New firm aims to harness power of machines

From left, directors Chris Smith and Nick Doe, hydraulics fitter Michael Rogers and Harry Doe, apprentice.

But Nick Doe loves them all - especially all together.

Nick, aged 41, has just set up a company called Integrated Hydraulics Solutions to make clever machinery that solves tricky problems for industry.

A robot that can reline the inside of a furnace without the furnace having to be switched off. Or a road resurfacer that can precisely spray bitumen and lay chippings, or a grinder that can create perfectly flat concrete floors.

It was this love of solving problems by building machines - backed by years of industry experience - that prompted Nick to fulfil a long-held ambition and set up on his own.

The move met with swift approval after an old customer stepped forward with £200,000 of financial backing.

IHS, which employs four, opened on Todwick Industrial Estate in November.

Nick said: “I just like to build – that’s why I felt the necessity to set up. Humans are still a very good asset but machinery is very good for repetitive problems.

“There are companies out there who provide hydraulics and companies who provide machinery, but very few are able to get the balance right between technology and manufacture.

“Our joined-up approach allows us to create cutting edge machinery solutions right here under one roof.

“My partner is a successful businessman. He sought me out and said ‘We can do something together’.”

Another machine Nick helped make was a concrete mixer that carries the ingredients to the building site and mixes it in batches to create what is required.

This is in contrast to calling a supplier with an amount which might turn out to be too much.

Nick added: “In an increasingly automated world, system integration is becoming vital to the operation of modern machinery, providing unseen levels of accuracy, efficiency and reliability.

“With more than 20 years’ experience in designing, building and commissioning automated systems, IHS has been launched to provide expertise in all fields of engineering.

“Our new premises bring them altogether under one roof and by using the intelligence of the latest electronics and software we will set out to make systems as efficient and reliable as possible.”