In our latest Profiles in Fluid Power, meet Casey Ruttan. Throughout his 20-plus year career, Ruttan has taught, troubleshooted, and helped design fluid power systems and schematics.
Casey Ruttan, owner of HydraulicSchematic.com and a business development consultant with First Coast Hydraulic Repair in Jacksonville, Florida, has held a variety of roles throughout his fluid power career. He entered the field almost by chance. Ruttan’s career began in IT and call center management, where he worked for about 10 years. When the tech bust occurred, he decided he wanted to work with his hands.
He went back to school for a one-year Mechanical Techniques program at Loyalist College in Ontario. He initially wanted to work in the electrical trades but was quickly discouraged from that career because he is color blind. He then started investigating working as a millwright but was turned off when his call to the local union was rejected.
“Later that year during the course, a local hydraulic shop owner came to speak to our class. He was an onsite service guy and a master troubleshooter,” Ruttan said. “He asked a couple technical questions during his talk, and I was the only one that got them right, so he hired me right after the talk. I finished school and started at that local shop the day after graduation.”
Casey ruttan works on the steering and main hydraulic pump on an older model tractor, showing his skill set from simple to complex hydraulic systems.
Expanding his — and others — horizons
Throughout that first job, he explored several ways to engage with customers, using his IT skills to create manuals for customer use.
“I’ve always been interested in systems and how things come together so moving from the computer world where I built networks, repaired computers, and then into technical call center management, it was an easy transition into industrial hydraulics,” he said. “I was able to offer my first company the ability to sell systems with manuals and catalog cuts that I would scan and put together into a book style and the customers loved it. That brought a real value to that company, and they let me get involved in projects and system designs early. A few years later I took over the onsite service side of the business and the fellow that taught me moved on to a local engineering firm.”
He was always comfortable with public speaking and training others during his IT days, so after about five years working in fluid power, Loyalist College approached him about teaching in the same program that he graduated from. “Naturally, I jumped at it. A few years after that, I got approached by the founder of The Hydraulic Safety Authority of Canada (now called the International Hydraulic Safety Authority) to help him launch that training program. I also jumped at that and had a blast for about two years getting that off the ground,” Ruttan said.
He then moved into a human safety and performance program in Western Canada. He started in sales there and later became a teacher and consultant of that program. In 2017, a skiing accident took him out of work. He returned to Ottawa, Ontario, where he met his now wife, a U.S. citizen. This set them on a journey to move to the United States in 2023. Once there, he and his wife started a company that provides fluid power consulting and business development services. They also manage the business side of First Coast Hydraulic Repair and provide technical consulting services to them and several others. He built them a website, developed a logo and branding while also consulting with customers on issues they are encountering with their systems.
Last year, he launched hydraulicschematic.com to provide professional hydraulic schematics for maintenance managers, equipment owners, and service providers. He often helps with undocumented machinery, retrofits, or handwritten sketches.
Making an impact even on the little things
“Fixing broken machines, designing new ones, and seeing them come to life is really cool for me,” Ruttan said. “When someone says, we don’t care what it costs, just get it done, it opens the door to being creative and to really do the best job I can do. That’s really rewarding.”
ruttan loves hands-on work with hydraulic systems and has built his businesses around it.
His day-to-day often involves a lot of the minute details one gets when running a company, such as setting up new customers, fielding technical calls, invoicing, pricing, profit margins, marketing, website building and management, and even buying office and shop supplies. But the most exciting part of his job is seeing a project through to completion. “I spend a lot of time fielding service calls for troubleshooting and installation of new systems and designing new systems,” he said. “I’m really good at finding hard-to-find items. I’m the guy that says yes when everyone else has said no. The most exciting aspect is the happy handshake from a customer.”
He loves solving problems that others struggle with and making a system work as it should. Recently, Ruttan was involved in a retrofit for a brand-new skid steer. The customer was lifting and holding a special platform for it and needed to operate another attachment that would be in motion all the time. “They had installed valves on a previous model that were complicated and what I thought was a bit over engineered. The existing directional valve had a closed-center condition so I knew that could present an issue as well,” he said. “We installed a simple counterbalance valve to start, and it was very noisy, it sung like a canary! The engineer from one of the top cartridge valve dealers in America was helping me with this so we put our heads together and came up with a modulating counterbalance valve that did the job beautifully.”
He said this project required constant, clear communication and a willingness by all parties to try a couple different scenarios before getting it perfect. “When the first set of valves was noisy and didn’t work, it wasn’t a shock. We moved on to the next option in the process and voila! It worked,” he said. “Now they order those valves from me in a kit a few at a time and we’ve got a long-term solution.”
Accepting industry challenges
Ruttan believes that the basis of fluid power won’t change much, as the fundamentals won’t change. For example, he recently worked on a cylinder rebuild from an elevator installed in 1949.
“We’re still building many of the same systems we were 50 years ago, we’re still rebuilding components in much of the same ways. There has been some innovation with IoT devices and sensors. But the industry is slow to respond,” he said. “The principles of fluid power have not changed, and those principles won’t change as long as we have gravity. It’s just going to become more automated.”
But, he noted, that doesn’t mean the old-school way of thinking shouldn’t change. He said it is time for the old guard to change hands with younger generations, as it’s time for new fluid power experts to steer the industry into the future. He points to a combination of low entry-level wages, limited access to ownership opportunities, and business succession models that prioritize financial outcomes for current owners over long-term sustainability.
Although he sees challenges in the fluid power industry, Ruttan is optimistic for the industry’s future as new generations start to take the lead.
“If we want younger people to come in, we need to offer better pay, more support, and real opportunities,” he says. “If we don’t, our industry is going to die!”
He challenges young people considering a career in fluid power to think about its many benefits, though. “If you like to learn, ask questions, and solve problems, you can’t go wrong working in fluid power,” he said. “If you don’t mind speaking up when everyone in the room is looking at you for the answer, this is for you.”
Despite the challenges, Ruttan remains optimistic. He sees opportunities to expand his schematic services, grow his consulting work, and become involved in larger, more innovative projects.
“I want to be part of something big,” he says. “Something that pushes the industry forward.”
Visit hydraulicschematic.com to learn more about Ruttan’s services.
Filed Under: News
