IMI has opened a new Process Automation manufacturing facility in Lake Forest, California, bringing its Southern California operations into a purpose-built site for severe service flow control equipment.
The facility opened on 30 April 2026 and replaces IMI’s Rancho Santa Margarita base, where the business had operated since 1987. More than 200 employees across engineering, manufacturing, project management, quality assurance, and R&D are now based at the Lake Forest site.
The plant designs, manufactures, and services severe service control and isolation valves for oil and gas, power generation, and nuclear applications. These operating environments place heavy demands on valve reliability, process safety, and precision control under high-pressure or high-temperature conditions.
The new site brings office space and full-scale manufacturing under one roof, giving IMI a closer working structure across engineering, production, quality, and delivery. The layout also replaces an older operational footprint with a facility built around current manufacturing and environmental standards.
Kevin McKown, President of Valve Automation & Digital at IMI, said: “This facility reflects where IMI is heading as a business. It gives our team the environment and the tools to deliver the critical engineering our customers depend on, while significantly reducing our environmental impact.”
A rooftop and parking lot solar array is due to be installed and is expected to offset around 80 to 90% of the facility’s electrical consumption. Heating and appliances are fully electric, with natural gas use limited to welding processes.
IMI has also outsourced electrical discharge machining and painting, removing hazardous chemicals from those activities and eliminating what would have been the plant’s largest source of VOC emissions. A laser overlay welder is scheduled for introduction in the second half of 2026, with the company expecting it to substantially reduce welding gas usage.
The facility opened with nine EV charging stations, with infrastructure in place to expand to 27. Stormwater is managed through an underground retention system and seven modular wetlands that treat runoff before discharge, while the building has been developed with LEED certification principles in mind.
McKown added: “We work in industries where there is no margin for error, and Lake Forest gives us a platform to continue raising the bar on both performance and sustainability.”
The investment strengthens IMI’s US manufacturing footprint for engineered flow control equipment used in demanding energy and process applications. More information is available through IMI Process Automation.
