Valves and Flow Control Industry: Market Size, Key Players and Trends

Valves, pumps, seals and actuators rarely make headlines, but they sit inside nearly every power plant, data center, refinery and municipal water system. The public companies that make and distribute them report every quarter on what those customers are building, fixing and delaying, which makes the industry one of the clearest reads on industrial capital spending.

This overview draws on the SeventhBiz Valves & Flow Control page, which reads every earnings call and SEC filing from the industry's public companies as they land. Market sizes below are in management's own words, with the source and date for each.

Market size, in management's own words

Example: Market sizes move. On its May 2026 call, Watts Water CEO Robert Pagano described data center cooling as "an over $1 billion addressable market that we have in front of us." By the August call, the company estimated its served addressable market at "approximately $2 billion," after data center sales more than tripled year over year in the second quarter.

Who the public players are

• Pumps, valves and seals: Flowserve, ITT, Franklin Electric and Gorman-Rupp
• Automation and control: Emerson
• Engineered components and fluidics: Crane and IDEX
• Water infrastructure and distribution: Xylem, Core & Main, Mueller Water Products, Zurn Elkay and Watts Water

What's changing

Power and nuclear are becoming steady demand

• Flowserve reported nuclear bookings above $100 million in every quarter of 2026, on U.S. plant life extensions and uprates.
• Crane grew Process Flow Technologies core orders 20% year over year in the third quarter, citing natural gas combined cycle plants, space launch cryogenics and nuclear uprates.
• Emerson said its power project funnel reached $3 billion, with control system orders now booked into late 2027 and early 2028.

Data center cooling is now a revenue line

• Watts Water's data center sales more than tripled year over year in the second quarter.
• Core & Main said data center revenue doubled and now makes up a mid-single-digit share of total sales.
• IDEX's 10-Q credits Health & Science Technologies growth to "AI-driven demand for data center power and semiconductor markets."
• Flowserve and Franklin Electric describe data centers as early but growing. See their comments below.

Aftermarket service is driving margins

• Flowserve's third-quarter aftermarket bookings reached $727.7 million, up 11.4% year over year, alongside a record backlog of $3.47 billion.
• Franklin Electric's acquisitions target recurring parts and service revenue. More than half of Challenge Pumps' revenue comes from aftermarket.

The Middle East conflict has reached operations

• Flowserve cut its 2026 organic sales outlook to a decline of 1.5% to 2.5%, citing "increasingly challenging conditions in the Middle East" that are delaying customer activity.
• ITT's 10-Q added a risk factor naming the conflict and Strait of Hormuz disruptions as current sources of input cost inflation and supply chain disruption.
• Emerson modeled about $100 million of full-year revenue impact from the region.

Several companies are preparing for a softer 2027

• Zurn Elkay said it does not expect the broader economy or its end markets to be a tailwind in 2027.
• Mueller Water Products withheld fiscal 2027 guidance and flagged continued softness in residential construction.
• Gorman-Rupp posted record sales, but its backlog slipped to $236.8 million from $244.0 million at the end of 2025.

In management's words

"we also see emerging opportunities in data center cooling, as larger systems and the shift toward liquid cooling increases heat management demands, creating a potential role for Flowserve's flow control technology" (Scott Rowe, President and CEO, Flowserve, October 2026 earnings call)

"it is still a sub-$50 million business for us. I think what we are excited about from a data center standpoint is that work being done with end customers and on specs." (Joseph Ruzynski, CEO, Franklin Electric, October 2026 earnings call)

"Our acquisitions continue to significantly exceed expectations. Revenue growth margin expansion and earnings contribution are all ahead of plan." (Crane, October 2026 earnings call)

Deals reshaping the industry

• ITT completed its $4.775 billion acquisition of SPX FLOW in March 2026.
• Franklin Electric acquired Cat Pumps for $350 million and Challenge Pumps for about $181 million, plus Benson Pump, Wood Brothers and Maynard's Water Conditioning.
• Flowserve acquired the Trillium Valves Division and Greenray, and sold its PMV Automation business.
• Crane agreed to acquire Trillium Flow Technologies' U.S. water and wastewater pump business and sold its UK building services business.
• Zurn Elkay acquired Intellihot to move into tankless water heating.

Questions to ask in diligence

For anyone evaluating a company in or around this industry, these are the questions this cycle's filings and calls point to:

• How much revenue comes from data center cooling, and has management sized the opportunity?
• What share of revenue and margin comes from aftermarket parts and service?
• How much of the installed base sits in the Middle East, and which projects have slipped into 2027?
• Is pricing keeping up with input costs and the tariffs that replaced the IEEPA regime?
• What does 2027 guidance assume for residential and institutional construction?
• How much acquisition capacity remains, and at what leverage?

The SeventhBiz Diligence section on the Valves & Flow Control page answers questions like these with verbatim responses from every company that addressed them, covering technology, labor, capital allocation, M&A, valuation, market sizing and pricing. The same themes connect to the Data Centers and Energy & Power pages and to the tariffs Hot Topic.

Frequently asked questions

How big is the valves and flow control market?

Management teams size the parts of the market they serve. Core & Main puts specialty water infrastructure distribution at $44 billion across the U.S. and Canada, Watts Water estimates data center cooling at about $2 billion, and Core & Main's CEO cites the EPA's estimate of more than $1.2 trillion in U.S. water infrastructure investment needed over 20 years.

Who are the largest public valves and flow control companies?

The industry includes Flowserve, Emerson, ITT, Xylem, Crane, IDEX, Franklin Electric, Gorman-Rupp, Core & Main, Mueller Water Products, Zurn Elkay and Watts Water. Flowserve states that it believes it is the second-largest industrial valve supplier globally.

What is driving demand in the industry?

Power generation and nuclear life extensions, liquid cooling for data centers, and repair and replacement of aging municipal water systems. Oil and gas projects and residential construction are softer.

How is AI affecting valves and flow control companies?

Mostly through demand. AI data centers need liquid cooling and power, and IDEX names AI-driven data center demand as a growth driver. Gorman-Rupp created a Chief Administrative Officer role with responsibility for its use of artificial intelligence.

How often is this information updated?

The SeventhBiz industry page updates within hours of each new SEC filing or earnings call from a tracked company.

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Last reviewed November 3, 2026. Figures are drawn from company SEC filings and earnings calls as reported on the SeventhBiz Valves & Flow Control page.