November/ December 2021

W hether in terms of technology, the workforce, environmental issues, legislation or a host of other things, one thing’s for sure – barely anything has stood still over the past 25 years. To mark the occasion of this magazine’s 25th anniversary, we were keen to gather the views of several key players in our industry to gain a better picture of just how things have moved on, at what pace and to what benefit – or, in some cases, even to what cost. So, let’s begin with a tale of traditional manufacturing courtesy of Rob Bartlett, CEO, BVAA. “I started my career with a major pneumatics company in the mid-80s,” he explains. As was typical then, we were out-and-out manufacturers. We had four or five hundred employees on our site, doing everything from casting our own components, machining, painting, assembling, testing and despatch. This model was repeated across our UK sites, with our overseas ones being very much recipients of UK-made finished goods, with the occasional trusted assembler overseas. My lunch-break job as a company magazine ‘journo’ gave me an 25TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION FOCUS 34 HYDRAULICS & PNEUMATICS November/December 2021 www.hpmag.co.uk usurped by amazing new products that could be commissioned in moments,” he says. “I remember that first-wind of many innovations came via H&P. Electronic control at the time was ground-breaking, nowadays it’s ubiquitous. I also got to see so many companies, at home and abroad, and I was always impressed by the can-do spirit in the industry. I watched the little acorn businesses grow into industry giants, and greenhorn sales guys and technicians go onward and upward in their companies, often to the very highest levels.” Bartlett also recalls with great fondness the BFPA’s early forays into developing competence-based qualifications for the industry, with the help of John Savage. “An idea for a National Fluid Power Centre existed in potentia in John’s head, so it was going to happen come hell or high water,” remarks Bartlett. “H&P readers will no doubt have kept abreast of these developments over the years of both the NFPC, and what have gone on to become internationally recognised qualifications.” Bartlett also recollects that in the early days “we were also ‘challenged’ by the introduction of strange insight into how naïve and crude some of our overseas partners actually were at the time. Since then, though, this landscape has fundamentally changed, with a dramatic shift to offshoring, with its low- cost manufacturing opportunities.” When Bartlett eventually moved to the British Fluid power Association (BFPA), his role incorporated the writing of technical pieces for the trade press. “I remember Hydraulics & Pneumatics magazine came along a year or two after I joined,” he says. “I recall it was regarded as a bit of a disrupter, as there was already an established magazine in the UK. In true Highlander fashion, ‘there could be only one’ and I’m delighted to see H&P going strong these many years later.” Crash course Bartlett reflects that, as well as a crash- course into the world of hydraulics (and especially hydraulic fluids), the BFPA opened his eyes to the wide diversity in our industry, and to the massive potential for development and particularly technical innovation. “‘Traditional’ products that my company had offered – often fiendishly difficult to set-up – were being Rising to the challenge To celebrate its major quarter-century milestone, Hydraulics & Pneumatics spoke with a number of leading companies and associations to gauge their views on how our industry has evolved over the past two decades or so, and what might await us looking ahead over the next 25 years.