LOCAL MANUFACTURING EXCELLENCE Wuhlf Equipment launched four of its locally manufactured farming solution last month
Local heavy-duty equipment supplier and manufacturer Wuhlf Equipment launched four locally manufactured machines last month, including two front-end loaders, a mulcher and a forklift.
Wuhlf Equipment manager Coert Steenberg tells Engineering News that the company originally imported its equipment from China, but started manufacturing its Buffel solution that comes in the front-end loader and mulcher variants, which the company also designed, in June last year.
The first locally manufactured Buffel was sold in November last year.
Steenberg highlights that the company’s manufacturing initially focused on the mulcher, as “debushing has become a very big market in South Africa, but it is also a very difficult market to enter”.
He adds that the company faced several challenges when it started manufacturing the mulcher unit, which resulted in a significant number of changes and modifications to the unit so that it would work effectively in local conditions.
“We had to install stronger hydraulic pumps and motors, and the blade of the mulcher also had to be modified, from four rows of teeth to two larger rows of teeth, which significantly improved the feeding capabilities of the machine,” Steenberg notes.