No place for the second rate - industry leader Hydraulink's guide for top operators insisting on top servicing to stay the distance
No place for the second rate - industry leader Hydraulink's guide for top operators insisting on top servicing to stay the distance
The performance, sophistication and operating pressures upon hydraulic equipment have increased significantly over recent years, and the price of earthmoving equipment has moved ever upwards as it gets better and more capable.
With individual items of earthmoving equipment costing well into six figures - and the biggest items and fleets into the multi-millions - it makes simple economic sense to maintain the expanded capabilities of this advanced technology to ensure safety, efficiency and uptime on the job.
"Servicing top equipment is a job for top hydraulic service technicians - why would you risk first-rate equipment with second-rate servicing?" says Hydraulink Hose and Fittings General Manager of Contracts and Major Projects, Ian Morris. "After conducting industry research, we've found that people managing earthmoving equipment and other hydraulically actuated machinery are seeking key attributes from a hydraulic supplier, to maximise uptime and safety," says Mr Morris.
These attributes include:
1. Proven top standards of training, safety and WH&S, as well as accreditation exceeding ISO and SAE standards. To foster a culture of safety, Hydraulink has developed its own in-house training program and facility - the Hydraulink Academy, which ensures all Hydraulink technicians, plus distributors and customers, are well-prepared, confident and up to date with all of the latest safety, environmental, and best practice processes, including several Nationally Recognised units.
2. A strong and expanding mobile fleet with hundreds of locations Australia-wide. Hydraulink's 24/7 Mobile HSST (Hydraulink Sales and Service Technicians) fleet provides prompt service to save machinery downtime. The Hydraulink model includes a 24/7 call centre that can dispatch a technician (with a fully stocked vehicle) quickly from any one of the hundreds of locations throughout Australia.
3. The resources and backing of a successful national network. The Hydraulink network is a team of dedicated and loyal people with a depth of expertise built from scrupulous staff, franchise, and leadership selection policies.
4. Familiarity with customer sites and diverse machinery. Typically, a skilled technician familiar with multiple machinery in an industry can do a better job in less than half the time taken by a less skilled or DIY operator.
5. A robust and reliable supply chain. Hydraulink was able to manage the recent pandemic disruptions with proven supply chain strategies - including industry-best forecasting, purchasing, stocking, warehousing, and logistics performance.
6. Cost-efficient prices. Along with consistency of work, pricing consistency is always a top priority in competitive industries like earthmoving. No one wants cost surprises at the end of a job, or different prices for the same job.
7. Top standards of predictive maintenance to help obviate unexpected downtime. An ability to anticipate the unexpected, ingrained by long years of experience and delivering deep value might never appear on an invoice, but it does on the profit and loss sheet. Hydraulink provides machine health checks and has a HydraTag value add service available that can note and store all of a machine's hydraulic hose and fitting products data. This allows for the quick and easy look up, replication and replacement of vital parts in the event it's needed.
8. A positive, can-do attitude. Hydraulink has been in the industry since 1945 and believes that a model focused on safety and quality is much better than half measures or quick fixes that ultimately cost more than they are worth and push the risk of bigger trouble just a little further down the timeline.
9. Proven, locally focused and owner-operator and franchise business models. Hydraulink's franchise, distributor and branch model delivers specialised skills required by industry, particularly in areas where there is a locally specific type of industry that uses specialised and expensive machinery.
"Overall, Hydraulink's main aim and purpose is to keep industry, equipment and valued customers working - minimising the cost of downtime and maximising lifespan and uptime for expensive machinery," says Mr Morris.
No race to the bottom
"One of the interesting things to emerge from the feedback was that customers were typically not interested in a race to the bottom, focused solely on the cheapest job. Sure, they wanted competitive pricing, but not at the expense of sustainable machinery performance. They were highly focused on having the reassurance of a partner that would be there with the right skills when they were needed," says Mr Morris. "Getting the best out of machinery is a deep value equation, not hit-or-miss, or DIY, to save a dollar today for a big risk tomorrow. Why would you do that, risk a fortune to save a dollar? Why would you spend your time doing a job someone else can do better, faster and with greater certainty? You may quickly discover that, if something sounds too good to be true, it usually is."