Eaton has made a significant investment its manufacturing capability in EMEA. The company claims this will enable it to meet ‘industry-leading’ delivery times for its X20 pumps range. Eaton’s X20 pumps are used in wheel loaders, agricultural vehicles and road sweepers as well as other mobile and marine applications. The investment of more than €2.4 million will enable the localisation of a regional assembly and test programme for X20 piston pumps at the Eaton Havant UK site, with the aim of providing customers with a ‘best in class’ delivery lead time across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Mark Foreman, plant manager, said: “We are expecting to see an upsurge in demand for open circuit piston pumps in the next few years as the manufacturers of original equipment increase production to meet their orders. Normally, this would mean that lead times would increase for products such as the X20 pump but this investment means we can actually reduce lead times to approximately half that which is industry standard now.” Rick Jacobs, president of Eaton’s hydraulics business for EMEA commented: “[The new investment] will offer a huge advantage to Eaton’s customers in EMEA. By significantly reducing lead times on the X20 pumps we will play a major role in helping manufacturers fulfil their order books and the quality and robustness of our technology, plus our ability to provide a global after-sales support network, gives companies across EMEA a superb choice.” www.eaton.com/hydraulics