Valve Solutions for All Applications

AKO UK provides:

  • Fast delivery
    Competitive prices
    Reliable products

AKO UK Pinch Valves
100% leak tight seal when closed:
Who we are

30 years of AKOAKO UK is the leading Pinch Valve manufacturer and stockist in the UK. As a family run company, AKO has been supplying innovative Pinch Valves, Sanitary Valves and a selection of other flow control products into the industrial sector for over 30 years, developing into a global specialist for pinch valve solutions of all kinds.

AKO Quality

You benefit from AKO’s expertise in innovative and efficient pinch valve technology.

Customer requirements is AKO’s greatest priority. Thanks to innovative product developments, highly skilled staff, and excellent prices, we can meet these requirements.

The consistent high quality of AKO products has been regularly monitored and confirmed since 2000 through the certification according to ISO 9001:2015.

What we do

We supply air operated and manual Pinch Valves (also known as bladder valves, hose valves, shut-off valves, squeeze valves, slurry valves, air flow valves & rubber membrane valves) to a wide range of industries and applications including some of the most aggressive products. We use the most economical and environmentally friendly manufacturing methods for our Pinch Valves. We also use the highest quality rubber compounds for the longest possible lifetimes.

Pinch Valves vs. Conventional Valves

With over 10,000 Pinch Valve variants, AKO have a valve to fit your requirements. Pinch Valves are proven to be the best solution for thousands of applications, replacing many ball valves, butterfly valves and gate valves in the industry.

The non-clogging, self cleaning and full bore of a Pinch Valve makes it the better choice.

See some of our real life case studies for more.

Why use Pinch Valves?

AKO Pinch Shutoff Valves are proven to be the most reliable solution for bulk handling and product conveying.

10 Reasons to use AKO Pinch Valves:

  1. Full & true bore with no dead spots or blockages
  2. 100% leak tight seal, even with solids
  3. The most lightweight valve on the market
  4. Elliptical shape body, less air consumption
  5. Unbeatable lifetimes
  6. No mechanical Parts – Excellent total cost of ownership
  7. Reinforced sleeves for abrasive media
  8. Lightening fast closing times
  9. EX Conformed Valves available
  10. Easy maintenance and re-sleeving

“The AKO Pinch Valve you sold to us is still going strong and and is doing a marvelous job. It is truly a masterpiece in economical and functional design.”

pinch valve with threaded ends
Richard Mackness – Design Engineer

“Your service is always spot on whenever I need pricing & delivery information for any of your parts.”

hygienic soft seated valves sleeve
David Cowling – Spares Assistant

“Our company have been using AKO Pinch Valves from the VF range for 25+ years. We use the 100mm & 80mm bore sizes on our plant, for conveying aggregates, sand, gravel, glass, calcium and carbonate. We are exceptionally happy with the performance of AKO valves and would recommend the products to anyone looking for a reliable valve with easy maintenance.”

See full Case Study with images

shut off valves for calcium
Leon Brooker – Manufacturer of Parts for Drainage Systems

“Our steel shot company has been using AKO Pinch Valves for 10 years! Our machines on site run for 17 hours per day, generating 68 cycles per day. We remove the rubber sleeve from the valves every 6 months just to give them a service, but we always refit the existing sleeve back in, and have never had a sleeve failure in the 10 years we have been using AKO pinch valves. We are very very happy with the product!”

See the full Case Study with images

soft seated valve
Neil Stokes – Aerostructures Company

“Using Pinch Valves from AKO UK has been a huge benefit to our company – Not only are we saving money, we are also reducing downtime so that our plant can process our product faster and more efficiently.”

pinch valves for diverting water
Producing Ready To Eat Salads

“I am very happy with the pinch valves we use from AKO UK and would recommend them to other sweets manufacturers. The clean in place function is especially beneficial for us.”

pneumatic conveying pinch valve
Jason Birch – Onsite Manager in Sweets Factory

“We decided to use Pinch Valves within our ale brewing/bottling application because of the ease to control the flow of product. The Pinch Valves are perfect for full and slow filling.”

valves for brewery
Brewery Producing Fine Ales

“For manufacturing large moulds, we have used butterfly valves in the past. However, the butterfly valves clogged up and one of the valves had a blockage in the pipe. The blockage was so bad that the restriction of the disc would not allow the product to pass through.

To date, we have no complaints whatsoever regarding AKO Pinch Valves over the past 25 years. The products are easy to repair and operate.”

See full Case Study with images

bladder valves installed
Clive Essex – Foundry Site Manager

“So far, we have been using the VMC range of stainless steel AKO Pinch Valves in our brewery with great success. Our filtration system is running exceptionally smoothly with no problems since the AKO products were installed.”

See the full Case Study with images

stainless steel pinch valve
Joe Beaumont – Brewery

“We needed to solve a problem with the ball valve we were using – the seat wore away too quickly and caused many failures within 1 month alone. After replacing the ball valve with an AKO Pinch Valve just over a year ago now, our system manufacturing sweets is running a lot more smoothly, and we have not needed to replace a rubber sleeve as of yet.”

