Business Central September 2021

| 79 Equipment tailored to rural tasks T T Sue Russell Light-weight, easily assembled portable and permanent sheep yards are one of Landquip’s many products. MANUFACTURING Buy NZ: Landquip I n 1995, Garth Fyfe, farmer and engineer, bought an engineering business founded in 1982 and established Landquip. Since that time, the Hastings business has grown not only in its range of products but in the number of family members directly involved in its operation. “Over time, we started designing and build- ing specific products to service the horticul - ture and farming sectors specifically. Dad’s passion was always farming and he just had a great eye for design of equipment that would work out on the farm or in the orchard,” says Tom Fyfe, who looks after sales to the horti- culture sector. These days, general engineering has ceased, allowing the company to extend its reach into servicing farming and horticulture and to explore exporting opportunities. In total 18 people work for the company with the bulk engaged on the workshop floor. “We first exported to the United Kington about four years ago. A person who had farmed here in New Zealand went to Scotland to farm and realised there was nothing avail- able similar to what we produced and that’s how that came about.” To service the UK market, another company has been established there, and along with this Landquip also exports to the US, Germa- ny, Japan and Australia. Export volumes have been encouraging. In the last 12 months the company has shipped up to 10 containers to the UK and US. In horticulture, the back-bone products include Allite Ladders, Tractor Mounted Forklifts, Grape Gondola Bins and Pruning Sweeps, each one engineered to ensure ease of assembly and operation by the user. Manufacturing light-weight, easily assem- bled portable and permanent sheep yards is another core activity at Landquip. At this year’s Fieldays at Mystery Creek, the company launched a new product, designed to meet compliances for cover and safety on stock trucks. “Cratesafe’ is a framed cover which acts as an edge protection structure for those work- ing on the top of stock trucks. The technology also folds down and locks in place as a stock cover. The company attends the event every year as well as displaying its array of equipment at similar events in Central Districts and the South Island. Tom puts the company’s success down to working in a family business where everyone shares a common value system about work standards and where there is a strong innova- tive pulse keeps the company at the forefront in the market. Along with Tom, his uncle, brother and cousin are all actively involved in the day to day running of the business, while Garth these days oversees it as general manager. “We’re only interested in making products that serve our customers well, based on good solid design and ease of operation. We’re about providing solutions out in the field.” With plans to continue to grow, Tom says one real challenge they are experiencing is finding qualified staff to employ. It’s a problem common across a large num- ber of sectors at this time, where post-Covid restrictions on employing staff from overseas has had a real impact. “We’re only interested in making products that serve our customers well, based on good solid design and ease of operation.” PROUDLY SUPPORTING LANDQUIP LTD