NFPA has been producing a series of Technology Roadmaps for the Fluid Power Industry since 2009. These documents – describing technology strategies being deployed in fluid power’s end markets and ways for fluid power to increase its inclusion in those strategies – have been heavily weighted towards the mobile side of the fluid power industry. As a result, we are now developing a new Technology Roadmap focused exclusively on industrial applications of fluid power.
A project plan is now in place, which is engaging the NFPA Industrial Technology Task Force in the development and publication of this new Roadmap. All NFPA members – suppliers, manufacturers, controls and data companies, and distributors – with interest and exposure to the industrial side of the fluid power industry are welcome and encouraged to appoint a representative to this Task Force. Ideally, it should be an engineer or other technical professional who understands the needs of your company’s customers and the ways in which your products help meet those needs. To volunteer for this effort, refer a colleague, or learn more, please contact me at elanke@nfpa.com.
The Task Force met on March 14, 2025, to review the results of a recent survey NFPA conducted on the market drivers and technology strategies most relevant to fourteen large fluid power industrial markets. The survey received responses from 146 individuals across the fluid power supply chain, including many members of the NFPA Industrial Technology Task Force. Respondents were asked to rate the importance of several suggested market drivers, and to suggest others, that they saw as directly impacting the technology decisions of machine builders in fluid power’s industrial markets. After discussing and synthesizing this feedback, the Task Force identified the following drivers for use on the new NFPA Industrial Technology Roadmap:
Customer Drivers. Machine builders want to provide their customers with industrial machines that offer:
- Increased availability and up-time. Generally defined as the robustness of the machine, its ability to work continuously.
- Increased productivity and performance. Generally defined as the efficiency of the machine, its ability to do more work in less time.
- Compliance with regulations. Such as those pertaining to environmental, safety, or other concerns.
- Lower total cost of ownership. Includes capital and/or operating costs.
The survey also asked respondents to rate the importance of several suggested technology strategies, and to suggest others, that they saw actively being used by machine builders in fluid power’s industrial markets to best address the performance objectives described by the customer drivers. After discussing and synthesizing this feedback, the Task Force identified the following strategies for use on the new NFPA Industrial Technology Roadmap:
Customer Strategies. Machine builders are using these objectives or technologies to deliver the top-level performance objectives of their industrial machines:
- Automation. Incorporating either semi- or fully-autonomous functions and/or operations on the machine.
- Compactness. Increasing the power density of the machine without increasing its weight and/or size.
- Connectivity. Expanding the use of data, such as intelligence for cloud-based condition monitoring, integration with site management systems, and/or communicating machine status for other value-added purposes.
- Electrification. Moving towards electric actuation to improve efficiency or control on the machine.
- Energy Efficiency. Increasing energy efficiency, including strategies to extend operational life, use less energy, and/or reduce emissions.
- Environmental Impact. Reducing environmental impact, including strategies to lower noise, reduce leaks and/or use environmentally safe fluids.
- Maintenance and Support. Making it easier to maintain the machine, including strategies to ease initial integration and implementation, to provide documentation support, to ease the serviceability of the machine, and to increase the availability of repair or replacement parts.
- Precision Control. Improving the ability to manage systems or processes on the machine with high accuracy and minimal error, including through the use of sensors.
- Safety. Improving the safe use of the machine.
A full report of the survey results, which shows the detailed rankings and scores for many of these drivers and strategies across the fourteen industrial markets is included the Task Force’s official report on its meeting, which can be downloaded here. The results can provide excellent guidance to companies that sell into these industrial markets in helping them determine the objectives that are driving their technology decisions.
NFPA is also planning a webinar to present these findings, to be held at 10 AM Central Time on Thursday, April 24. Click here to register for that event.
The NFPA Industrial Technology Roadmap will be a document that describes an industry-wide consensus regarding the pre-competitive research and development needs associated with improving the design, manufacture, and function of fluid power components and systems for industrial, or in-plant, applications. The identification of these customer drivers and strategies is the first step in the process that will produce this document. Next up will be evaluating the degree to which fluid power is being used in these customer strategies and identifying broad areas of capability improvement to better secure or to increase the use of fluid power in them. Another survey on these topics will be launching soon, and the Task Force will be meeting in early June 2025 to discuss its results.