Brendon Powerwashers has experienced consistent growth over the past 40 years, becoming one of the leading brands in the construction and rental markets - both highly competitive and demanding sectors. In these industries, it’s essential for companies to invest in products that are both robust and reliable.
Brendon Powerwashers has been specified for numerous major construction projects over the decades, including the Translink Channel Tunnel, London Underground, Heathrow Terminal 5, and more recently, the Hinckley Point Nuclear Power Station and HS2 Project. Today, Brendon Powerwashers is a preferred supplier to many prominent UK, European, and international rental and construction firms.
The company has also seen steady growth in exports, serving markets across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. This growth is supported by a strong network of regional partners who help develop and support Brendon’s product range.
Founded and led by Chris and Rob Hendy, Brendon Powerwashers has always focused on creating pressure washers that are functional, easy to use, portable, and highly durable. Their long-standing slogan, “Built to Last, Designed to Perform,” captures the essence of their product philosophy and has been a core part of their branding since the beginning.
Brendon Powerwashers maintains a strong ethos of manufacturing the majority of its products in-house. However, increased demand began to strain the company’s supply chain and exposed limitations in internal production capacity.
To support future growth and maintain high manufacturing standards, Brendon identified collaborative robot (cobot) welding as a key investment. The company believes this type of technology will play a significant role in the evolution of its production capabilities.
As demand increased, it became clear that Brendon Powerwashers needed to expand its welding capacity. Robotic welding was investigated as a solution to boost output and enhance weld consistency and quality.
With high volumes of simpler welded components, such as stub axles, consuming a disproportionate amount of time and skilled labour and more complex parts - like the company’s engine pump frames requiring significant welding time and effort from experience welding, a cobot welding system was chosen to take over these repetitive tasks.
While attending MACH 2024, the Brendon Powerwashers team visited the Olympus Technologies stand and were impressed by the capabilities of their robotic welding solution and intuitive software.
Several months later, the Olympus Cobot system was installed compromising of a Universal Robot UR20 welding system integrated to control the ESAB Aristo Mig 500ix pulse welding machine together with a DINSE robotic torch package. Brendon Powerwashers created custom fixturing for both high-volume stub axles and complex engine pump frames was designed and manufactured in-house to complement the Cobot system.
The implementation of the Olympus Universal Robot Welding Cobot has delivered significant benefits:
- Reduced cycle times: The system enabled efficient, unmanned welding of multiple components.
- Improved productivity: For instance, the Cobot can complete 24 parts in a single run, requiring only periodic reloading.
- Skilled labour optimisation: The solution freed up experienced welders to focus on more complex, value-added tasks.
