Xylem signals further push into pump rental in Europe

Xylem Inc said it will aggressively expand its pump rental operation in Europe to cater for a growing demand within the construction, municipal, mining and industrial sectors.

The company, which manufactures pumps under the Flygt and Godwin brands as well as renting pumps, said it will increase its bank of surface mounted and submersible pumps through an “aggressive rental branch rollout scheduled over the coming years including refurbishment of existing premises, brand new locations and via selective acquisitions.”

Xylem said it was seeing a growing need within the construction industry for complete, turnkey dewatering solutions as well as for dewatering pumps to rent.

Andrew Jones, head of Xylem’s dewatering business, said the expansion would help it meet increased demand for a “complete package”, including pump and water treatment systems, engineering expertise and project management.

“This limits customers’ administration and management efforts and provides peace of mind as they are contracting dewatering experts to take care of the job”, he said, “While construction industry businesses may have some of the technical expertise in-house…more limited budgets due to challenging economic conditions, mean that they do not wish to make significant investments in equipment purchases that may just be required for a one-off project”.

Xylem has not provided details of where the new branch openings will be or the timings.

The announcement follows the recent news that UK-based Pioneer Pump has embarked on a major pump rental initiative in the UK, with investment support from its parent company Franklin Electric.