| Machinery
First crop of Aussie tillage machines manufactured
in Germany
The first Australian tillage system built in Germany for the
European market has been delivered to a farmer in
Estonia.
reviously
manufactured in
the South
Australian outback
town of Booleroo
Centre, Kelly
Engineering has been selling its
Australian made Diamond Harrow
tillage machines in Europe for
several years but has recently
established a relationship with a
contract manufacturer in Stolpen,
Germany to meet demand.
The Diamond Harrow’s unique
design offers a wide array of
benefits including residue
management, weed control, soil
improvements and moisture
management, all engineered in a
cost-effective, single-pass system.
P
“Farming is still a very
conservative industry in a lot of
places so people want to be
confident, especially with a
new, unusual looking product
or a new concept like our
Diamond Harrow”
An initial six German-built
machines were completed last
month with the first delivered to
Estonia on May 19. The
manufacture of a further four
machines is underway.
Kelly Engineering, which still
manufactures in Booleroo for the
Australian market, has its products
manufactured under contract in
the United States where it has sold
almost 2000 systems since 2010.
In Europe, the company has
sold the Diamond Harrow in
Estonia, Germany, Austria and the
United Kingdom and is preparing
for trials in Ukraine, Russia and
Bulgaria later in the year.
Managing Director Shane Kelly
said building the systems in
Australia and shipping them half
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way around the world resulted in
long lead times and other
inefficiencies as volumes grew.
“So we revised the business
model to source a supply chain
locally while still running our IP
and management out of
Booleroo,” he said.
“For instance, the majority of
what we sell in the US is now
made there and we manage the
supply chain from Australia.
“That model then is replicable
for Europe because it’s a much
lighter load on working capital and
lead times.
“It works well over there
because the machines have to be
European specific models – the
road transport width has to be
under 3-metres and they have to
have brakes and other things that
aren’t required in other markets.”
The patented Diamond Harrow
uses four chains lined up in a
diamond formation to allow the
machine to prepare the seedbed
in rough fields.
Each chain is fitted with a crop-
specific row of metal discs that
rotate and penetrate the soil. The
design also allows the machine to
work the soil, attack crop residue,
manage weeds and initiate better
microbial action in the soil by
decomposing residue in the top
layer, allowing access to more
sunlight.
Shane said the systems could
be configured for a variety of soil
and crop types.
He said they had proven at
reducing blackgrass infestations in
the UK and corn borer numbers in
Germany.
“We see a different mix and
match from customers with heavy
soils and big production in
Germany or a lot of sandy-loams
in Estonia and a range of different
conditions,” Shane said.
“In Estonia there’s quite a bit of
organic production and the disc
Kelly Engineering's (from left) Jo and Shane
Kelly with CEO Calvin Stead and Kelly's
Estonian agent Argo Kukk of Agri Partner.
chains have helped with their
production.
“There’s not a universal reason
for using them, they provide
opportunities in a number of
different challenges.”
Kelly Engineering has sold its
tillage systems in more than 25
countries with the United States
accounting for about 60 per cent
of its orders.
Shane said having more
machines on the ground in Europe
would likely have a snowball on
sales as more and more farmers
gained firsthand exposure to the
system.
“Farming is still a very
conservative industry in a lot of
places so people want to be
confident, especially with a new,
unusual looking product or a new
concept like our Diamond
Harrow,” he said.
“Typically we’ll sell one or two
machines in a year and the next
year it will be six and then
exponential growth. It’s about a
five-year lead in period and that’s
been the case everywhere we go.”
Last month Kelly Engineering
exhibited at NAMPO Harvest Day
in Bothaville, South Africa. The
company already has its Australian
made systems in South Africa,
Botswana, Zambia, Kenya,
Uganda and Sudan and Shane
said it was the next logical
expansion target.
“There’s no one African market,
there’s lots of small markets – and
we’ll watch that space with the
same process,” he said.
“When volume reaches a
certain point it will be logical to
Shane Kelly making
adjustments to a 6m Diamond
Harrow in eastern Austria
build locally and we will look for a
partner over there but it will
depend on the ability to find a
quality partner and how our other
three markets of Australia, the US
and Europe are tracking.”
Kelly Engineering has recently
collaborated with the University of
South Australia on a product
analyses project to improve the
productivity and functionality of its
tillage tools. It is also working with
the University of Illinois on long-
term field trials studying
agronomic measurements such as
soil carbon, weed control,
compaction, fuel usage and yield
results.
The engineering company is
building an R&D facility at its
Booleroo Centre headquarters in a
bid to constantly improve its
products and research new
solutions.
“We recognise that supply
chain, product development and
market development are the key
backbone for the business going
forward,” Shane said.
July 2018 | Farming Monthly | 35