4 minute read
Allied Valve Specialists
Next Article
Allied Valve Specialists Merging Tradition & Innovation to Drive Customer Value
Allied Valve Specialists (AVS) is a proudly South African supplier to the valve industry, officially launched in September 2022. AVS brings together two significant players in the local valve market, Steam and Valve Specialists (SVS) and Entrade Valve and Engineering Supplies, under a single brand to operationally leverage 40+ years industry experience. Enhancing operational efficiencies, customer relationships and driving customer value through world-class quality products were the key drivers behind this move.
At the start of the alignment process, Tina Angelos, Managing Director of AVS, wanted a view of the areas SVS and Entrade excelled in order to identify opportunities for improvement. After surveying 100 key customers across both businesses, it was clear that key strengths were product offering, product knowledge and application advice, and aftersales service. The biggest opportunity for future business growth? Innovation. In a traditionally conservative industry, the challenge is to define where innovation is relevant, realistic and will lead to tangible customer benefits. It’s also important to note that innovation refers not only to technological innovation such as integrating IoT technology into products to assist with real-time monitoring and reporting, but also to innovating the way AVS does business.
We started with our three key values, CARE, PRIDE & TRUST
says Tina,
“then defined what those meant in terms of innovating our business management structures, supplier and customer relationship management, customer touch points such as our digital presence, all the way through to how we managed and developed our human capital. ”
From a supplier perspective, AVS has developed strategic partnerships with global leaders including ARI-Armaturen and Hunt & Mitton. Securing certified supplier status with these partners has tangible benefits for AVS customers.
Significantly, AVS can facilitate direct access between their customers and product knowledge and technical training specialists at ARI-Armaturen, as an example. The value of this customers which includes some of South Africa’s biggest boiler manufacturers, is to deliver the best quality product and service at the right time for the correct application. Having these strategic partnerships in place is part of our ‘PRIDE, which for AVS in essence, represents humility. It’s about taking the time to fundamentally understand our customers and the challenges they face. It’s about listening and fulfilling human needs and not simply pushing a product. In speaking about what TRUST means for AVS, Tina says it is driven by a passion for developing and nurturing long-term relationships with customers, suppliers and internally with the AVS team. “Operationally it means we deliver on time, in time, every time. Our prices are consistent and we deliver on our commitments to customers and our own team members. Importantly, it also means we supply products that are of the very highest standards. We supply several industries where the failure of a valve is not an option. ” Highlighting this commitment to quality, AVS specialises in chlorine equipment products that are 17/492 Standard Euro Chlor certified. “Providing products that inherently reduce risk of leakage in any application is fundamental to our core value of TRUST. ”
When asked about CARE Tina responds, “the word CARE is a powerful word. When I was looking at the AVS ‘why’ , I kept coming back to the fact that all the work we do is because we care about our customers. That's why we go out of our way to service them and proactively negotiate with customs to release goods. CARE is why we exist and come to work. Our staff don’t just ‘come to a job. ’ It’s place we love to be and that makes me extremely proud of my team. ”
