Most equipment owners and operators, production facilities and manufacturing systems will have a need for hydraulic cylinders. In many of these types of applications, the cylinders have been specially designed, which means they cannot be replaced with a simple order to an industrial supplier.
Additionally, Original Equipment Manufacturers will often turn to custom hydraulic cylinders in the engineering and designing of new equipment. The addition of custom cylinders can provide better performance, control over the quality of the cylinders as well as a product designed specifically for the application.
What to Look For
It is important to research any company under consideration for the manufacturing of custom hydraulic cylinders. These companies should be experienced with an extensive history in the industry. It is not uncommon for the top companies to have decades of work in engineering, designing and manufacturing custom cylinders.
In addition to experience, look for capacity. This will be particularly important for an OEM or for a company with the need for a continual supply of cylinders. One essential consideration to ensure quality control and ability to work with order volume is to look for in-house facilities. This should include CNC machining services and the ability to wash and paint the cylinders all under one roof.
This saves on logistics, costs and time, as well as allowing for complete quality control throughout the entire manufacturing process.
Turnaround Time
There will be considerable variation in the turnaround time for orders. Some companies may take months to produce custom hydraulic cylinders while others can cut the time down to weeks without any compromise in quality and precision work.
Always verify experience, production capacity, and services as well as turnaround time before making a final choice. It will not be difficult to find the top companies, and the small amount of time spent reviewing the options will have advantages.