10 | Plant & Works Engineering www.pwemag.co.uk October/November 2025 Insight From farms and factories to complex industrial plants, hydraulic systems are the quiet workhorses of the UK economy. They keep production lines moving, power essential machinery, and underpin countless critical operations. But as the sector evolves, businesses are recognising the need for greater consistency in quality, testing, and training to keep pace with rising demands on performance and safety. Too often, hoses and fittings are mismatched. Too often, parts are bought on price alone, with little attention paid to certification. And too often, the people assembling and maintaining these systems have learned through trial and error, without formal guidance. It is a combination that can work, until it doesn’t. Failures bring downtime, costly repairs, and in the worst cases, life-changing injuries. That is the backdrop against which Evofluid Putting training and quality at the heart of hydraulics PWE’s Aaron Blutstein speaks to Stefan Gunter, Business Development Manager at Evofluid Hydraulics UK, and Alberto Gogazzi, Area Sales Manager at Oleodinamica & Pneumatica (O&P), about their new partnership. They discuss how the collaboration aims to tackle longstanding challenges in the hydraulics sector, from mismatched assemblies, re-ending, and inconsistent training to the need for locally supported, high-quality solutions that improve safety, reliability, and efficiency across the industry. Hydraulics UK and Oleodinamica & Pneumatica (O&P) have launched a partnership aimed not just at supplying products, but at helping the industry rethink its approach to safety, efficiency, and competence. “It’s about more than supplying parts or machines,” says Stefan Gunter, Business Development Manager at Evofluid Hydraulics UK. “Our industry needs to think in terms of systems, where every component is matched, tested, and supported, and where the people using those systems have the knowledge to do their jobs safely and effectively.” Catastrophic consequences The case for change is stark. Stefan describes a past visit where the fittings being used “looked fine on the bench” but had no testing records, no certification, and no way to prove compatibility. “I’ve seen situations where an operator asks their supplier for documentation and gets nothing,” he says. “That lack of traceability is a real risk. You don’t know what you’re fitting, or what it’s been tested for.” The consequences of that uncertainty are all too real. “If you’ve ever stood next to a hose when it fails under pressure, you’ll know how serious it can be,” says Stefan. “A few years ago, I witnessed the aftermath of a case where the wrong pressure rated adaptor had been used to test a hose. When it failed under full pressure, the bang shook the building - it was like an explosion. The Perspex on the test rig shattered, with shards narrowly missing the operator. “The operator was frozen in shock. He was barely able to speak with the shock for a day or two afterwards. Thankfully, nobody was hurt, but many people haven’t been so lucky. There
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