Members’ News
27 Jan 2023
New Faces at Antech Hydraulics
Antech Hydraulics Ltd based in Lancashire are proud to have appointed Ashley-James Garvie and David Newell into the roles of Finance Manager and Business Development Manager, retrospectively. David, son of Andrew Newell, Managing Director and founder of Antech, said, “I’m extremely looking forward to taking on the task of building on the success of Antech, driving sales and growth, enhancing the existing customer/supplier relationships and creating new ones”.
Photos: (LtoR): Ashley-James Garvie and David Newell
Antech Hydraulics has over 25 years of experience in the hydraulics industry, offering solutions from leading manufacturers such as Settima, B&C, Staffa, Kawasaki, UFI and more. David will drive the social media, marketing and online presence of the business further, whilst maintaining the key fundamentals Antech already excels in.
Ashley-James, being a self-confessed numbers man, will be taking on the Finance Manager role, understanding the business financials, driving profitability and using his experience to oversee the financial health of the business and its continued success. “I’m really looking forward to working with the team at Antech, understanding the business and helping to grow the company through progression, commitment, and teamwork. 2023 will be a very exciting new chapter for Antech, which I am over the moon to be a part of!”.
Not even dark clouds could stop Team Hydroscand from skydiving for Samaritans!
Hydroscand UK made the decision to support Samaritans as our chosen charity for 2022 and in order to raise money, Branch Manager Nick Thomas suggested doing a Skydive and asked all team members who would like to take part. Initially there were eleven people interested. Slowly but surely, the team was confirmed as Rebecca Galley, Managing Director; Deb Wardle, Assistant Branch Manager; Claire English, Administrator and Corey Lewis, Branch Technician.
The skydive took place at Langar Airfield, Nottingham on 18th September 2022. Hydroscand thank everyone who has sponsored the team, which raised in excess of £1,500 for Samaritans. The funds will help keep their helpline available for people who need it.
Hydroscand France acquires Pathel Industrie SAS
Hydroscand France has signed an agreement to acquire 100% of the shares in Pathel Industrie SAS, with subsidiaries in France, UK and Spain. Pathel Industrie is headquartered in Lyon, France.
Photo (LtoR): Frida Norrbom Sams, CEO Hydroscand Group and Gregory Emir, CEO Pathel Industrie
Pathel Industrie was founded in 1975 and their main business consists of industrial hoses and fittings. With close to 50 years of experience, Pathel Industrie is positioned as a leader in providing a broad range of quality couplings and fittings, stainless steel and technical hoses. Through its subsidiary Clarel, the company offers additional expertise and services for production and assembly of hoses, training, and product know-how in nine different locations in France. The acquisition is in line with Hydroscand’s strategic ambition to become a leading player in hydraulics and industrial hoses.
State-of-the art centre propels exciting new era for MP Filtri in the UK
The 43,800 square-foot centre is based at the heart of Britain’s transport and logistics networks and will support MP Filtri’s expansion plans by delivering a state-of-the-art production hub; a smarter, faster logistics operation; and superb facilities for the team. The centre became fully operational in January 2023 and will support the company’s ambitions of remaining at the cutting-edge of innovation in the Contamination Monitoring sector, and being a valued partner for hydraulic filtration and power transmission sales and expertise.
Set across three floors, the new centre ensures MP Filtri can meet the growing demand for its contamination monitoring products, which will all be designed and manufactured at the new plant. The facility also features a specialist training suite for customers and colleagues; room for more than 1,200 pallets, next-generation Kardex storage; a huge stock area for filtration and other products, and an entire floor set aside for future growth plans.
MP Filtri UK Ltd Managing Director Phil Keep said: “It’s an exciting time for everyone at MP Filtri in the UK. The new premises reflects our ambitions to expand our market-leading range of products and services, as well as ensuring our people benefit from a superb new working environment. The multi-million pound investment reflects the tremendous confidence the company has in its UK division.”
The building has been designed and constructed in partnership with SR Davis Architects and Chase Commercial and features the latest in energy efficiency measures.
Rotec achieves Parker Certified Accumulator Service Centre recertification
Rotec is pleased to announce it has been re-certified as a Parker Hannifin Hydraulic Accumulator Service and Technology Centre.
Following successful completion of an audit process for Hydraulic Accumulator Technology and Service Centres, Rotec Hydraulics Ltd has retained its prestige as the only certified Parker Accumulator Service and Technology Centre in the South of the UK.
Parker Certified Accumulator Service Centres were established to enable the combination of industry-leading products with excellent customer service, and to deliver stress-free accumulator management with maximised performance, efficiency, and safety. The benefits of being a Parker certified centre, in addition to Rotec’s status as a Parker Hydraulic Technology Centre, enables Rotec Hydraulics to provide integrated solutions that combine products, services and technologies. Rotec’s access to original spare parts provides tangible benefits to clients, including shorter inspection time and the reduction of complexity help to lower cost and to save time.
