Retrofit 3D

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When a control valve begins to wear, the conventional fix is to replace the whole thing - at significant cost and downtime. Retrofit3D, developed through IMI’s Growth Hub, offers a better way: a custom-engineered, 3D-printed upgrade that renews a valve from the inside, solving problems like wear, cavitation and noise without replacing the valve itself.

The customer problem we solved

Across the world, the valves that regulate power stations and industrial plants are gradually worn down by the demanding conditions they control – often ageing plants experiencing severe valve performance problems caused by process changes or outdated trim designs. Over time, that wear leads to damage, instability and lost efficiency. For decades, the only genuine remedy was to cut the failing valve out of the pipework, weld in a replacement and pressure-test the system. Retrofit 3D offers a faster alternative.

Why it’s hard to solve

The breakthrough lay in our approach. Rather than addressing the symptoms, our engineers set out to solve the underlying cause - redesigning the precise internal workings of each valve for the exact duty it performs. The difficulty is that the ideal forms for taming high-pressure flow are so intricate and specific they cannot be produced by conventional manufacturing. So we 3D-print them, creating a tailored solution for each customer’s valve and delivering it within weeks. The valve body remains exactly where it is; only the precision engineering inside is renewed.

Why the solution is scalable

This is the source of Retrofit3D’s remarkable reach. Because we leave the valve in place and renew only its internal components, the work takes hours rather than days - and it can be applied to the hundreds of thousands of severe service valves already installed worldwide. There is an environmental dividend, too: independent analysis found that Retrofit3D can significantly reduce the environmental impact of a repair compared with full replacement. A life cycle assessment by Ricardo found Retrofit3D reduces environmental impact by 85% to 96%* compared with traditional valve replacement, depending on valve size.

A single idea, repeatable across the globe - precisely the kind of innovation Growth Hub exists to scale.

For IMI, it’s a model we can repeat - turning the world’s vast installed base of valves into a long-term, scalable source of growth, and proving the Growth Hub approach in action.