Our strategy

We will continue to grow in our chosen markets of minerals, oil & gas and power. These are high growth, long cycle markets with positive fundamentals.

We will build on our strong positions in these markets by extending our global presence, with an emerging markets bias, and focusing on the operational and engineering disciplines that provide the Weir Group’s excellent growth platform. 

Our strategy is delivered through sustainable organic growth, supplemented by carefully targeted, skilfully integrated acquisitions. We invest in the technology, infrastructure and people to grow market share and our installed base of original equipment that provides future aftermarket opportunities. We seek to broaden our portfolio of products and added-value services, particularly those products that provide strong aftermarket opportunities.

Driving growth

We generate growth through our four strategic pillars:

Value chain excellence

From the ongoing identification of customer needs through our Weir Customer Experience Programme, to how we deliver equipment and services, a philosophy of delivering excellence throughout the value chain is a critical pillar of our strategy. This is delivered through a culture of continuous improvement and lean methodologies.

Innovative solutions

The Weir Group’s reputation is built on the superiority of our materials and products, which deliver longer plant life, extend maintenance cycles, reduce downtime and lower whole-life operating costs. We are committed to sustaining this superiority, by investing in materials research and design, securing our intellectual property portfolio and taking breakthrough developments to market ahead of the competition.

Innovation is not restricted to the development of our product portfolio through R &D. It also applies to taking new products to existing customers and existing products to new markets as well as proactivity in delivering operational improvement and increasing customer focus.

The infrastructure to innovate

Weir is structured to deliver constant technological enhancement and process innovation. Our ‘Design Centres of Origin’ approach connects engineering and operational talent through virtual and physical communities. Core technology platforms, such as wear resistant materials and pumps are developed at centres such as the Minerals’ and Pump Technology Centre. In addition, ‘blue-sky’ development work is carried out at the Weir Advanced Research Centre (WARC), based at Strathclyde University, as well as at various Universities worldwide.

Enhanced onshore drilling

Fluid ends are a key aftermarket pressure pumping component used in shale oil and gas drilling operations. Using existing alloys, Duralast™ has been developed for SPM® frac pumps, delivering a projected doubling in the life of previous SPM® fluid ends. Duralast™can deliver operational cost savings while the technology can also be applied to fluid ends made with stainless steel and other alloys.

A very big idea

One hundred and ten feet long, thirty seven feet high and weighing over 1,250 tons, the Multiflo ‘mega barges’ are the largest in the Canadian Oil Sands. An engineering first for the Group, the project enables the customer to reduce its tailings footprint. The barges took two years to complete and our engineers spent 10,000 hours completing the huge project, which is operating successfully.

Collaborative mindset

The Weir Group has much to gain from maximising collaboration with our customers and between our divisions. By co-operating on securing contracts, product development and territorial expansion, we benefit from a collaborative mindset that is a key driver of growth.

We work together to present a complete offering to customers.

Oil & Gas Forum

The Oil & Gas Forum, a cross-divisional initiative, uses the expertise and resources across the Group to focus on a wider customer and market base within the oil and gas sector. The work of the Forum has so far brought five new products to market.

Service philosophy

Weir supplies mission critical equipment with superior wear life characteristics. This original equipment is supported with a leading service presence around the world to work as closely as possible with customers to ensure maximum operational efficiency. This commitment to collaboration on service means that many Weir facilities are based on customers’ sites.

Industry partnership

Weir’s alliance with KHD Humboldt has enabled the Group to gain aftermarket opportunities from the growth of High Pressure Grinding Rollers (HPGR) technology. This technology offers a more efficient grinding action than more capital intensive alternatives in minerals processing markets.

Global capability

Around a third of the Group’s revenues come from emerging markets in Asia, South America, the Middle East and Africa. We are committed to operating where our customers need us. There are clear opportunities for us to further internationalise our products and services through our existing geographical network and to expand beyond this established base.

Our global presence provides the reach to deliver our full capability to customers and provide a platform for further expansion.

Growing in China

All three divisions have a growing presence in the world’s fastest growing economy. Weir supports both the needs of the Chinese domestic market and also many of the sourcing requirements of our worldwide manufacturing operations.

Serving North American upstream markets

Our upstream operations have expanded manufacturing and service capacity to provide an unrivalled level of coverage in Canada and the US. The development of multi-site manufacturing together with almost 60 service centres ensures equipment can be supplied, serviced and back in the field with minimum impact on customers’ operations.

Nuclear capability

Weir Power & Industrial is one of few businesses capable of providing specialist valves into the nuclear islands of the new third generation of nuclear power stations. With our business model closely aligned to that of the multi-national reactor builders, three of the division’s facilities hold nuclear certification for a number of safety critical valve products.