AU: FTek lifts for Sundrop Farms

Two Pukekohe brothers are about to take their business to new heights. FTEK co-directors James and Mark Currie are exporting 10 of the company's tek-lifts to Sundrop Farms in Port Augusta, South Australia this week. Sundrop Farms is building a 20 hectare facility which will produce 16,000 tonnes of tomatoes annually for Australian supermarket giant Coles.

FTek co-directors James, left and Mark Currie's tek-lifts will be used to help harvest more than 16,000 tonnes of tomatoes per year in Australia.

Mark is the engineer behind the business and James focuses on design.

Once in the industry, they realised how much equipment and machinery was imported from overseas. James said they used concepts from the construction and warehousing industry when developing the tek-lift.

The tek-lift is a general purpose crop maintenance and harvesting machine used in glasshouses and cost around $10,000 each to buy. The lift features a telescopic mast lift which reaches 3m in height, is easy to access, stable and has good storage for horticultural equipment.

NZ Gourmet was the first grower to throw their support behind the brothers and Status Produce, New Zealand Hothouse and Lee Wang Hothouse soon followed suit.

The relationship with Sundrop Farms is exciting for the brothers, as James said the company is known for their innovation.

FTEK secured the Sundrop Farms contract for the lifts in December and has been busy manufacturing the machines in their new premises in Pukekohe.

James said they're now learning the art of exporting and despite the steep learning curve it has opened their eyes to the possibilities of manufacturing.

"If you can find cost effective ways of doing it, there's still a place for manufacturing in New Zealand."

Source: stuff.co.nz