Taking the Challenge with XLERPLATE®

04 March 2004

Despite the drought that has plagued rural Australia in recent years, local New South Wales business, Challenge Implements, sees a positive future ahead for the agricultural sector. Currently celebrating its 45th year in business, Challenge Implements has come a long way from its modest beginnings in 1959.

Challenge commenced operations in Orange, New South Wales, with two employees and a capital of less than A£500. Now, with 60 employees working from its 24,280 square metre industrial site, Challenge is Australia's number one manufacturer of agricultural front end loaders.

"After 45 successful years in business we are certainly not about to rest on our laurels," says Challenge Implement's Sales Manager, Warwick Westcott. "We are Australia's industry leader and supplier of these products. Our investment in the manufacturing process is ongoing."

In 1962, Challenge released its first front end loader, along with a three point linkage grader. These products gained immediate market acceptance due to their good design, sturdiness and value for money. Today, Challenge's 21 and 31 series of front end loaders are still the benchmark for these qualities.

"Our flagship line is the 21 series of front end agricultural loaders," says, Warwick Westcott, "followed by the 31 series for heavier applications. Because the loaders are designed as tractor attachments, it's vital that they are compatible with numerous different types of tractor."

Challenge Implements' clientele consists of farm machinery dealers throughout Australia. "We supply to 320 tractor dealers across Australia, such as New Holland, Case, John Deere, McCormick, Massey Ferguson and Kubota," says Warwick.

Challenge sees a healthy picture for Australian agriculture in the year ahead. "Our goal is to continue to achieve and try to maintain our position as number one in the industry," says Warwick. "The drought didn't affect the business greatly - we thought it would have quite an impact, but tractor sales Australia-wide stayed relatively stable. Of course, our product is an ancillary product - someone has to buy a tractor first before they buy an attachment - but the brand new tractor market is healthy - we anticipate a successful year ahead."

"There are a lot of facets to our success as a business, but I think what stands out is our commitment to research and development, and product innovation. We believe that no matter how good our product is, there is always some area that can be improved upon - we are constantly striving for excellence," he adds.

Maziar Fadaee, Manufacturing Manager at Challenge Implements, agrees. "We are committed to using advanced technology to maximise strength and minimize weight in our products," he says. "Which is why we use a certain grade of steel produced especially for Challenge by BlueScope Steel - our R & D team determined that this grade of coil was the best material to use in the construction with our loaders - because it enables us to reduce product weight, while still maintaining strength. We also use AS/NZS 3678 - 250 XLERPLATE® and AS/NZS 3678 - 350 XLERPLATE®, and AS/NZS 1594 - HA350 XLERCOIL®."

All of Challenge Implements' products are fabricated in their 7,000 square metre factory in Orange. "We only use Australian steel from BlueScope Steel in our equipment," says Maziar. "Each loader consists of anything from 1 to 2 tonnes of steel, depending on the attachment and its application."

"Having a good supplier is a crucial part of our business," he adds. "We don't have the capacity to store much stock at our facilities here - so we rely heavily on our suppliers to enable us to deliver to our customers. We keep in constant communication with Coil Steels, one of BlueScope Steel's distributors, so we have never had a problem with delivery, or lead times."

According to Maziar, using locally produced steel is important to Challenge. "We pride ourselves on using Australian made product in the manufacture of our equipment," he says. "And the steel we get from BlueScope Steel is top quality. After all, we are the number one manufacturer of agricultural front end loaders in Australia - we have to buy the best materials to make the best products."

XLERPLATE® and XLERCOIL® are BlueScope Steel's brands of high quality hot rolled steel products.