Carac Couplings owners Yvonne and John Burilng launched the company’s new latchback device for farm gates at this year’s New Zealand Fieldays. Source: Stuff NZ
A Taranaki engineer who has exhibited at Fieldays for 25 years says this year’s event was the best ever for his company.
John Burling, the self- taught engineer who established Carac Couplings in Eltham in 1988, said sales on the first day of this year’s Fieldays at Hamilton exceeded the company’s total sales at any other Fieldays.
“This year is the most positive ever,” Mr Burling said. “People are upbeat. In our 25 years at Fieldays, this is by far the best.
“You’ve gotta come here, whether the economic climate is good or bad. This year is way better than I expected, with far more people.”
At this year’s Fieldays, the company launched its new ice grippa for use on tracked vehicles in snow and ice and in forests.
The new product is part of Carac Couplings’ award-winning Track Grip range of safety attachments that improve traction on tracked machinery.
The first Track Grip won a merit award for innovation at the 2010 Fieldays.
He’s targeting the ice grippa, which features crampon-like teeth, at the Canadian market and New Zealand’s forestry industry.
At Fieldays, the company had sold hundreds of sets of track grips, which come in standard or heavy-duty steel models or rubber for rubber-tracked vehicles.
He attributed the interest in his products to the increasing focus on health and safety in the workplace. “Track Grip prevents accidents and saves lives.
“It’s a safety-oriented product because it prevents machines slipping in wet ground. And it’s made in New Zealand.”
The Track Grip range is sold in Europe, the UK, Canada, the US, Australia, Malaysia, South Africa and the Pacific.
Carac Couplings also launched its new latchback at Fieldays, a device which stops a gate bending when animals lean on it and which also ensures there are no gaps through which lambs and other stock can escape.
“Latchback makes it easy to open and close the gate for drafting and it stops it blowing around in the wind.”
The device reduced maintenance of gates and improved stock control.
Mr Burling said he’d also fielded queries at Fieldays from multi-national companies concerned about the inconsistent quality of their products made in China and showing interest in having Carac Couplings manufacture them under licence.
Carac Couplings employs a staff of 40 and has one of the largest metal press factories in New Zealand and operates what it says is the most advanced laser cutting equipment in the country.
