Founded in October 1998, Hydro Australia is a pump aftermarket service centre in Hydro’s worldwide pump service organisation. We provide quality engineering, pump rebuilding and on-site field services to pump users in Australia, New Zealand, New Caledonia, Vietnam, Malaysia and South East Asia.
Our philosophy is to work hand-in-hand with our clients, providing solution-based engineering in the pursuit of identifying the root cause failure of pumps and re-engineering the pumping equipment to eliminate those problems identified and keeping down costs to the customer.
This approach is quite different from the existing original equipment manufacturers (OEM) and other local suppliers who simply repair equipment. Because we are independent, Hydro Australia offers an unbiased view of all pump problems and is not driven by the sales of spare parts. We can provide spare components on a just-in-time basis, but our driver is to fix the pump problem. This approach focuses on increasing equipment life, reducing maintenance costs associated with the repair, parts purchase and in-house labour costs, resulting from premature equipment shutdown.
Our most important strategic concept, however, is to share our working pump knowledge with our clients. As our mission states, only by working hand-in-hand with the customer, we can truly achieve optimum performance.
Hydro Australia has our own in-house engineering group, which is further supported by the engineering teams at the Chicago and Houston, US-based service centres. Our workforce is skilled in and specialises in pump work. We continually invest in our workforce and provide ongoing training to keep up-to-date in the ever-evolving area of pump engineering.
Business is about maintaining and increasing revenue. Hydro Australia offers a package that will contribute to increasing your revenue. We know through our experience in the pump industry that doing the job right the first time will increase pump reliability and availability, and improve overall pump performance.
Hydro Inc – the parent company
Our parent company, Hydro Inc was formed in 1969 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, US. The organisation is recognised as the largest independent pump rebuilder in North America. In the 40+ years Hydro has been in the pump industry, the Hydro companies have focused on developing engineering solutions and value-added services to improve equipment reliability, extend equipment life and reduce overall life cycle costs.
Our facility and equipment
Hydro Australia’s service centre is certified to AS/NZS4801:2001, ISO9001:2015, ISO45001:2018 and has been purpose-built to cater to the needs of the pump industry. The layout and everyday condition of our facility, which is kept in pristine condition, is an example of our commitment to quality standards.
Hydro Australia has a well-equipped machine shop with the capacity to repair or manufacture most parts required for pump refurbishment. With many lathes, boring, milling and drilling machines, Hydro Australia can manufacture components of varying sizes.
In addition to lathes, drills and grinders, two 12t overhead cranes are in the shop to service large pumping equipment. Hydro Australia’s workshop is equipped with a Schenk balance machine with a full digital display readout, max length of 4m and weight of 1.5t per pedestal, and re-engineering process with portable state of the art equipment.
Products and services, including aftermarket services
At Hydro Australia, we are solution-driven and customer-focused. We seek to find out why pumps are not operating as they should, and then re-engineer and rebuild them for better performance and longer life.
Our services include, but are not limited to:
- Removal of pumps
- Overhaul, refurbishment and upgrading of pumps
- Dynamic balancing to tolerances more stringent than typical industry standards
- Reinstallation
- On-site machining and welding
- Commissioning
- Condition monitoring services
- Expert engineering analysis of pumps
- Day-to-day maintenance programmes
- Re-engineering of components
- Supply of quality engineered spare parts
- Repair of gearboxes, fluid drives and special equipment
- Provision of quality, comprehensive ‘as found’ and ‘as built’ reports
- Provision of new pumps, centrifugal and submersible
- Solution-based fault finding
- System analysis
- Project management
- In situ testing of pumps to identify bad actors and performance parameters
Hydro’s open-door policy
Hydro Australia maintains an ‘open-door’ policy, inviting unannounced visits by our customers to inspect our workmanship.
When pumps are in our shop, customers may review work being done on the shop floor or speak with the inspectors, mechanics and machinists that are working on their job. Because of this open communication, we find that we are able to build a high level of trust with our customers, sharing ideas and working as a team to solve pump problems.
Project tracking
Quality is the foundation of Hydro Australia’s approach. We are committed in every way to ensure our customers receive high-quality service we provide. Communications, both oral and written, are of the highest standard and we pride ourselves in the quality of our documentation. Hydro Australia takes complete control of pump repair projects, which enables us to give a full unconditional warranty on all services performed. We would control all aspects of the pump refurbishment or upgrade in our facility and would then carry out the installation and commissioning either by:
- Providing all labour required to perform the installation
- Providing our people to work side-by-side with the client’s people
- Or by providing supervision onsite to ensure the installation is carried out to the standards we provide
Our process
Your sales and support representative is the first point of contact for new enquiries and is the conduit to the rest of the shop. Our workshop foreman is responsible for getting the equipment dismantled and ready for the inspection team, whereupon we would carry out a detailed analysis of the equipment and collect all the data required to put together a comprehensive ‘as found’ report.
Once the client has accepted the proposal, our technical and on-site services team would generate all the job cards and QA documentation for the workshop foreman to move into the next phase of the refurbishment project. Our engineering team and quality assurance teams would provide assistance throughout the project and help compile the detailed ‘as built’ report for the customer upon project completion.