History

With our incorporation on April 23, 1986, Bray International, Inc. began an unprecedented history of success. Our goal was to establish Bray as The High Performance Company – high performance based on entrepreneurial vision. Throughout our history Bray has earned a reputation of excellence by creating products of superior value and quality, providing personalized customer service and on-time delivery. The key ingredient has always been a fully integrated product line innovatively engineered to meet the real needs of the process industry.

In our first year the company structure and product line was designed. By Christmas of 1986 the first valve prototypes were produced. Additionally, all sales and technical literature were prepared. A unique network of experienced distributors, with proven track records, was well under way. A suitable factory was located in March of 1987 and the first valve production runs began in June of that year. The initial butterfly valves were the Series 20/21 Sanitary/Chemical, the Series 30/31 General Purpose and the Series 35/36 Large Diameter.

In January 1988 we celebrated the opening of Bray U.K., our initial foreign location. Our third year was additionally marked by the opening of Bray Canada in July 1988 and Bray Mexico in January 1989.

Bray Continental Europe operations began in June 1990. The start up of these four operations outside the U.S. significantly expanded our customer base, and established Bray as an international company. At home, the first Series 20/21 stainless steel valve bodies were produced in June of 1988. The move to our present Bray U.S.A. factory location in September of 1990 was a significant milestone. This 61,000 sq. ft. building allowed for rapid expansion and increased production capabilities.

Beginning in February of 1992 with the Series 50 Valve Status Monitor, several new products were introduced. The U.S. manufacture of the Series 90 Pneumatic Actuator started up in February of 1993 and the Series 22 HPV was in production later that year. The next area of international expansion was the Pacific Rim. Bray Australia opened in December of 1993.

International expansion continues with Bray China and Bray Hong Kong following in January and September of 1995, respectively. These countries represent some of the fastest growing economies in the world and offer enormous opportunities.

The series 70 Fieldbus Foundation Electric Actuator is introduced at the ISA exhibition in Chicago and was named one of "The Best Products of 1996 by Design News Magazine. That year Bray acquired the Bray/McCannalok line of high performance butterfly valves from McCanna, Inc. Bray USA was certified to ISO 9001 quality standards & the Series 40 Fire Safe was awarded API's 607 4th Edition Fire Safe Certification.

Bray Valve & Controls officially became Bray Controls to reflect our increasing emphasis on control products.

Bray acquired Flow-Tek, Inc. to offer a full range of ball valves & controls.

Bray acquired Ritepro Corporation and Ultraflo Corporation, expanding into check valves and valves & controls for the transport industry. Bray UK opened a new factory in November 2000.

Bray USA, UK, Germany and China began manufacturing products carrying the CE (Community of Europe) mark. Bray Expanded our Usa Factory to a total of 110,000 sq ft. with a Class 1000 clean room.

In 2002 Bray acquired our distributor in the Netherlands and formed Bray Benelux.

The new Bray China factory is completed. Bray Brazil began operations.

Bray Japan was opened, and we established a regional sales office and Chile.

Craig Brown becomes CEO; Frank Raymond remains Chairman. Series 6A Digital Positioner is born. And Bray Controls Poland was opened.

Bray Control Italy opening. Flow-tek expands to new Houston Location. Series 35/36 Internal Connection Valves and Series 36H are born.

The opening of the brand-new Bray China Factory triples capacity, employs more than 550 people and has a floor area of over half a million square feet, in other words, the new facility is hundreds of times bigger than the first workshop. Bray Controls India & Bray Controls Peru were open that year too.

2nd floor added to 1998 wing of Bray U.S.A. offices. Bray Controls Benelux opened a brand-new factory in Heerhugowaard, Holland. Acquisition of Valvtronic and Rennell Argentina, started the manufacturing of Series 4A/4B Double Flanged Bray/McCannalok and Bray Controls Cyprus was opening that year.

Bray Technical Center opens in Houston, Texas on June 23, 2011; and also the incorporation of Bray Technical Services India, Bray Controls Thailand, Bray Controls Malaysia, Bray Controls Colombia, Bray Controls Middle East, Bray Controls Russia and Bray Controls France. We were granted by Award of Shell global contract and the manufacturing of Series 4X Cryogenic and Low Temperature Valves Featuring Bray's Polar Seats started that year.

Bray India is scheduled to open its manufacturing facility in September, 2012.

Bray's engineering excellence and precision manufacturing have produced a modular product line optimized for mounting on Bray valves, this year the Series 98 actuators were introduced. And also the acquisitions of Kugelhahn Müller Ball Valves and VAAS Knife Gate Valves was incorporated to Bray International.

Bray International, Inc. acquires manufacturer of Acris PFA lined butterfly valves and Acris PFA lined ball valves from KSB. Bray International, Inc. is proud to announce the addition of Amresist, Inc. (formerly KSB AMRI, Inc.), manufacturers of the high performance line of Acris PFA lined butterfly valves and ball valves. Within the scope of the acquisition, Bray took over the production site and employees, as well as the ACRIS and AMRESIST brands. In addition, KSB and Bray concluded a sales and supply cooperation agreement. S19 Segmented Control Valve was introduced in this year.

Major extension of the award winning McCanalok took place during these years. Extending the product range in large sizes, for cryogenic application, for Low-Temperature Fire-Safe applications and Marine & Navy applications.

Bray International introduces Series 5A and 5B Switchboxes, providing reliable visual and electrical position indication on any VDI/VDE 3845-compliant quarter-turn device.

The Bray Series 70 Servo NXT was introduced this year, providing complete modulating control and monitoring of the Bray Series 70 Electric Actuator. The basic function of the Servo NXT is to position the S70 Actuator in response to a command signal from a process controller.