Colco began remanufacturing hydraulic cylinders for heavy equipment in the Vancouver area in 1967. Operating under the name Columbia Chrome Grinders Ltd., the original objective was to remanufacture hydraulic equipment components as new for 50% of replacement cost.
The modest goal that Colco set was not so easily achieved. As the decade progressed, constant refinement of the remanufacturing process produced greater and greater cost-savings to industry. Colco began design- ing and building its own specialized equipment. Colco’s One-Stop Service concept was a turning point in hydraulic remanufacturing. For the first time, a comprehensive hydraulic equipment maintenance and repair service became available to heavy equipment managers.
In 1980 Colco relocated his head office to a new 1500 m2 facility in Langley, British Columbia. Renamed Columbia Chrome Industries Ltd., six branch operations were opened over the next three years in prox- imity to major mining and forestry operations. Colco’s One-Stop Service became the recognized leader in hydraulic equipment remanufacturing and our Langley facility the head office of a thriving network of hydraulic service centres.
Success in Western Canada led to international recognition. In 1982 Colco formed its first international joint venture in Perth, Australia. By 1986, Colco engineers had installed turnkey remanufacturing plants in Chile and Columbia. Closing off the decade, Colco opened a joint venture hard chrome facility in Malaysia with Tractors Malaysia, a division of Sime Darby Sdn Bhd.
Globalization has been the theme of 1990’s, and Colco fully embraced it. Early in the decade, the com- pany expanded into the US Northwest through acquisitions in Colorado and Wyoming and the establish- ment of a full service remanufacturing plant in Washington State. In 1992, two international joint ventures were established in Thailand and Indonesia, and in 1993 the first international joint venture in South America was completed in Columbia. A second joint venture in Peru was completed in 1995.
A breakthrough in Europe came in 1996, when Colco set up a joint venture plant in Ireland. That same year, Colco entered into an agreement to equip a series of turnkey plants in the Eastern USA with Ameri- can partner LB Smith Ltd. More recently, a bridgehead in the Middle East has been created with a full service turnkey facility in Kuwait, and a new Colco plant will be operating in Mexico in 1999.
Colco International Systems Ltd. is focussing on international opportunities. We have expanded our busi- ness beyond equipment manufacturing and technical expertise, creating the Grizzly Power Parts divi- sion to supply cylinder seals, heavy equipment parts and hard chroming supplies to our partners and clients. Our business is the same, but our objective has changed with the times. The goal of Colco in the next century is to be the worldwide leader in quality, service and innovation in hydraulic component remanufacturing.