ABHR speaks to Michael Mullen, Managing Director of RR Pacific, to learn how a global acquisition has expanded the Australian business.
In October 2019, Interpump – one of the largest companies on the hydraulic components market – acquired Reggiana Riduttori, a designer and manufacturer of power transmission systems.
Interpump Chair, Fulvio Montipò, says Reggiana Riduttori is yet another pearl of excellence to enrich the company.
“Not only will it significantly increase and diversify our activity in power transmissions, it operates in industries and markets where we are already present with other products, with extraordinary potential for technical and sales synergies,” Montipò said in a release.
The move has helped Interpump develop its own power transmission offering for the market, expanding its range significantly with a number of planetary gears, reduction gears and wheel gears.
Michael Mullen, Managing Director of RR Pacific, says the new ownership has provided the Australian branch with a stronger foundation.
“We have more availability and options than ever before, able to call upon our parent and sister companies to create synergy and networking,” he says.
“If a customer of ours needs a certain product, we can source it through the group and take advantage of further engineering support from Italy.”
RR Pacific is the Australian branch of the business, which distributes, installs and supports Reggiana Riduttori products across the country. Initially, the company’s products most appealed to the mining industry, but has since diversified to reach new markets, such as the sugar, waste and agricultural industries.
The company has also broadened the range of its applications to include conveyor belt pullers, belt winders, magnetic separators, bitumen spreaders, apron feeders and take-up winches.
In particular, the company has been courting the sugar industry. RR pacific has a dedicated industry expert on its team and can provide large planetary drives that offer high torque at low speeds, which is suited for the material.
Mullen says that through Interpump and Reggiana’s global support, the Australian branch has access to data to find the right tool and product for the application at hand.
“We are targeting new growth industries through original equipment manufacturing channels and our knowledge of the market and our customers,” he says.
“Reggiana Riduttori has decades of experience in this field and has become a trusted name in the industry due to its high-quality products.”
RR Pacific’s equipment is all made in Italy to meet European standards of quality. The company’s manufacturing facility is equipped with a number of Industry 4.0 technologies to help optimise processes.
Product is then shipped to Australia where it is stocked locally. At the onset of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, RR Pacific made the conscious choice to invest in stock that could have been affected by potential lockdowns.
According to Mullen, in 2020, the company saw one of its biggest years in terms of growth.
“COVID-19 didn’t impact us greatly as we are an essential service,” he says.
“Our customers also work in essential industries, and our move to diversify protected us from risks.”
In 2021, the company plans to find larger premises in Victoria and invest further into growing its staff. Part of this will be to grow the company’s sales and distribution team.
As part of its offering, RR Pacific technically evaluates a customer’s application before delivering a solution in the form of a new product, servicing or upgrade.
Mullen says the team makes sure that each solution is timely and cost effective.
“We take pride in delivering quality products and engineered solutions to customers that need a high level of reliability and support,” he says.
“Following the Interpump acquisition of Transtecno, we now have an even more diverse range of products from the Interpump group, which include bevel helical, helical and worm gears, all stocked locally in Australia with the engineering capacity to deliver them.”