Industrial plants are balancing aging infrastructure, workforce gaps, and rising expectations for efficiency and emissions performance. In a Hydrocarbon Processing podcast, How valve technologies can enhance operations, Clint Schneider, Vice President of Fisher Instruments at Emerson’s flow controls business, explained how modern control valve instrumentation is helping operators respond more effectively.

Why It Matters

Control valves sit at the point where process decisions become physical actions. Better data from the valve, delivered to the right person in the right place, shortens the path from detection to response. For project and process engineers, that changes what operations teams can see and prevent or optimize.

Key Takeaways

• Emerson’s flow control solutions are final control elements in a control loop, with brands that include Fisher, Sempell, and Crosby, to name a few. Here is the full portfolio.
• Modern Fisher™ instrumentation stores data and runs diagnostics locally, supporting new projects as well as plants that have been in operation 30 or even 60 years.
• The Fisher FIELDVUE™ DVC7K Digital Valve Controller introduced Bluetooth® wireless technology in early 2026, readable from as much as 30 to 50 feet away from the instrument on a mobile device.
• Valve diagnostics can flag potential bottlenecks and mechanical issues before they affect operations.
• The Fisher enhanced ENVIRO-SEAL™ low emissions control valve packing system, combined with diagnostic insight, supports emissions reduction efforts.

Meeting Plants Where They Are

Clint described flow control products as the throttling mechanism in the loop, generally the control valve itself, with his team focused on positioners and other sensing mechanisms. The DVC7K is the group’s marquee instrumentation product.

He framed today’s customer environment as a “perfect storm” of aging infrastructure and shortages of skilled workers. The response, he said, is technology that is reliable and robust enough for industrial processing while also bringing modern capabilities, such as local data storage and sophisticated but intuitive local diagnostics. That combination is intended to deliver value in newer plants with modern infrastructure, while remaining reverse-compatible with systems that are decades old.

Modern Automation and the Intelligent Field

Clint positioned flow control devices as part of the “intelligent field,” the layer of devices that generate data at the operational level. He noted that these field devices form a key aspect of the data foundation for systems such as DeltaV, Ovation, and AspenTech, helping plants operate more safely, efficiently, and reliably.

What is shifting, in his view, is how that data reaches people. With the DVC7K, Bluetooth connectivity allows a technician to walk up to 50 feet away from a valve and read its operational condition on a mobile device. Previously, getting that information typically required a direct wired connection into the device, deep interrogation, and a return to a control room or other controlled setting to visualize the results. Clint described this as breaking down boundaries so that data can be consumed at the edge, in the cloud, or in the field, wherever and whenever it is needed.

From Data to Better Decisions and Lower Emissions

Historically, Clint said, operations teams ran the plant from the Distributed Control System (DCS) level and did not “listen” closely to the positioner. With the DVC7K, the valve can generate analytics that help operations anticipate problems, including identifying a control valve that may be acting as a process bottleneck that traditional operations data would not reveal.

Getting value from that data, he explained, starts with a conscious decision to listen and to set up the infrastructure to act on it. Bluetooth technology in the device, paired with Fisher ValveLink™ Pro Software on a mobile device, lowers the networking burden, so sites without sophisticated operational technology networks can still put valve data to use with minimal upfront configuration.

He added that control valve data can also surface mechanical issues that may be producing emissions that plant personnel did not know existed, giving diagnostics another role alongside efficiency, productivity, and reliability.

Take the Next Step

Explore Emerson’s full valve portfolio, and listen to the full conversation with Clint Schneider on The Main Column podcast from Hydrocarbon Processing.