Farmers welcomed at HARDI factory in S.A

Farmers welcomed at HARDI factory in South Australia

The Boekeman Machinery Group believes that farmers should see where their machinery is built and the organisation behind the product.

‘It’s good for both farmers and manufacturers to have quality time together where they can share knowledge and experiences to improve the product and its performance’, said Dealer Principal Stuart Boekeman.

The latest group of farmers visiting HARDI hail from Western Australia’s cereal growing regions of Calingari, Dowerin, Grass Valley, Koorda, Manmannning, Wongan Hills, Wyalkatchem and Yelbini.

‘The trip to Adelaide was defiantly a success for all, with our clients leaving more than happy with what they saw’. Said Peter Crippen, Boekeman’s chaperone.

‘The HARDI factory was well worth the tour, with everyone commenting on how good they thought the factory was, how well the machines were made and the overall professionalism of the team’.

We saw HARDI sprayers getting made and were able to talk to the guys building them, which was a highlight for everyone. All the HARDI staff we spoke to were happy working there and showed a lot of pride in their products.

The factory visit covered 6 areas of the HARDI organisation: Production, Assembly, Testing, Distribution, Parts, Product Development and Academy.

The powder coating surface treatment is a semi automated 7 step process which provides a high quality polyester finish that looks good and withstands the environment it’s used in.

The HARDI assembly line is unique in the way it utilises work centres bases on cell structures. As the sprayer is built it moves through these work centres which are responsible for the parts required, including testing, quality and productivity.

HARDI have been running with a work centre production line since January 2009 and the push and pull effect has significantly improved their productivity.

The test facility is housed in a 1500 m² wet-area building dedicated to checking and proving sprayers. The company saves and recycles more than three million litres of water each year through this shed which is good to see in times of water shortage.

Each sprayer is completely filled, the tank volume recorded, then run up to operating pressure to test the functionality before passing it to distribution where it is despatched from an under cover loading bay.
 
‘The HARDI management team went out of their way even on the weekend to make sure we were all happy and catered for. We appreciated their efforts’, said Peter.

‘These types of trips bring the customer, dealer and manufacturer closer together and can only lead to stronger relationships in the future’.

HARDI plans to conduct more tours in the future. If you are interested speak to your HARDI dealer and organise a farmer trip sometime in the future…It’s worth it.

Visitors:
Peter Crippen DOWERIN, Craig McAndrew YELBENI, Bruce Thorpe WONGAN HILLS, Phil Bear MANMANNING, Peter Henning MANMANNING, Gill Maitland WYALKATCHEM, David Sermon GRASS VALLEY, Chris Maitland WYALKATCHEM, Clive Metcalf DOWERIN, Todd Quatermaine DOWERIN, Glenn Quatermaine DOWERIN, Carl & Rebecca Fuchsbichler KOORDA, Murray King & Heather Stephenson CALINGRI