[DISTRIBUTOR INTERVIEW] GETTING TO KNOW HYSPECS AUSTRALIA

What is your relationship with Poclain?

CR: Hyspecs is a New Zealand company. We’ve been dealing with Poclain pretty much since its inception about forty odd years ago. I work in a branch over here in Australia though, which was established in October 2010, so just about ten years ago. Poclain was one of the brands that we brought across with us, [that we were] allowed to sell into Australia as well. We focused on about three to four major brands, Poclain being one. We identified they were worth selling and there was potential. As a company, we have been dealing with [Poclain] for a long time.

Where does Hyspecs fit into the market – what is your specialty?

CR: We are more known for our technical expertise and our system and concept design. We carry a lot of stock, yes, and we have a lot of things on the shelf that people can buy, but we don’t consider ourselves a supermarket. Our strength lies in that a customer can approach us with a concept or idea, and we can take that concept or idea and develop it with them, design the system around that, give them options, and look at what they want to do. We potentially build the valving, or the machinery, or the unit. We fit it on site with them. We can commission it with them, and we can take it all the way through.

Do you have any more insight as to why Hyspecs wanted to offer the Poclain Product line?

CR: From our point of view, it’s a very good product. It is something we find easy to use, to sell, to market.  It has a good name, and we’re very familiar with it. Traditionally in the applications we use it in, it fits in nicely. Being the fact that we are a privately owned company, we’re not beholden to use any particular brand. We’re not Poclain itself so to speak. So we have the ability to chop and change and move different brands if we have to… As far as the Poclain [motors] now, we have always used them and always will. We haven’t found anything that’s any better. They do everything we want them to do effectively.

What are the benefits you see when you are implementing it into an application?

CR: With its design, it gives us high torque in a relatively small package. It’s power packed in a relatively small design, so that it allows us to run and go in other ways than gear-boxes… What we do, we pride ourselves on providing a high level of fluid power knowledge and a high level of quality in what we do, and the Poclain motor fits into that beautifully. It’s a quality product. We’re totally comfortable putting in and putting our name on it. Because when we sell it, our name goes with it.

What benefits do your customers see from the Poclain Hydraulics line?

CR: A lot of it revolves around getting a high power solution in a relatively small package. Here in Australia we do a lot of on-rail equipment. Excavators driving on rails and stuff –two of our bigger customers are involved in that. They don’t have a lot of space. They don’t have a lot of room to put things in, so they can’t afford big long gear boxes with motors plugged into the back. Poclain can do all that in a smaller package and the performance they get suits them much, much better.

Do you have an example of a challenge that you overcame with Poclain?

CR: The very first original customer that we started with here in Australia, was for on-rail converted construction equipment. This customer hadn’t done it before in the past. To my knowledge, we hadn’t either. It was a new application for us. It was new for them. They were looking at gearboxes and motors, which were physically too big and wouldn’t fit.

One of the sales here said, “Why don’t you use a Poclain”. They wanted a small motor, but they needed a large bearing to carry the load.  Poclain actually has a specific motor designed for that.

That was over 10 years ago, and they have been buying motors ever since and incidentally enough, it’s the same motor that we’ve been using for the last ten years.

Customer focus seems to be central to your culture – how does that fit into the supplier-distributor relationship?

CR: We try to be very customer focused. We try to be very responsive. There’s an unwritten rule here in the office that every inquiry is responded to the same day. Even if it’s just to say, “Thanks very much, I’ve got your inquiry. I’ll respond to you tomorrow when I have an answer”, or “Here’s your answer, what do you want to do?”. We find it services at a very good speed, but of course, you have to have the smarts, the know-how, and understand the things you have to do. Hence, why we appreciate the [Poclain team]. They are quite responsive as well. It goes with the whole sort of model. Not just the fact that Poclain Hydraulics has a nice product, the fact that they will be as responsive as possible to help us for the customer.

A good example of this is a situation we got stuck in recently where due to [the COVID-19 pandemic] affecting the lead time on a particular order of mine. The customer was jumping up and down. Charles, our Poclain contact, went above and beyond to get a solution for us, which is very much appreciated. I guess it just shows, we try to do that for our customers, and it’s really pleasing that we have a supplier that’s willing to do that for us as well. The end user is very happy. He’s placed orders for more motors since. It gives us a good feeling for the future.

Learn more about Hyspecs and the rest of the Poclain Hydraulics Australian distributor network in our upcoming Poclain Mag or on their website.

Contact our Australian distributors.