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Chemical Processing Readers' Choice Awards 2004

Chemical Processing magazine

Chemical Processing  asked 20,000 of its readers to name the best technology providers in 41 categories covering equipment, software and engineering services.

By Diane Dierking

What do you do when you need to buy a piece of equipment for your plant? Many companies have an approved vendor list, but multiple vendors may be listed leaving you to choose which is best. You can ask a colleague, but he may not have any experience with the sort of equipment you need to buy. You can ask a friend who works at another plant, but he may not be familiar with your application. Or you can search the Web, which will yield more information than you can humanly sort through before your old equipment rotates, monitors or holds fluid for the last time.

 We asked 20,000 of our readers to name the best technology providers in 41 categories covering equipment, software and engineering services. Three hundred and fifty-three readers rose to the challenge; they named the one company they thought was the best provider of those technologies with which they have experience.

 Granted, not all of our readers work in a plant like yours. But we think the results speak for themselves.

They’re all winners
Those who responded to the survey were given a blank form, so every company had an equal chance to receive a nomination. All of the companies named in our survey were voted the No. 1 technology provider by our readers. We did not provide spaces for second or third choice, much to the dismay of at least one reader.

There were several companies that received the most No. 1 votes in more than one category. Emerson Process Management was voted the best technology provider in seven categories, including all instrumentation categories. AspenTech was nominated as best in two software categories, and Alfa Laval in two equipment groups.

Calculating success
In our survey, we asked readers to vote only in those categories in which they have experience with the technology.

Many readers wrote in names of divisions or products, rather than companies. We have done our best to consolidate all votes under the appropriate company name.

It was our intention to name the three companies receiving the most “best technology” votes in each category. We have deemed scores within 3% of one another a statistical tie, so there are some categories in which more than three firms are listed. We also have not listed any companies that received less than 5% of the total votes in their respective categories. In some cases, we have reported only two firms.
There were several categories in which no company received more than a few votes apiece due to the diverse offerings available. Results in these categories were not reported.

In our eyes, all the companies that received nominations are winners. Congratulations to each and every one. Many thanks to the readers who responded to our survey.

Next time you have to purchase equipment, software or engineering services, we hope our Readers’ Choice Awards will prove to be a valuable resource.
 

Bearings
SKF 37%
The Timken Co. 27%
Motion Industries 5%

Boilers/Steam Systems
Cleaver-Brooks  35%
The Babcock & Wilcox Co. 19%

Catalysts
Engelhard 26%
Criterion 10%
UOP 10%
Johnson Matthey 7%
Albemarle Catalysts 6%

Centrifugal Pumps
Goulds Pumps-ITT Industries 45%
Flowserve Corp. 21%

Centrifuges
Alfa Laval 20%
Andritz Bird Inc. 18%
Beckman Coulter 6%
Heinkel 6%

Compressors
Ingersoll-Rand Co. 40%
Atlas Copco 15%
Sullair Corp. 6%

Distillation Systems
Koch-Glitsch 55%
Sulzer 6%

Dryers
Niro Inc. 10%
Wyssmont Co. 9%

Dust Control Systems
Donaldson Torit  30%
BHA Group Inc.-GE Energy  7%
MAC Equipment  7%

Elastomers
DuPont Dow Elastomers 61%
Parker Hannifin Corp. 6%
Newman Sanitary Gasket Co. 5%

Engineering/Design Services
Jacobs Engineering 15%
Fluor Corp. 14%

Explosion Protection Systems
Fike Corp. 50%
Fenwal Protection Systems 11%
BS&B Safety Systems Inc. 6%
The Protectoseal Co. 5%
MSA 5%

Fans/Blowers
The New York Blower Co. 19%
Howden Buffalo 16%
Chicago Blower Corp. 9%
Dresser-Roots Blowers 6%

Feeders
K-Tron 22%
Acrison Inc. 14%