When exceptional products meet exceptional expertise
Celebrating a long-standing relationship, our company founder, Paul Griffiths MBE, reflects on the strengths of building trusting partnerships and applying technical expertise.
The shared history of Industrial and Marine Hydraulics (IMH) and Bosch Rexroth stretches back to the mid to late 1970’s. I was working as hydraulic lead for a Middlesbrough engineering company, Indtec Engineering Ltd, when its sales engineer asked if I thought it would be good to be a regional distributor for Rexroth, a wholly owned subsidiary of Mannesmann AG. I couldn’t believe that such an important company in our industry would consider Indtec as a product distributor.
At this time Rexroth was a major global player, a German company with an unparalleled range of high-quality products and a reputation to match. Its UK base was, and still is, at St Neots in Cambridgeshire.
I remember that Indtec was delighted that its engineering talent had been recognised and the company had been awarded a regional distribution agreement for the North East of England. This started what has become a personal, career-long relationship with Rexroth and eventually a special relationship between IMH and Rexroth. Here’s a summary of how the relationship got to this stage:
- Hydraulic Power Systems Ltd (HPS) in Peterlee was appointed distributor when Indtec went into liquidation.
- Whilst working at D&N Hydraulics Ltd I sourced Rexroth products through HPS.
- I continued to source technical product advice from the Rexroth team at St Neots.
- In 1983 I founded IMH and continued to purchase Rexroth products through HPS but maintained a direct route to Rexroth.
- Circa 1987 – 1990, HPS liquidated then folded and following this IMH became a natural choice to be awarded the distributorship by Rexroth.
IMH has always been termed an OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer). Thus, a very strong relationship built up between IMH and Rexroth, so much so that they would often request technical support in the North East – which then grew to UK-wide support.
Following official distributor recognition, the bond between IMH and Rexroth has been strengthened through IMH’s technical expertise, Rexroth’s excellent product range and a trusted relationship between the two parties.
Technical expertise
IMH’s technical expertise was (and still is) very strong and particularly in the Rexroth product range. There was probably no company in the UK with a better understanding of Rexroth’s product, except of course Rexroth themselves!
For a number of years, Rexroth continued to operate with a small service engineering department based in St Neots, with a first-class repair department for all products returned to its base. And, as Rexroth’s success increased in the UK there was a greater demand placed upon its service department for on-site system fault finding, maintenance and new systems commissioning.
Due to its technical expertise, IMH was chosen to provide excellent and reliable technical support throughout the UK and occasionally worldwide, as an extension to Rexroth’s own first-class service department. IMH was the only UK distributor chosen for this work.
Trusted relationship
As trusted service partner the rewards for IMH were more than what might seem obvious.
Of course, there was a clear commercial benefit, but IMH’s staff were also able to benefit from having access to some of the most technically advanced products in the world – providing our team with fantastic experience of solutions that are at the forefront of modern technology.
Our relationship and technical expertise has helped keep IMH ahead of our competitors, and IMH staff know very well the advantages they are being presented with. Consequently, they consistently strive to provide Rexroth with the first-class service they and their customers expect… a two-way benefit which has stood the test of time.
Quality of product
IMH has always considered the Rexroth product range to be of the highest technical quality. It is therefore obvious that IMH, with our own drive for technical superiority over our competitors, should strive to be aligned with Rexroth’s products. And we have done so over our entire history.
In 2001, a merger occurred between Mannesmann Rexroth AG and Bosch Automation Technology to form Bosch Rexroth AG. The size of this new company is phenomenal and many changes have been made, including significantly growing its own service and repair departments. But Bosch Rexroth still uses the expertise of IMH and IMH continues to value the high quality of Bosch Rexroth’s technical products.
IMH is now a Certified Excellence Service Partner, a qualification awarded by Bosch Rexroth as part of its certified excellence partner programme, and we see no reason why this exceptional mutual relationship should not continue ad infinitum, serving UK and worldwide customers and end users of IMH and Bosch Rexroth within all industries.
With more than 45 years of relationship history, we’re excited about the future and will continue to work in close partnership with Bosch Rexroth as part of our long-term business growth strategy.
To learn more about our relationship with Bosch Rexroth and the product and service support we can provide contact us.