Hayward Tyler: A Legacy of Innovation and Growth in Energy Engineering

Staying close to customers

Hayward Tyler has seen a lot in the two centuries of its existence. Established in 1815, the global business still has a strong UK presence in Luton and is one of the oldest engineering companies in the UK. Today, Hayward Tyler is a respected designer and manufacturer of fluid-filled electric motors, encapsulated dry ‘canned’ motors and the associated pumps for highpressure, high-temperature applications and environments across the global energy sector. It is not the first time we have spoken to a company representative, but the last time we were in touch was in the now distant 2011, so Chief Commercial Officer, Colin Elcoate hastens to bring us up to speed with what is new at Hayward Tyler.

“The most significant recent highlight for us was that the whole group was acquired by Avingtrans PLC in September 2017, which resulted in major changes for the business. We have enlarged our footprint and have created more synergies within the group. What is most important, though, is that there are other energy industry businesses in the Avingtrans Group, which essentially means that we have got bigger capabilities now,” Colin enthuses.

He firmly believes that Avingtrans will be the propeller of further growth for Hayward Tyler. “We have a very strong financial backer in Avingtrans and as an acquisitive company, I am sure it will look to further bolster its capacity and capabilities and this will be beneficial for us, too. What we have seen so far from being part of the group, is that we have been able to move forwards in all of our markets, thanks to the increased capacity and better connectivity we now have.”

It is not a secret that the oil and gas market has had its tough moments since the beginning of the 2010s, but Hayward Tyler has thrived despite the challenging circumstances. “Because we cover all of the energy verticals, we have managed to fill the gaps in oil and gas with other markets. I am excited to see that the oil and gas market is slowly starting to pick up and we are now following its development with a renewed interest,” Colin discusses.

Proactive approach

Naturally, big capital expenditure has been scant in the past few years, which required Hayward Tyler to slightly shift its focus to enable growth to continue. Colin clarifies: “We have had to emphasise our focus on supporting the operating companies, in the absence of major new projects. We have certainly witnessed a big drive to improve safety, efficiency and reliability at the plants, so our services, aftermarket, spare parts, and upgrades have all been harnessed to deliver in this area. Obviously, a lot of our pumps and motors are involved in the critical stages of a process, which has allowed us to win some fantastic new business.

“I think there has been a massive shift in this direction, as customers demand quick, local response from their OEMs, so we have invested in our facilities in China and India. We have also further expanded our footprint through third parties and service providers in various other locations, such as Baku in Azerbaijan. All we are trying to do, is be more agile, quicker and closer to our customers to give them the service they need,” Colin explains.

“In addition, as the energy landscape evolves and transitions towards a low carbon future, we have started to move into some of the renewable markets, where our traditional product lines can find an application. For example, we have taken some of our core products that we would usually sell into coal-fired power stations, into concentrated solar plants, instead. It has to do with our desire to make sure that we are more proactive to changes in the markets and that we work in partnership with our customers,” he adds.

Over the course of its history, Hayward Tyler has established numerous longstanding business partnerships with clients who have trusted the engineering company to provide reliable support to their equipment. To prove this point, Colin tells us about one of the most recent orders the business has received from a client – for spare parts to upgrade and refurbish existing nuclear power plants operated by Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power. “It is fantastic that we are able to demonstrate how we can support an operator for a long period of time. We provided the equipment for the plant in South Korea over 40 years ago and have provided consistent and reliable support for many years, and this year the client has come back again to have it upgraded. In fact, the original piece of equipment would have been provided by a much different Hayward Tyler than the one, which exists today, but the customer does not see any difference, because it receives the same quality of support.

“Similarly, there is another power plant, in Sweden, which we have been supporting for more than 40 years, that is now going into a life extension phase, so we are working with the customer proactively on spare parts and upgrades,” Colin mentions another project Hayward Tyler is working on, at the moment. “All in all, we supply a lot of spare parts and upgrades in plants across all the energy verticals, even in the most far-flung corners of the world.”

With the first half of 2018 behind us already, Colin shares some of the intentions Hayward Tyler has for the rest of the year and a bit beyond. “The main focus is on driving what we call our ‘end user business’, meaning that we want to service the end users and provide support not just to our own equipment, but also to other critical pieces of machinery. At the same time, we will be taking a close look at some newer technologies in the power generation sector to stay in-line with the market. We will also continue to build our presence in the oil and gas industry, particularly in the upstream area, where we tend to focus on higher end equipment.

“Hayward Tyler has done many things over the years, but what has always been a core competence of ours is our ability to target a niche, where we can deploy our heritage and skills as new technologiesemerge. The ultimate goal for us is to stay in the business for another 200 years,” Colin smiles. “We want to be an end-to-end partner to the energy industry, providing safe and reliable equipment to the markets around the world, supporting their growth and offering a service from cradle to grave.”

Hayward Tyler
Products: Performance-critical electric motors and pumps for the global energy industry