Hydroscand Ltd
Industry connections
“Machinery is fantastic, however without the right hoses to connect them, machines are just lumps of metal. It’s really the veins that matter,” observes Managing Director for Hydroscand in the UK, Suzanne Day while commenting on the vital nature of hoses across a host of industries. As such with its extensive product portfolio and a proven track record of industry experience, Hydroscand is on hand to assemble and provide a comprehensive range of solutions that help drive the heart of industry.
Since Hydroscand Group was founded by Björn Holmström in Stockholm, Sweden during 1969, Hydroscand has grown to become a market leader in the provision of hose and fluid components. From the opening of its first branch in Linköping, the business has grown to achieve a turnover of €185 during 2014 and is presently represented in 18 countries globally. Hydrocscand currently employs 1000 members of staff across 180 branches and works in association with more than 400 resellers to serve over 21,000 clients through Europe, Asia and Africa. Today after four decades in operation, Hydroscand remains in family ownership and continues to pursue its mission to become the market leader and its customers’ first choice in the provision of hoses, fluid components and services that can meet the increasing demands relating to environment, efficiency and profitability.
Core to the company’s mission is its strategy of forging long-term relationships with its clients and observing best practice in management, knowledge and process. Furthermore Hydroscand is committed to employing its core competence to strengthen its know-how, marketing position and customer relations. To fully realise this strategy, Hydroscand maintains a strong global presence in close proximity to its clients to ensure it is able to offer a rapid response. Within the UK and Ireland, this network includes its UK head office in Sandiacre, Nottingham, with a further location in the city suburbs of Colwick, with further branches in Gloucester; Southampton; Plymouth; Bodmin; Redruth, Gaerwen, Bangor, Widnes, Deeside, Wrexham and Llandudno as well as Dundalk, Ireland. Furthermore in addition to its extensive UK network, the company has access to the extensive Hydroscand store located at the group’s base in Sweden, so that clients can always rest assured that they will receive the best solution on time, every time.
Hydroscand offers a catalogue of over 20,000 items in stock that range from hydraulic hoses through to fittings, adapters, cutting rings, clamps, valves and other components. Prominently these are applied with the oil and gas offshore, marine and mining sectors, however the presence of Hydroscand products continues to grow in a varied base of other industry areas, as Suzanne elaborates: “The markets that we operate also include logistics and agriculture. Furthermore, our products are found in a lot of production facilities. One area in which we have been very active overseas is aquaculture – fish farming in the sea, which is something that is carried out in Scotland, off the Shetland Isles. There is a need in this application to keep the nets clean, which makes this an interesting use of our products.”
Indeed through its comprehensive product portfolio and extensive knowledge base, Hydroscand is able to meet the requirements of clients ranging from self-employed business owners to multi-million turnover OEMs with the same high-level of commitment and service. With such an eclectic base of clients, it is rare that a simple ‘off the shelf’ solution will suffice and as such, Hydroscand works to guarantee that it provides the broadest and most complete product portfolio as well as the right industry know-how to deliver, assemble and install components as required. “Very often our products are bespoke in that the client will approach us looking for replacement parts or an OEM will require a solution to a specific problem, so what we provide is rarely simply off the shelf. Essentially the company’s customer base falls into two categories, comprised of OEMs and aftermarket service. Within the aftermarket service, clients tend to make what is called a distress purchase. Often with a distress purchase a hose has failed and a machine is down, so in this market having the stock is key,” Suzanne details.
“So too is having the experience to fix the solution on site and as such we have our own vans within the UK that can actually go to site,” she adds. “This is an important strength for Hydroscand in addition to the longevity of the company and the fact that it is extremely cash rich, which enables the business to invest in new products when they become available.”
As the company continues to grow and further develop its presence it will seek to strengthen its position in existing markets as well as explore the potential for new applications and regions over the coming years, as Suzanne reveals while discussing her relatively recent posting as Managing Director for Hydroscand in the UK: “I joined Hydroscand during March 2015 and my background is in the energy market. The energy market is not one that the company has fully explored, so I am keen to explore this area and use contacts from my previous role. One interesting application could be that wind turbines actually need to be flushed out, as part of their maintenance. This is certainly a role that we are interested pursuing in and are ready to scale up for as required.”
Taking full advantage of her position within the Hydroscand Group, Suzanne is keen to deliver the company’s message within the UK and beyond and will be focused on building lasting relationships between clients old and new. “We are keen to innovate and there are plenty of new markets out there. When you look at something like fracking and consider the amount of hoses and tubing that will be required there it is a huge potential market,” she concludes. “Hydroscand is a fantastic business with a strong brand recognition, however it has not reached it potential in the UK. Within Sweden and Norway we are the market leaders by a long, long way and it is my focus to make the company the market leader in the UK by expanding our branches to make sure that we are in the right location to reach our clients and to double the business – which I think we can do without breaking a sweat.”
Hydroscand Ltd
Services: Hose and fluid connectors
Issue 125 October 2015