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Quality Yokohama Hose | Hydraulic Hose

When BOA Hydraulics partners with suppliers, we are keen to understand exactly how the operation runs so we can give our customers assurance of quality and consistency in our hydraulic hose products. 

BOA Hydraulics directors Greg and Simon Boakes were privileged to visit the Yokohama factory in Japan in 2016. This visit gave the team great insight into Yokohama's operations. 

We saw firsthand the way Yokohama create high-quality, best-in-class OEM hose products in comparison to other hydraulic hose manufacturing companies we conducted due diligence on. One key outstanding difference was their testing facilities. 

Yokohama had over 80 different test rig machines, testing their hydraulic hoses for a number of extreme conditions: hot/cold temperatures, elasticity, extreme pressure, excavator simulations, extreme pulsation, burst pressure, flexibility, and more.

Yokohama hose: fundamentals of quality 

There were 3 key fundamentals of Yokohama's quality - the raw material, their technique, and consistency that were highlights.

• Raw material: Yokohama hoses are made of premium-grade rubber and steel materials.
• Technique: Yokohama masters the technique of weaving the wire in their hoses to the precise and accurate angle, consistently every time creating a very flexible product resulting in greater bend radius limits.
• Consistency: This is the most important element when manufacturing for global OEM clients; the same hose consistently every time to meet the client’s OEM test procedures every time. High-pressure hydraulic hoses operate in the most demanding of circumstances, so they must be suitable for heavy pulsing, high operating temperatures, and constant flexing when in service.

BOA Hydraulics' visit to Yokohama in Japan

Whilst in Yokohama, Japan, we discussed their OEM heavy machinery customer profile. Yokohama are Tier 1 supplier to over 30 different brands of heavy mobile machinery, including brands Komatsu, Hitachi, and Kobelco. 

It's not by chance that Yokohama is a key supplier to these brands. This is the result of over 100 years of developing and perfecting the art of manufacturing the world’s best hydraulic hose products. In the manufacturing facility, the BOA Hydraulics team witnessed firsthand why Yokohama hose outlasts and outperforms other brands that we know.

The Komatsu and Hitachi International Standards and test procedures are the most extreme and stringent globally, so no wonder Yokohama are their OEM hydraulic hose supplier giving them guaranteed long-term security. The long life and high durability test procedure applies the impulse Peak Wave methodology compared to the traditional Square Wave method to meet SAE and EN standards. Hitachi hoses are tested at 120*C, at maximum operating pressure x 150%, and for 1200000 impulse time cycles and by the impulse Peak Wave method which simulates the hammering condition of a machine in operation.  All hoses are made to the international standards ISO18752. Yokohama hoses are superior in performance and service life. The high abrasion-resistant outer Yokohama hose cover delivers long dependable service life in rigorous conditions.

BOA was further support by Yokohama with the visit of their Technical Salesman who visited the BOA Hydraulics Head Quarters in Silverdale in 2019. Here he discussed some of their more interesting case studies and stories. One was related to the S bend hose on the boom of an excavator that is positioned in a high use function that flexes all day every day while in operation. This situation was on a Hitachi machine that had been using Yokohama hose, in a 24/7 application. The fertilizer company decided to swap out that hose with another global known brand. They previously got 3 months lifespan with Yokohama, after changing it out for another brand, the time in service went down to 1 month, they then switched to a second competing brand and still couldn’t get beyond the hose lasting a month service. They returned back to using Yokohama OEM hoses, ideal for Hitachi machines, gaining back longevity and durability.

Yokohama hoses in New Zealand and Australia

In Australasia, we have many examples of the positive impact that Yokohama hoses have on our customers, with some reducing their hose bills by between 40-60%. 

One case study is a large forestry contractor in Northland who came on board with BOA 5 years ago, and over this period, he has changed out a good proportion of hoses across his machinery through repair and preventative maintenance. With BOA's support, he was able to reduce the cost of hose repair. He also noticed that through preventative maintenance with quality Yokohama OEM hoses he was having to change them less frequently giving him saving across multiple parts of his machinery maintenance. 

In his latest check in with his Account Manager from BOA, he commented about how pleased he was with his hose costs and the longevity and quality he was getting from his fitted Yokohama OEM hoses. We consider this a win-win in terms of tackling both maintenance costs and wasted downtime.

BOA is proud of the partnership with Yokohama and enjoys sharing the benefits and learning’s with our customer partnerships.

Work with BOA Hydraulics for quality assurance in hydraulic products

At BOA Hydraulics, quality is a top priority in our product offerings and support to customers. With world class Yokohama hoses, we aim to deliver excellence in hydraulic hose repair and maintenance for New Zealand's primary industries.

To learn more about our products and how our quality assurance can reduce your hydraulic downtime, get in touch with a member of our team today. We're ready to help you turn wasted time back into profit.