Herky Veatch, the President of Flow Products International, began his technical career in the US Navy as an Electronic Technician on destroyers in the late 1960s. After separation from the Navy he worked for General Dynamics helping to perfect the automated flight capabilities of the F-111 testing the system components.

In the 1970s, Herky carried his technical skills to Flow Products /MultiFlex in Houston in sales and contributed to improved product quality by coordinating customer requirements with manufacturing. Expanding the hydraulic hose and fitting business to the United Kingdom led to new products for the North Sea fields creating and introducing a new stainless steel umbilical to support stainless steel Christmas trees on the ocean floor.

The next move up was to represent Sii McEvoy in Scotland in the early 1980s. He assisted in the development of deepwater drilling and production products for operators and drillers in the Texaco Tartan field platforms and Shell Expro operation. He was instrumental in the introduction of the first UMC (Underwater Manifold System) and was involved in introducing the Z-Pack, 15,000 psi high pressure wellhead system to the UK market.

His next move was back to the US as Vice President of Flow Products Permian in Odessa, Texas, introducing new technologies to the oil fields with programs such as the Solar Turbine Replacement Components program.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s Herky move on to the Hose & Fitting Company in Houston in sales to continue innovation in the application of hydraulics to the oil field, refining, chemical, and other manufacturing operations. Innovative solutions included a simple system to support catalyst recovery companies reduce time on site and developed a sophisticated system of hydraulic supply hoses to Mitsubishi /Cat forklift manufacturing.

In the middle 1990s, Herky became the National Sales Manager for Unitech, Inc. and helped introduce a hydraulic communication system for sub-sea stainless steel trees for FMC.

From the late 1990s through 2002, he served as the Sales Manager for GS Hydro US Inc. in Houston managing large projects from inception to completion. His responsibilities included servicing offshore drilling rigs for Transocean, Diamond Offshore, Reading & Bates, Falcon, PetroDrill, and many others. Technical challenges included the installation of hydraulic and high pressure air piping systems on many offshore drilling rigs.

In 2002, Herky accepted the position of Vice President of Operations for South Houston Hydraulics to support hydraulic services in the Houston market. One accomplishment was to assist in solving hydraulic leak challenges aboard BP’s Thunder Horse drilling rig. The application of innovative leak-free hydraulic fittings corrected the problems.

In 2005, Herky decided to create a company that could be agile enough to aggressively attack the hydraulic maintenance problems he was observing in the drilling, refining, chemical processing, fluid handling, and manufacturing arenas in the Houston area. In 2006, Herky Veatch teamed with Dan Mrotz to create Flow Products International Management, Inc. Their combined 70 years of hydraulic system innovation and maintenance places them to be a leading innovator in the application of new hydraulic technology to the demanding needs of clients to improve productivity and avoid the serious traps of hydraulic leaks and lost downtime.