| 59 T T Rosa Watson A true one-stop-shop The service team not only build new systems but also provide repair, maintenance and breakdown services to customers. ENGINEERING Hyspecs Ltd - Christchurch Hyspecs Christchurch is celebrating the company’s 50 years in business, providing support to a number of key industries. The hydraulic engineering and automation company is a one-stop-shop in the fluid power industry. Customers come from a wide range of industries, including agriculture, aquaculture, forestry, marine, transport, dairy, power generation, and civil construction. Products are sold direct to businesses and other hydraulic firms, and products are sourced from leading global brands or globally recognised suppliers. Selling hydraulic products is not as straightforward as it sounds, Kathy says, with customers often contacting the team with just the application, not knowing exactly what they need. “Therefore, our team has to use their knowledge and experience to work out what part or parts the customer requires.” The product range is varied with hydraulics being its core business, but also electricals to support hydraulics, pneumatics and most recently industrial automation. The company sells entire systems, such as HPUs (hydraulic power units), which requires the sales engineers to have technical knowledge to get the right result for the customer. Engineering works closely with the sales engineer on the design and review prior to the system getting built. The engineering team design and project manage a system build, requiring the expertise of both the engineers and technicians. Recent projects include a sluice gate system, a sling sorter system, systems for barges and fishing vessels, and systems to reduce carbon emissions. The service team not only build new systems but also provide repair, maintenance and breakdown services to customers. The team also includes a dedicated EWP (elevating work platform) department that specialises in the certification, repair and breakdown of scissor and boom lifts. The workshop includes a machine shop, welding bay, cleanroom testing with test benches, electrical assembly room and truck bays. In any given day the workshop can have crane trucks, boom lifts, excavators, tail lifts, HPUs, various pumps, motors and gearboxes. While Hyspecs has been around for over 50 years, the Hyspecs South Island business was started in the 1980s when it merged with a company called Dale Hydraulics. “It was very special and we are all so proud to be part of a company achieving this milestone,” Kathy says. Technology has changed enormously over this time, as it has for many industries, she says. “Hydraulics is still hugely important. At the moment, nothing can offer the same in terms of power output. Hydraulic systems are extremely stable and can handle huge loads that other systems cannot.” She says there is so much that is electrically and electronically controlled now, versus the manual controls of the past. And now there is the new age of automation and AI (artificial intelligence). “We are constantly learning and growing with this technology to make systems smarter, more efficient and safer.” Sustainability is also important to the company, and it works to reduce its impact on the environment with the systems it is designing and how the business is run. In partnership with Newspec they have jointly developed an E-PTO (electric power take-off), bringing enormous savings in both cost and emissions to the dairy industry and more. “This is a very exciting part of our business journey,” Kathy says. The South Island team has 21 team members, with further growth planned for this year. A number of staff have been with the company between 10 and 30 years with the longest serving employee at the Christchurch location reaching 28 years. LEADING GLOBAL MANUFACTURER OF AERIAL WORK PLATFORMS. Proud to support Hyspecs Ltd - Christchurch T: 06 368 9168 | E: accounts@snorkel.co.nz | 36 Bruce Road, Levin, New Zealand | www.snorkellifts.co.nz
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