It’s Johan and Jonas Grelsson, who run JGH Hydraulik and JG Hydraulik respectively
Both grew up with hydraulics, as their father Bo Grelsson ran a successful hydraulics company, GW Hydraulics, for many years.
– We both helped out at the company from a young age and then started working there after finishing school. One of our father’s major customers was Hägglunds, and when they wanted to buy our father’s company, we all thought it was a good idea. That way, our parents could enjoy a good retirement, and we two brothers could continue working in the company, says Johan Grelsson, CEO of JGH Hydraulik.
Chose to start their own companies
The acquisition was made in 2006, but after a while it became clear that the new management did not really work in the same way the brothers wanted.
– We then decided to resign and each started our own company. We agreed that we did not want to own a company together, as that could lead to tensions between us. It is much better to each have our own company and then choose how much we want to collaborate. Ever since then, we have worked very closely together and helped each other when needed, so it turned out to be a very good solution, he continues.
Work closely together
When they chose to start their own companies, a number of customers chose to follow them, which provided a solid foundation for the business. They also continued working with several of the suppliers their father had worked closely with, and it has turned out that they now each have their own main supplier of hydraulic components.
– One of the suppliers was Parker, and around the same time that we started our companies, Parker Store in Nacksta, Sundsvall, became available for purchase, and I chose to buy it. They were a local supplier of hydraulic and pneumatic solutions, including products and services for hoses, couplings and filtration, and it fit well with the business I was building, says Jonas Grelsson, CEO of JG Hydraulik. Since its founding, JGH Hydraulik has instead chosen to work closely with Hydrospecma, which was another of the major suppliers that their father’s company had worked with.
– It works very well that we each work with our own main supplier. That way, we can help each other with both products and networks when needs arise that we cannot solve on our own, he explains further.
Many advantages to refurbishment
They both work with refurbishing hydraulic systems and components, but JGH Hydraulik does the most refurbishment work.
– It has turned out that Jonas has come to work a lot with hydropower plants and sawmills, where industrial hydraulics often function well over time without major breakdowns. There, it is more seals and other things that need to be replaced. I work more with mobile hydraulics, where the parts wear much more, since they have to withstand major temperature differences and other conditions. That creates a greater need to replace, or refurbish, different components, explains Johan Grelsson. There are many advantages to refurbishing a damaged component instead of buying a new one.
– Nine times out of ten, it is clearly cheaper to refurbish. It also often means shorter downtime, since the refurbishment is done in a couple of days, whereas deliveries of new components can take much longer. This means that operational reliability increases if you choose refurbishment from a local provider, Johan Grelsson states.
Pumps and motors most common
The most common parts they refurbish are hydraulic pumps and hydraulic motors. In hydrostatically driven systems, for example, there are bearings that are age-determined and do not last as long as other parts.
– They therefore need to be replaced, or refurbished, in order for the hydraulic system to continue being used. At the same time, it is very important that we who go through the pump or motor know what options the customer has before we invest resources in a refurbishment. If they can easily find a new component, it may not be worthwhile to refurbish, so we need that information, he explains further.
The challenge is not the refurbishment itself
The biggest challenge when refurbishing a hydraulic component is being able to restore the system to the settings it had before.
– It is not so much about the hydraulic pump or motor that we have refurbished, because those are fairly routine refurbishments, but about finding our way back to the system control settings. The goal is that after refurbishing the damaged component, we reinstall it and restore the entire system so that the customer can simply start everything up again. Finding our way back to the settings the system had before the refurbishment is definitely the most difficult part of refurbishing a component, Johan Grelsson states firmly.
Fewer component refurbishments in industrial hydraulics
Some of Jonas Grelsson’s larger customers are, in addition to the hydropower sector, sawmills. This is an industry that does not place a great deal of focus on hydraulics, even though they depend on hydraulic systems for their operations.
– These are often smaller operations that do not have their own hydraulic technicians. They have more general technicians and fitters who also have to handle the hydraulics. This means that maintenance of hydraulics at sawmills is often neglected, resulting in many leaks and worn-out parts. What my employees and I do is help them get their hydraulic systems in order and stop leaks and other issues. The sawmills have two to three planned maintenance shutdowns every month, and we are there to solve different problems, he says.
Converting from low-pressure to high-pressure hydraulics
He also works extensively with hydropower plants in the region. The largest customers are Fortum, Vattenfall, Sydkraft and the Norwegian company Statkraft. A major shift is currently underway in the hydraulic systems there, as they are moving from low-pressure hydraulics to high-pressure hydraulics.
– We are rebuilding the hydraulic systems at 40 to 50 different hydropower plants in the area, replacing the old systems with new high-pressure systems. One reason for this change is that it is no longer possible to obtain parts for the low-pressure systems, and it is no longer possible to repair parts that break. A positive side effect of the change is that the hydraulic systems become smaller and more compact, since tank volume can be reduced significantly.
Hoses are an important spare part
One part of the refurbishment work is hose assembly, which they also do at their companies, mainly for their own needs in various installations, but also as something customers can order and come by to collect.
– We do not manufacture the hoses ourselves, of course, but that is what it is called when we prepare them for different purposes. During the winter, there is a lot of hose assembly because mobile machines suffer in the cold and snow, and we can have 40 to 50 customers during a short period.
Contributes to maintaining expertise
They can see that what they do is appreciated by industry through the large inflow of work they receive, with assignments from all over the country.
– At the same time, it is a niche industry. There are not many people with the expertise to refurbish hydraulic components and systems. That expertise is gradually disappearing as the average age of those working with this continues to rise. But we do our best to secure regrowth. Johan’s son works with him, and both of my sons work with me. So there will be a third generation of hydraulic technicians with the expertise to refurbish hydraulic systems, which feels very good, Jonas Grelsson concludes with a smile.
