56 | Small, quality teamwith big reach across region Timaru-based Scarlett Hydraulics services primary industry, power generation, marine and forestry. REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT Scarlett Hydraulics T T Kelly Deeks With its 40th birthday coming up next year, Timaru’s Scarlett Hydraulics is one of New Zealand’s largest hydraulic companies and offers a complete range of services to customers at the cutting edge of technology. Scarlett Hydraulics originally started as a sister company to agricultural and waste management engineering firm BJ Scarlett, and has grown into its own markets, mainly in primary production, power generation, marine, and forestry industries. Scarlett Hydraulics now boasts a team of 34 across two branches in Timaru and Christchurch. Scarlett Hydraulics CEO Shane Brookland started on the parts counter 30 years ago. He quickly progressed through the ranks and has been a key contributor to the company’s rapid growth. “It’s pretty cool that we’re a locally owned business that looks after national businesses,” he says. “We work throughout the country and even off shore.” Closest to home, Scarlett Hydraulics does a lot of work at PrimePort Timaru, looking after the Sanford Fleet, and at various primary producers like freezing works. In the nearby Mackenzie District, Scarlett Hydraulics has played an influential role in the development of power generation hydraulics and works at multiple hydro-power stations, as well as wind farms in Southland. Scarlett Hydraulics is now working on a major refurbishment at Manapōuri hydro station. Shane says business confidence is currently high in Timaru. Scarlett Hydraulics is still hiring, and its customers have high workloads and high confidence. “Our primary industries feed the whole world, and the power industry is going to continue to grow. There may be a recession coming but we don’t feel it’s going to impact our business in the next 12 months. If we keep going the same way we’re going, we will keep growing.” Despite the unsettled nature of the Covid business environment, and the lack of visibility around supply chains which definitely impacted on Scarlett Hydraulics’ rhythm for the past 18 months to two years, the company has continued to perform really well. “We’ve got good resilience from the governance level down through the business. We’re happy and proud of what Canterbury does as a region. This region performs really well and really consistently without the boom or bust that other areas may see, and that gives us a lot of surety in the market.” Shane thinks there may be more opportunities for growth in the coming years as older business owners start to retire. Not everyone has a succession strategy, but this is something Scarlett Hydraulics has been working on for the past 10 years. “We’ve recruited and trained from scratch with reasonably good return. We’ve employed a ‘youthful with knowledge’ approach to doing business.” Available talent is still hard to source, and new Scarlett Hydraulics staff tend to be school leavers, or experienced people from outside the region, or locals who approach Scarlett Hydraulics for an opportunity having heard of the strong company culture. “The owners and myself are long-standing in the business and we’ve retained our family values. We treat our people like people and we train them to do the best they can, as well as being a good corporate citizen, looking after local charities and getting involved in local events.” “It’s pretty cool that we’re a locally owned business that looks after national businesses.” FOR THE BEST IN MANUFACTURING. WASTE HANDLING | SCANNELL FARM EQUIPMENT TRANSPREAD | WOOL BALE CORING MACHINES | ENGINEERING TRACK SHOP | SWINGTHRU Proudly Supporting Scarlett Hydraulics +64 6 688 2900 www.scarlett.co.nz
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