HMS Group has teamed up with hydraulics hose and fittings company, Hydraulink, to further reinforce the quality and durability of its Australia-engineered products.

HMS Group, which incorporates HMS Equipment and Hetronic Australasia, develops equipment such as mini loaders, mini excavators, trenchers, culvert cleaners, three-arm safety solutions and multi-purpose remote-controlled machinery and systems for industries including mining.

One of the most recent HMS innovations involved Hydraulink developing and fitting complete suites of stainless steel hydraulic product, including all hoses and fittings, to HMS Group machinery such as its remote control HMS 200 mini loader used in aggressive environments where rust is an issue.

This flagship product is purpose-built for low-access, confined space and hazardous areas, taking staff out of harm’s way in multiple applications, while also saving hours of production time – including, for example, in applications such as clearing coal away from under conveyors. The HMS mini loader eliminates the need to isolate belts while cleaning, while also eliminating personnel/belt interaction, according to Hydraulink.

“Because machines such as the HMS 200 deliver such huge benefits, their users want to keep them in peak operating condition and available for work with maximum uptime,” Hydraulink Newcastle Service Supervisor, Jason Kurzydlo, said.

“Some of these machines – including both sale and rental types – are used in the most challenging situations imaginable, down in the mud, water, rock, coal and minerals typical of their customers’ daily challenges.

“To keep production flowing efficiently, and to maintain the highest availability of their machines in their access and safety roles, they are ideally equipped with stainless steel throughout their hydraulics.”

The suites of stainless steel products from Hydraulink are used for OEM and retrofit as required, with the Hydraulink team.

Kurzydlo, who has worked for more than a year as part of the engineering partnership formed by HMS Group Managing Director, Jamie Howard (pictured), added: “Hydraulics are vital to HMS Group’s machinery. They are the nerves and muscle of these ingenious machines and systems. HMS builds these machines to the highest standards of design, quality and integrity, taking its lead from its customers’ needs through design, fabrication and ongoing service.

“To ensure consistent top standards of hydraulics compliance and safety standards across the whole range of industries, they contract us to engineer the same standards of hose, fittings and hydraulic maintenance that we deliver to world leaders in industries they also serve.”

Howard says HMS machines are typically operated by one person using a remote control to access restricted and potentially hazardous areas.

“They can work underneath operating belts, for example, which means there can be zero downtime for conveyor belts and no production time lost due to spills, such as coal in mining, energy and loading terminals,” he said.

“These spillages can be costly and risky for workers to rectify because of the confined areas under belts and because belts often need to be shut down while a manual clean-up takes place, which can take up to three hours and cost as much as half a million dollars.

“In other applications, we have our technology installed to combat fire risk, for example, where they help curtail the risk of accidents, injuries and stoppages, which are major issues in the industries we serve.

“So, initiatives such as our partnership with Hydraulink are very valuable to the customer in terms of maximising uptime and safety and demonstrating our commitment to compliance and standards,” he said.

Hydraulink – which operates under the market signature ‘Best Under Pressure’ – delivers essential hydraulic hose, fittings and safety-compliant and traceable service expertise to industries requiring prompt, quality 24/7 service either on- or off-site through more than 400 Hydraulink service outlets throughout New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific Islands, it says.

Kurzydlo says the group’s uniformly high professional excellence and training standards have paid off in the relationship with HMS Group, which has not had any call-back issues over the time they have been involved.

“This is a real compliment to us, because Jamie Howard’s entire operation is driven by quality and you have to meet their high standards to become part of it,” he said.