The Australian arm of global hydraulics company, OMFB, has announced it is launching a new business segment which will provide local hydraulic solutions, including in-house hydraulic circuit assessment, design and kit assembly, as well as a new product offering.
A labour of love for those involved, Mobile Hydraulic Solutions will now allow OMFB Pacific to provide reduced lead times and better technical support, and in turn compete with major brands.
“Italy was very interested in pushing this new segment because they know there is demand in the market,” says Marketing and Customer Relations Manager, Federico Bonometti. “We started talking about it last year and developing a plan of action to better address the Australian market requirements and provide local solutions.”
That plan involved bringing on Engineering Manager, David Perrott, to set up a 400-square-metre warehouse facility including a new clean room workshop for in-house proportional directional valve (PDV) assembly, with an initial stock asset of $200,000.
Business has changed in a post-pandemic world, David explains, with the need to have OMFB’s specialised Italian-made parts readily available on Australian soil.
“This is a massive step forward for the company,” he says. “We can now provide full support regarding the design and development of hydraulic systems. The expansion will allow OMFB Pacific to be a solution provider, assessing the customers’ requirements, designing the hydraulic system and supplying the full kit, including a locally assembled and tested PDV.
Established as a family business in 1950, OMFB, which is short for Officina Meccanica Fratelli Bianchi (Bianchi Brothers Mechanical Workshop), got its break by manufacturing spare parts for Italian, American, English and German trucks which were being used for post-war reconstruction efforts. The core business revolved around Power Take-Off units (PTOs), pumps, oil tanks and valves. From there, it has grown into a global hydraulic equipment supplier.
This latest Australian foray is following in the footsteps of the Italian parent company which, three years ago, entered the proportional hydraulic segment. This included more sophisticated hydraulics components and systems that went beyond the transport industry, supporting forestry, mining and mobile applications such as elevated working platforms, vacuum trucks, water trucks, road rail vehicles, excavators, log loaders and drill rigs.
Australia is now following suit, highlighted by its proportional directional valve which provides precise control over the flow or pressure of fluid in a hydraulic system, allowing for more accurate and efficient operation.
“The new product has proportional control, high pressure limits and high oil flow capability. It helps things move as fast or as slow as you would like, which gives the machinery operator fantastic control over their equipment,” David says.
OMFB Pacific is further increasing their product range here in Australia, offering piston motors, gear motors, load sense pumps, HMI solutions, operator controls such as joysticks, as well as sensors.
Fast fact
All pressure losses in a hydraulic system are lost power, wasted fuel and additional wear. Modern variable flow hydraulics improve operator control and reduce the operating costs of the entire machine by minimising pressure losses.
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