See full Case Study with images

VMC air operated pinch valves
Jon Birch – Sweets Manufacturer

“As the Production Engineering Manager of our company, I am really impressed with the stainless steel construction of the AKO VMC type Pinch Valves, as an older aluminium bodied pinch valve by another manufacturer that we were using previously continued to become damaged by the fragments of welding flux that is used in our application. AKO’s stainless steel pinch valve is much more robust and so much easier to install and maintain.”

See the full Case Study with images

stainless steel air flow valves
Matt Bingham – Production Engineering Manager

“Because of the mixers in our range being developed for food and pharmaceutical industries, tri-clamp/RJT connections were ideal. We also needed sanitary fittings, so we opted for AKO’s 2″ VMCE type EHEDG certified Pinch Valve with the addition of a proportional control system which is a fantastic piece of kit!”

pinch valve for xantham gum in food pharma application
High Viscocity Gum Prepared with Shear Mixing Equipment

“The AKO Pinch Valve you sold to us is still going strong and and is doing a marvelous job. It is truly a masterpiece in economical and functional design.”

pinch valve with threaded ends
Richard Mackness – Design Engineer

“Your service is always spot on whenever I need pricing & delivery information for any of your parts.”

hygienic soft seated valves sleeve
David Cowling – Spares Assistant

“Our company have been using AKO Pinch Valves from the VF range for 25+ years. We use the 100mm & 80mm bore sizes on our plant, for conveying aggregates, sand, gravel, glass, calcium and carbonate. We are exceptionally happy with the performance of AKO valves and would recommend the products to anyone looking for a reliable valve with easy maintenance.”

See full Case Study with images

shut off valves for calcium
Leon Brooker – Manufacturer of Parts for Drainage Systems

“Our steel shot company has been using AKO Pinch Valves for 10 years! Our machines on site run for 17 hours per day, generating 68 cycles per day. We remove the rubber sleeve from the valves every 6 months just to give them a service, but we always refit the existing sleeve back in, and have never had a sleeve failure in the 10 years we have been using AKO pinch valves. We are very very happy with the product!”

See the full Case Study with images

soft seated valve
Neil Stokes – Aerostructures Company

“Using Pinch Valves from AKO UK has been a huge benefit to our company – Not only are we saving money, we are also reducing downtime so that our plant can process our product faster and more efficiently.”

pinch valves for diverting water
Producing Ready To Eat Salads

“I am very happy with the pinch valves we use from AKO UK and would recommend them to other sweets manufacturers. The clean in place function is especially beneficial for us.”

pneumatic conveying pinch valve
Jason Birch – Onsite Manager in Sweets Factory

“We decided to use Pinch Valves within our ale brewing/bottling application because of the ease to control the flow of product. The Pinch Valves are perfect for full and slow filling.”

valves for brewery
Brewery Producing Fine Ales

“For manufacturing large moulds, we have used butterfly valves in the past. However, the butterfly valves clogged up and one of the valves had a blockage in the pipe. The blockage was so bad that the restriction of the disc would not allow the product to pass through.

To date, we have no complaints whatsoever regarding AKO Pinch Valves over the past 25 years. The products are easy to repair and operate.”

See full Case Study with images

bladder valves installed
Clive Essex – Foundry Site Manager

“So far, we have been using the VMC range of stainless steel AKO Pinch Valves in our brewery with great success. Our filtration system is running exceptionally smoothly with no problems since the AKO products were installed.”

See the full Case Study with images

stainless steel pinch valve
Joe Beaumont – Brewery

“We needed to solve a problem with the ball valve we were using – the seat wore away too quickly and caused many failures within 1 month alone. After replacing the ball valve with an AKO Pinch Valve just over a year ago now, our system manufacturing sweets is running a lot more smoothly, and we have not needed to replace a rubber sleeve as of yet.”

See full Case Study with images

VMC air operated pinch valves
Jon Birch – Sweets Manufacturer

“As the Production Engineering Manager of our company, I am really impressed with the stainless steel construction of the AKO VMC type Pinch Valves, as an older aluminium bodied pinch valve by another manufacturer that we were using previously continued to become damaged by the fragments of welding flux that is used in our application. AKO’s stainless steel pinch valve is much more robust and so much easier to install and maintain.”

See the full Case Study with images

stainless steel air flow valves
Matt Bingham – Production Engineering Manager

“Because of the mixers in our range being developed for food and pharmaceutical industries, tri-clamp/RJT connections were ideal. We also needed sanitary fittings, so we opted for AKO’s 2″ VMCE type EHEDG certified Pinch Valve with the addition of a proportional control system which is a fantastic piece of kit!”

pinch valve for xantham gum in food pharma application
High Viscocity Gum Prepared with Shear Mixing Equipment

Speak to a Pinch Valve specialist today

With over 30 years experience in the industry

AKO Pinch Valves are proven to be the best solution for thousands of applications and are replacing more and more other conventional valve types every week, for a more reliable and long lasting performance.

Send Enquiry
AKO Product Videos
On-Off Function of the AKO Pinch Valve
The Flexible Modular System
Free Passage Pinch Valve
See the Advantages, Easy Performance
Pinch Valve Vacuum Applications
How a Manual Pinch Valve Works

See more videos including how to re-sleeve a Pinch Valve.

For further information in 16 different languages see our headquarters site www.pinch-valve.com