Agpoint Breaks Ground with XLERPLATE®

After 139 years in the agricultural manufacturing industry, South Australia's Agpoint has a long standing reputation for the quality and reliability of its products. In the last decade, changes in agricultural practices have led to an increasing demand for longer wearing and stronger products. Which is why Agpoint turned to BlueScope Steel.

"We became Agpoint in 1991, after we acquired Eric Anders and Sons, a company that commenced operations in 1865," explains Stan Ward, Chief Executive Officer of Agpoint. "Our operations are based on 139 years of agricultural manufacturing history. Since then, we have grown from being a relatively small company to the biggest manufacturer of our type in Australia."

Agpoint specialises in the manufacture of agricultural wear parts, specifically, hot formed and forged attachments for cultivating and seeding machines, such as points, sweeps and knives. Points and knives are mainly used for planting. Sweeps are used to eradicate weeds before tillage.

Agpoint has also developed an improved new slim wedge locking system which enables points and sweeps to be securely attached and removed from seeding or cultivating machines quickly and easily, an important factor when you consider that these machines will generally use 50 to 60 points, which are each attached individually.

With a product range of more than 700 items and a dealer network of over 1,000 locations throughout the country, Agpoint has come to dominate the Australian market, and is currently exporting around 10 per cent of its products overseas.

"We are committed to providing our customers with extremely good service and high quality products," says Stan. "And we are constantly investing in the research and development of innovative new products, and looking for ways to improve our manufacturing facility. Our goal is to continue to grow our business, through ongoing improvements to our product range, and to expand our export market."

This commitment to growth and research and development has helped Agpoint hold its own in a changing agricultural environment, says Stan. "In recent years, we have had to research and develop products that are designed to cope with more arduous conditions, due to the increasing practice of minimum tillage."

Historically, the agricultural seeding process has been based on tilling the ground two or three times prior to the seeding season, to kill weeds, then seeding and fertilising. In the last decade, minimum tillage has become more popular - farmers are tending to use chemicals to kill weeds, and to till less, which means less time on the tractor.

"A key advantage of minimum tillage is that it preserves moisture in the ground, and prevents top soil loss," says Stan. "This is particularly applicable to areas of arid land, like much of Australia, and also the Middle East, where we export some of our products. However, minimum tillage has also placed much more demand on the quality of our products. They need to be tougher, as the ground is harder, having been tilled less. We've developed new products, such as our wear-enhanced winged seeding points, to cope with these difficult conditions."

More than ever before, Agpoint's products must be hard, in order to wear well, and strong, so that they won't break. That's where BlueScope Steel comes in. "BlueScope Steel has worked closely with us to ensure the grade of XLERCOIL® chosen was suitable for the manufacture of our points and sweeps. Our products are heat treated in order to make them stronger, so it's imperative that the grade responds well to this process," says Stan.

"Over the last two years, we've worked closely with Allan Yates, Chief Technologist Plate & General Strip, to make sure that their products continually offer superior properties. BlueScope Steel has been great to deal with, they have always responded to our requests and have worked well with us in our endeavours to improve product performance."

All products are manufactured in Agpoint's modern manufacturing facilities in Freeling, South Australia. Once the XLERPLATE® steel coil plate and XLERCOIL® steel has been delivered to site, the product shape is then cold blanked from the XLERCOIL® steel, or profile cut from the XLERPLATE® steel.

The blanks, which can range in size from 50mm wide to 510mm wide, are then put through a furnace, where they are heated to austenising temperature. Blanks are then hot formed or forged into the finished shape using multi-stage tooling, and quenched in water. In quenched form, they are further heat treated and then painted and packaged for transport.

"We would use in excess of 2,500 tonnes of XLERPLATE® steel coil plate and XLERCOIL® steel annually," says Stan. "Delivery service has been reliable and on time, and we enjoy exceptional consistency of product, which is important, due to the heat treating process.We have an excellent relationship with BlueScope steel. We respect the fact that they are prepared to assist us to maintain our competitive market offer on the world stage."

"Agpoint is a vital part of our agricultural sector," explains Ted Lojszczyk, State Sales Manager SA BlueScope Steel. "Many products just don't measure up to the quality that Agpoint produce. We have a strong working partnership with Agpoint, which we are continually building."

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