Hydreco Hydraulics started out in 1959 under the identity of Powauto, manufacturing a limited range of Power Take-Off (PTO) units and pumps in Gladesville, New South Wales.
The business was developed by Australian company, EG Bishop, in an effort to bring quality PTOs and pumps to the Australian truck market. Over the last 65 years, it has delivered these solutions and much more.
While undergoing several name changes and business restructures during its time, Hydreco has continued to grow by expanding on what it can offer to its customers.
“From making just PTOs and pumps, the next step was to begin offering tipping valves in the early 1960s,” says Hydreco Hydraulics Product Manager, Geoff Ross.
Further to this, the business’ acquisition of LM Hydraulics in 1985 would bring telescopic cylinders to the Hydreco portfolio, and the purchase of Thomas Winch the following year would see hydraulic winches for 4WDs and tow trucks join the mix.
“Since then, there have been incremental changes,” Geoff says. “We’ve aligned ourselves with quality manufacturers with good reputations to fill the gaps in our range.”
Geoff says there have been many technological advancements since Hydreco’s establishment in terms of manufacturing processes and the materials used, which have led to better equipment, higher efficiencies and increased pressure capabilities.
“In 1959, valves and PTOs were operated by a manual cable until they changed to using the truck’s air system,” he says. “We’ve since gone to electro-pneumatic action, where you push buttons and switches to operate the PTO.
“The PTOs used to be manufactured to an American standard as well, so we were making a limited number of them and using adaptors to fit to the different transmissions. Now, we manufacture individual PTOs to suit the different gearboxes.”
As the demand and quantity of Hydreco’s PTOs grew, the business was able to diversify the type of products it was creating.
Hydreco began constructing a wider range of PTOs to suit various applications while it also continued to build its other offerings from the ground up to include hoists, hydraulic tanks, piston pumps, controls, mobile hydraulic valves and much more.
Despite the various changes over the last six-and-a-half decades, one thing remains the same at Hydreco – its commitment to local engineering in Australia.
“We engineer everything here in Australia,” Geoff says. “We’re doing things on an Australian scale rather than a worldwide scale, so our response times are quicker. It also means our products are better suited to operators here because they’ve been engineered to Australian conditions.
“With our 65-year history, we’re known in the industry as the Australian PTO people. So, we have that reputation that we want to maintain and build upon. We also consider ourselves a global hydraulic and PTO player, as we are sell into and are represented in every continent in the world.”
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