As added value to customers, the Rotec Hydraulics Ltd Service Centre is able to utilise the Parker Tracking System (PTS) which helps schedule accumulator maintenance, providing automated notifications on inspections and replacement parts.
Rotec Hydraulics have the knowledge, expertise and capabilities to deliver a comprehensive range of accumulator services including:
Regulatory compliance and certification
- Hydraulic accumulator re-certification
- Provision of tracking systems, data monitoring and recording
- Optimising customer documentation to fulfil regulatory requirements
- Local pressure vessel regulation
- Audits, scheduled inspections and replacement parts
Hydraulic accumulator maintenance and pre-charging
- Full service for just in time solutions and breakdown repairs
- Full service for replacement and planned/preventative maintenance
- Commissioning/testing (on-site)
- Bladder and piston seal replacement
- Gas pre-charge control and re-charge
System Optimisation
- System design and improvement (including Hydraulic Power Units (HPUs) and Accumulator Racks, calculation, training and measurement)
- Accumulator replacement
Asset Management
- Energy and efficiency audits
- Risk assessment and servicing of safety equipment
- Asset condition monitoring and prognostics (sensors)
- Legal conformity and insurance cover
- Enabling customers to exploit the potential of Condition Monitoring and the use of Internet of Things (IoT) technology.
For more information on Rotec’s range of Accumulator services contact sales@rotec.net or phone 01823 348900.
Festo automation technology aids restoration of Notre-Dame Cathedral
Rapid leaps in innovation characterise the development of additive manufacturing processes. Rotterdam-based company Concr3de has been working on a 3D printer for stone for more than five years, developing an inkjet technique to participate in the reconstruction of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. They achieved this aim using automation technology from Festo.
Architectural applications were the catalyst for the development of Armadillo White, the inkjet 3D stone printer. The founders of Concr3de, architects Eric Geboers and Matteo Baldessari, started with a geopolymer – a material made by binding a residual product from the coal and steel industry with a chemical binder (“ink”). They proposed using the burnt remains of the Paris cathedral as raw material to repair the damaged masonry, because the lack of craftsmen and original raw materials made it difficult to reconstruct the destroyed parts using medieval techniques.
Photo: Evert Kranendonk of Concr3de and Jeroen te Brake of Festo with the 3D printed striga for Notre-Dame Cathedral
In order to develop their 3D printer, Concr3de needed components that would function reliably for a long time under difficult conditions and be easily scalable. The supplier’s knowledge of software technology and service were also important to them.
Automation solutions
They identified Festo as a possible partner through similar 3D printing projects and asked Jeroen te Brake, additive manufacturing specialist at Festo Netherlands, for support. He used Festo’s EXCM product demo box to test that the printer principle worked and to identify an appropriate linear drive for the handling system to drive the movements of the print head. The Festo ELGA actuator was chosen for three reasons: it can have a positive pressure applied internally to prevent the ingress of dust, it can be supplied in long lengths, and it has a good protective cover. Festo also mounted the actuator upside down so that no dust could fall into it. In addition to the ELGA axis, the control system, the Z-axis components, and the fluid supply for the binder and piping also came from the Festo range.
Using data from Concr3de, Festo meticulously calculated the axes, gearbox, motor and control to obtain the correct inertia ratio. Integrating a Siemens controller was also easy. All Concr3de then had to do was drag the appropriate function blocks for the communication lines from Festo’s standard software libraries into the right place. Thanks to Festo’s configuration tool, only the positions to be moved had to be entered and a plan of each movement could be created. Festo provided engineering support and training to Concr3de throughout.
Rising from the ashes
The collaboration between Concr3de and Festo has been successful. Printing with the ashes of the building is not only much faster, but also gives the building a history. The necessary scans for the 3D reconstruction are available because American scientist Andrew Tallon fully 3D mapped the building in 2013. Concr3de used one of his scans to reconstruct a sculpture from Notre-Dame, a striga, which is a bird-like demon.
The company printed a 30cm high model of the stone carving, using limestone powder and a binder, in five hours. Tests at the Delft University of Technology have shown that the result is in no way inferior to real limestone.
For more information about Festo products and services, visit: www.festo.com/gb
Flowtech – Building Hose Assembly Skills with the BFPA
The BFPA’s Hose Assembly Skills course is designed to ensure that trainees have a sound theoretical and practical understanding of safe and suitable assembly methods of hydraulic hoses, taking delegates through the many techniques and considerations essential for the safe production of a quality hose assembly and ultimately leading to installation.
In total, over the last few months, 15 members of Flowtech’s staff have received this hose assembly training, ensuring that whenever you need a hose assembly, you can be sure that, with Flowtech, you are in safe hands.
For more details on Flowtech’s hose assemblies, check out their product range here.
For more details on the BFPA’s training courses please visit our training pages here.
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We would love to hear from you if you have any suitable UK fluid power industry news stories such as:
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