequate and fail to meet the accelerating demand.
• Water quality is worsening. According to foundationaque , there are more than 70,000 types of
contaminants. For example, just 4 liters of naphtha can contaminate almost 3 million liters of water, so
the correct management of these fluids is fundamental
• Due to climate changes, there is an increase in the amount of flooding while we are also facing
the worst droughts in history.
• Water factory infrastructure is aging and often outdated, and workers have less experiential
knowledge.

The issues our customers have most often faced since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic are a
reduction of manpower along with battling the rising costs of electricity. Because of these challenges,
remotely monitoring assets to maintain the highest efficiency while reducing downtime is
fundamental to business success. Equipment failure can lead to a multitude of problems, including
contamination and health risks. These issues pose a danger to the billions around the world living in
areas of extremely high-water vulnerability who depend on the performance of these water systems.
Equipment failure can also result in costly downtime and repairs, fines, and negative publicity for an
operator.
Furthermore, across the water marketplace, systems operations and maintenance are working overtime
to manage increasing demand with the available supply. Operators are tasked with meeting ever-
increasing requirements for cost reduction and efficiency. Desalination plant operators, for example,
must adhere to requirements from developers and owners to keep the price of desalinated water
trending downward.
Environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals also top the priority list, as the world shifts to
cleaner forms of energy. Businesses must be conscientious about their responsibility to the
environment as a whole, and to the communities in which they work and govern their operations.
With these goals, regulations and responsibilities, water systems operators today face more pressure
than ever before. Digitization is key to meeting these demands and reaching goals efficiently, cost-
effectively and reliability.
 3. How do you think digital tools will help solve some of these challenges?

Digitization is critically necessary to undertake a complete modernization of the water cycle through
the Internet of Things - IoT in order to move toward a more efficient management of water while
simultaneously minimizing the impact of climate change.
IoT is known as the grouping and interconnection of devices and objects through a network (either
private or the Internet, the network of networks), where they can all interact. These objects or devices
can be anything, from sensors and mechanical devices to everyday objects such as a television, radio or
even a washing machine. With more than 10 billion IoT devices connected today, experts predict that
this number will rise to 22 billion by 2025.
In my opinion, the IoT applied to the water market is one of the most interesting challenges because
technologies like machine learning, digital twin, predictive analytics, and real-time monitoring are
necessary for addressing aging infrastructure and increasing water scarcity, stress on water systems,
urbanization and extreme weather events. Finding the right synergies between all these technologies is
fundamental, considering that this digital revolution has the potential to save up to $40 billion a year
in non-revenue water (NRW).
For example, Italy has an average NRW of 40%, meaning that 40% of the water is lost during its journey.
These numbers are completely unacceptable considering that this country is facing the worst drought in
its history. Applying technologies that can monitor the leakage in real-time or conduct predictive
analytics on the assets can improve the efficiency drastically with huge cost and wastewater savings.
Flowserve’s digitization products and services will be a force multiplier in the energy transition as the
world shifts to cleaner forms of energy to reduce carbon emissions.

4. What are some of the barriers preventing these companies from digitally transforming?

There are several reasons why digitization adoption is taking longer in the water industry than in other
industries:
1. Water distribution and control systems are often old, making integration and interoperability of new
systems a major hurdle. Fortunately, the Internet of Things is facilitating this transition with cloud-
native platforms that are data agnostic – a key factor for everyone to participate and seamlessly
integrate new capabilities.
2. Cybersecurity is another growing concern in the industry, giving rise to a new set of fears. However,
newer security software tools have been developed that are practically impossible to corrupt (example:
256-bit AES encryption).
3. There is also the issue of culture in the industry. There is a resistance to new technology, especially
in a water industry that has a large aging workforce accustomed to a defined role where their
experience is their greatest asset. Giving those defined responsibilities to a connected device can be
perceived as a threat to the workforce. Fortunately, many cloud-based technologies are designed to
be intuitive and easy to use, with customizable visual dashboards, alerts, and automated processes.
Cloud hosting also offers a maintenance-free solution for business IT departments.
4. Cost / investment problems are another hurdle: It is true that many of the tools may entail a large
initial cost, but this investment is gradually offset by the environmental benefits and future savings.
We normally expect a return on investment of less than one year for solutions such as condition
monitoring.
However, these obstacles have led to a non-linear transformation in water companies, so every
company should research the available options to gain the best customized solution according to their
digital level of adoption.
 5. What are some of the ways that Flowserve’s technologies help companies smart water journey?

Digitization will give systems operators a clearer picture of what matters in their water facilities.
Thanks to digitization, it’s never been easier to achieve operational efficiency, productivity, reliability,
and sustainability in the water management industry while meeting energy transition and ESG goals.
Our complete end-to-end IoT solution for the industrial space, RedRaven, learns and tracks behaviors
over time to interpret collected data and best identify performance patterns and trends among assets.
RedRaven gives water systems operators clear insights to proactively identify and address asset issues
before they cause downtime and disruptions. By monitoring equipment and predicting behaviors with
digital internet of things (IoT) technologies like RedRaven, Flowserve is equipped with the tools and
insights to optimize flow control equipment performance for our customers, allowing them to safely and
efficiently operate. In desalination plants, for example, where pumps represent 90% of the total
electricity consumption, adopting a solution like RedRaven is fundamental.
An added value of RedRaven is that the developed algorithms are based on decades of experience of
designing, upgrading and repairing the assets. This is a huge distinction from an algorithm based on
artificial intelligence/machine learning, which works from the existing condition of the equipment where
the data is taken. This could cause serious problems. For example, if the initial data taken on the
machine is low quality, the baseline will be skewed and future management and monitoring of this
equipment will be wrong too.
RedRaven’s offering also includes sensors and cloud architecture, so you can reliably and cost-effectively
monitor and improve the efficiency and productivity of thousands of assets over sprawling water
facilities. Another benefit to RedRaven is the Flowserve Monitoring Center, which offers assistance in
diagnosing issues and providing recommendations to our customers’ engineers, analysts, technicians
and project managers.
At Flowserve, we are planning to expand the potential of RedRaven to other water spheres like leakage
and quality water management and augmented reality, among other areas. Through our innovations in
digitization, every drop of water will count, and Flowserve will be the expert in “flow” data.

6. How do you envision the way we will manage water in the future?

Many industries have already gone through a digital transformation with overwhelmingly positive
results. For example, Formula 1 cars now have more than 300 smart sensors installed in them that allow
critical engine parameters and driver biometric data to be analyzed in real time (it is estimated that
more than 400GB of data is exchanged between the car and the control center at each GP) significantly
improving performance compared to 10 years ago.
Digital transformation, therefore, can be seen as a natural evolution in the water industry. Becoming a
digital water company is a necessity to address aging infrastructure and increasing water scarcity, stress
on water systems, urbanization and extreme weather events. Digital solutions represent the best
measures we can take to improve the use of water because they allow:
• Reduction of CO2 emissions
• Elimination or reduction of the use of pesticides and other types of chemical products that pose a
threat to nature.
• Improvement of wastewater treatment
• Reduction of NRW
Avoiding the waste of the most precious resource in the earth is in our hands. We still have time to
improve water management through digital technology, backed by solid institutions that guarantee
everyone's right to this precious liquid. If we start digitizing now, we make the world a better place for
everyone to have reliable access to clean water.