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David Brown Hydraulics

www.davidbrownhydraulics.com

David Brown Hydraulics (“DBH”) is a leading niche provider of hydraulics products focusing on the construction, transport and marine segments. DBH designs, assembles and markets a range of hydraulics products and engineered hydraulic systems while outsourcing the manufacturing to a flexible supply chain. The business has three strong brand names under which it operates – David Brown Hydraulics, Hydreco and DB Powauto. It has a consistent and diverse customer base and a comprehensive global sales footprint.

Strategy

The market for DBH products is driven primarily by demand for vehicles with hydraulically actuated systems. This includes equipment used in the construction, mining, oil and gas and heavy transportation. Long-term global demand for such equipment is strong as a result of the global infrastructure build-out currently taking place. 

DBH has extensive and mature external supply chain relationships in Turkey, India, China, USA and Europe to manage the outsourced manufacturing. It utilises SAP business systems and logistics. In addition, it operates Six Sigma process management and has ISO 9000 quality systems.

Locations

The Company is headquartered in Poole in the south of England. It also has assembly and service capability in the UK, Norway, Italy, USA, Australia and Denmark with embedded engineering and assembly capabilities added in 2010 in India and China. There are additional regional sales offices in Finland, Germany, Russia and South Africa which foster strong customer relationships while providing local product specialisation. Expertise in engineering applications is provided by its alignment to markets through seven business units – construction, defence, industrial, transport, marine, oil & gas and wind energy. The business employs 123 people.

Competitive position

There are a number of large players in the hydraulics market. The four main competitors in the market, Bosch Rexroth, Parker, Sauer Danfoss and Eaton, enjoy 50%-60% market share in aggregate. Smaller niche players such as Marzocchi, Bucher and MHS have specialised applications or localised customer offerings which compete with DBH. Key customers include Terex, John Deere, Caterpillar, Aker Kvaener and Powersceen.

Management

The DBH CEO is Austen Adams supported by Mark Holland, the CFO. Mark Dixon is Chairman.