Forestry contractors across New Zealand are reducing their downtime and hydraulic hose bills with trailblazing tools and technology from BOA Hydraulics.
BOA Hydraulics’ ‘integrated solution’ combines world-class hydraulic hose facilities and products with comprehensive training and inventory management support to enable forestry workers to repair and assemble hydraulic hoses onsite.
This solution is helping contractors reduce their unplanned downtime by up to 85% and make significant savings on hose bills.
Hydraulic downtime costs contractors time, money, and oil
According to the University of Wollongong in Australia, approximately 37% of machine downtime is due to hydraulic hose failure.
This downtime hinders forestry contractors’ ability to maintain a continuous wood flow, which impacts their productivity and profitability in the project.
Many forestry contractors may not realise that the costs of this unplanned downtime go beyond the callout fee and replacement service provided by a hose technician.
A blown hose inflicts costs on forestry contractors in 3 main ways:
- Downtime. Depending on the site location, it can take hours – or even days – to have the machine fixed and operational again. This impacts your ability to complete projects on time and move onto the next job
- Money. According to industry feedback collected by BOA Hydraulics, downtime from a blown hose costs forestry contractors approximately $20 per minute. For remote sites, hose repair fees and travel time for technicians can cost thousands
- Oil. Without a regular preventative maintenance programme on your machines, oil costs can begin to mount with blown or poorly utilised hoses. The cost, environmental impact and damage to other parts of your machine due to oil loss are sometimes a forgotten expense.
Warren Black, Owner of Black Contracting, operates 11 hydraulic machines. “It’s not so much the cost of the hose that kills you,” he says. “It’s the actual downtime that gets expensive… It may cost you a thousand [dollars] for the hose, but if you park the processor up for a day, that could be anywhere up to ten grand gone.”
How are forestry contractors reducing downtime costs?
Matt Winmill from Gillion Logging is significantly reducing downtime on hydraulic machinery and turning that wasted time back into profit. “My hose bill has gone back from $3000 a month, back to around $900.”
With BOA Hydraulics integrated solution, forestry contractors across New Zealand have the right tools, technology and training to self-repair and replace hydraulic hoses onsite.
“Hydraulic machinery operators can not only manage their own downtime,” says Simon Boakes, CEO of BOA Hydraulics, “but also manage their machinery fleet for optimised performance.”
This solution gives companies greater autonomy and control through 4 key pillars:
- The BOApod: In 2019, we introduced you to our state-of-the-art Hydraulic Hose Repair & Maintenance Facility. This facility houses German precision crimping and cutting tools along with hose and fitting products from globally recognized brands to enable the self-assembly of hydraulic hoses in the field
- Comprehensive training and support for the safe assembly and replacement of hydraulic hoses by your crew members
- Quality Yokohama Hose and matched fittings for quality and reliability
- And finally, the BOAhub Inventory Management Application for a full hydraulic hose management programme.
At McDougall logging, Arnold Henry uses the BOApod trailer to assemble and replace hydraulic hoses. “The BOApod trailer is right here on the job, so as soon as you blow a hose it’s 10 minutes and you are back up and running again.”
Achieve continuous wood flow and hydraulic uptime on the job
The BOA integrated solution is supporting forestry contractors across New Zealand get the most out of their machines and turn wasted time back into profit.
“Just by being able to make your hose and get going, it keeps everything streamline, so it keeps a continuous wood flow,” says Warren.
“What we did for a start is just get one or two people trained up to make a hose and then if you still have a difficulty understanding, BOA is always willing to come back to help do further training at any given time.”
BOA Hydraulics CEO Simon Boakes was one of the many presenters lined up to talk at this year’s major wood harvesting event, HarvestTECH 2021 in Rotorua, New Zealand on 13-14 April 2021. The BOA Hydraulics team was also part of over 50 exhibitors on display over the two-day event.
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