Made in Ireland: young Galway firm fabricating into the future

Growing up on the family farm near Killimor in Co Galway, a young Alan Winters decided to take up an apprenticeship as a fitter fabricator with a neighbouring business Priority Drilling. After completing 10 years with the specialist company, the downturn in the economy led to Alan becoming redundant.

Over the years Alan was carrying out some welding and fabrication services on the side from a purpose-built workshop on the home farm. The recession forced him to turn what had been his weekend and evening job into a full time career.

“I returned to work on the family farm in 2009. Between owned and leased we were farming around 100 acres. This wasn’t enough to make a living from so I turned to fabrication to help subsidsise the income. I always had a great interest in agricultural machinery and this was an ideal opportunity to get involved.

“When I stood back and looked at the machinery industry, the one trend I noticed was that machines were getting bigger and heavier, leading to increased compaction. I wanted to design a machine that would do the work of a subsoiler, without bringing up stones and something that could get through ground a lot faster. One day I witnessed a machine designed for cleaning scrub in action in America. It got me thinking and the idea for my aerator came from there,” explained Alan.

Products

“In 2010, I built the first prototype aerator. It was tried, tested and tweaked mostly on our home farm before being showcased to the public at the FTMTA Grass & Muck event in 2013. To be honest, there was quite a bit of a mixed reaction at the time. A lot of people didn’t think it could do what it was designed for. The first year we sold 10 machines. I was delighted with this because it was just myself and one full-time welder working from a shed on the home farm. In our second year of business, we attended the LAMMA show and secured orders from four or five dealers throughout the UK. We also appointed our first Irish dealer – Ryalls in Cork who did good work for us. I think we built 25 machines that year. In year three, the Irish market began to open up for us. People saw the results from our machines and we often saw one sale in an area leading to two more nearby.

“Shortly after we began getting requests from customers to fit an air seeder onto the aerator for pasture rejuvenation. Our aerator produces 56,500 cuts per acre and I felt too much grass seed would be wasted, so in 2015 we set about designing the Auctus. The first build was a mounted machine. It worked well but some customers wanted a rear roller for a true one-pass machine. We then added a prism roller which brought the weight up substantially. Today, we continue to offer a mounted and trailed version.£

Markets

“After initially selling 10 machines in Ireland in our first year of business, this was over doubled in year two with sales to Scotland and England being a good help. In our third year of business, we also sold machines into both the Netherlands and the Czech Republic. Following that, we then sent several containers to a new importer and distributor who was looking after New Zealand and Australia. This was proving to be a great market until COVID struck. The shipping costs spiralled from €3,000 per container up to €12,000 per container. This meant it was no longer justified and has put a halt there for the time being – hopefully things will settle and we will be able to resume business there again.

“We are also exporting machines to Estonia, Latvia, Belgium, Austria and Germany. Since Brexit, Germany has become our strongest market outside of Ireland. Ireland would account for 35-40% of sales, followed by Germany at 30%, followed by the UK with 15%.

“We often get interest from other countries and at the moment are talking to a potential importer for the Scandinavian countries but we are currently running at maximum capacity in our existing premises.”

Opportunities/threats

“We see great opportunities for our machines in two distinct areas. Farmers can’t afford to have ground out of production for long periods, meaning pasture rejuvenation is becoming more and more popular. This coincides with the emphasis on avoiding the loss of carbon by avoiding cultivating the soil. Secondly, machinery isn’t getting any smaller and the issue of ground compaction isn’t going away. In a similar fashion, surface run-off is a hot topic at present. We feel our machines have a role to play in helping to solve all these issues.

“All manufacturers are in the same boat. The ever-rising costs and the availability of raw materials are the biggest threats to our businesses. Hydraulic cylinders which would normally have a delivery time of six to eight weeks are now taking six to eight months to arrive. We ordered a new style of lighting last November and we are still waiting on delivery. Steel remains the hardest pill to swallow – it’s up by over 50%. We are trying to absorb as much of the cost as possible but it’s difficult for us as a small manufacturer.”

The future

“With over 400 machines built to date, things are going pretty good for us at the minute. As previously mentioned, we are running at maximum production capacity in our existing setup. We started off from humble beginnings and this continues to be the way but we are planning on expanding the premises in the next few years. We have moved from subbing out all our cutting and folding to now carrying this out in-house with the addition of several new machines such as a high definition plasma cutter and a press brake. This has taken away the reliance on third parties and means all production is now carried out in-house. This will also allow us to carry out more R&D work.”

When asked about new product development, Alan remained tight-lipped but did say that the firm has several ideas in the head and plans to introduce some new ground preparation and cultivation implements in the future.

Company profile

Business: Alstrong.

Established: 2012.

Managing director: Alan Winters.

Export markets: 13.

Employees: 5.

Address: Killimor, Ballinasloe, Co Galway.