Flowserve and Hungary Celebrate Opening of Global Technology and Engineering Center (GTEC)

With the grand opening of the Euro Global Technology and Engineering Center (GTEC) in Budapest, Flowserve clearly communicated the critical role that Hungary will play in the company’s future. The result of an investment of 10 million euros ($11.2 million USD), the GTEC is a dedicated center of excellence for applying design-to-value (DtV) tools and processes that will make Flowserve product offerings continually more competitive in its target markets around the world. Flowserve also operates a Business Support Center (BSC) in Debrecen, Hungary, and has plans to expand its research and development (R&D) and BSC resources in Budapest.

This video, produced by the Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency (HIPA), highlights the GTEC grand opening and Flowserve’s investment in Hungary.

Opening doors to innovation

The event opened with a press conference and addresses by Péter Szijjártó, Hungary’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Dr. János Bácskai, Mayor of the Ferencváros district of Budapest and Scott Rowe, Flowserve President and CEO. Minister Szijjártó noted that his country is transforming from a largely manufacturing economy — that is, “Made in Hungary” — to an engineering and technology services economy that will be known for “Invented in Hungary.” He thanked Flowserve for its investment in Hungary and its commitment to engineering and R&D excellence.

Why Budapest

In his address, Scott explained that after an evaluation of cities in different Western and Eastern European countries — which included practical factors such as location, access, transportation, business environment and others — Budapest was a leading candidate for the GTEC. “But our choice became clear for three reasons,” said Scott. “How the team at HIPA partnered with us to ensure our success, the availability of talented engineers with excellent language skills, and our relationship with the fluid mechanics department at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics.”

Continuous competitive success

Flowserve has the broadest line of pump, valve and seal product families in the fluid processing industry. At the same time, the company’s history of growth through acquisition has resulted in overlaps within product offerings and designs that have not been updated in many years to address the current market needs or the latest in design analysis, materials and manufacturing technology. Flowserve set a course to improve the competitiveness and design modularity of its products through a comprehensive review using a DtV engineering approach.

The center’s engineers focus on incorporating leading-edge technologies in fluid dynamics, tribology, rotodynamics and mechatronics into Flowserve products, while applying best practices for design modularity and configurability, design for manufacturability and design for assembly. GTEC staff collaborate with Flowserve’s Product Engineering, Supply Chain, Product Management and other functional groups around the world.

Abundance of talent

In his address, Scott praised the high level of engineering talent available in Budapest, citing their advanced language skills, excellent technical education, flexibility and eagerness to continue learning. “We are committed to developing this talent into strong engineering professionals who will design innovative and world-class flow control solutions and operate effectively in an international business environment.”

The GTEC currently includes 31 full-time engineers, all of whom have master’s degrees in engineering, with one PhD candidate. Three-quarters of the engineers have varying years of industry experience, and the others recently completed their studies at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME). Additionally, the team includes a part-time PhD engineer who is also an associate professor at the BME.

A growing presence in Hungary

Flowserve is actively expanding and plans to have 50 R&D engineers in Budapest by the end of 2019. “And if all goes according to plan,” said Renze Kuiken, who directs DtV for Flowserve, “by 2022 we will have added engineering functions and increased our total engineering staff to as many as 150.”

Approximately 235 km (146 miles) east of Budapest is Hungary’s second-largest city, Debrecen, where Flowserve opened its BSC in mid-2016. This facility houses approximately 230 associates who provide financial and accounting services in seven languages for countries in Flowserve’s North American and Europe, Middle-East and Africa regions. This location continues to build transactional finance services capabilities and will expand the staff with more language and financial analyst / accountings roles.

Moreover, Flowserve is in the process of adding a BSC function in Budapest to provide more flexibility in organizing work and processes. The GTEC currently is home to 31 BSC associates, with more to be added. By the end of 2019, the company plans to have a total of 300 BSC associates in both Debrecen and Budapest.