Australia’s hay exports have been booming in recent years1 and as such, demand from hay plants for quality equipment remains strong. Schutz Industries, a company based in Eudanda township in South Australia, has been a market leader in manufacturing complete hay press plant lines for the past 20 years.
Mark Waldhuter, Purchasing Officer at Schutz Industries, says business is booming, with the company currently looking for skilled boilermakers and fitters to help the team cater to the increased demands.
“We are the only company in Australia that makes complete hay plant lines for hay exporters,” says Mark. “Interestingly, the COVID-19 has not had any negative impact on our business so far. In fact, we only recently commissioned a new hay press line for a customer in Western Australia and we have a lot more enquiries coming in from other export hay plants.”
Schutz Industries was formed in 1985, originally as a partnership between the Schutz and Busch families – and it was named Buschutz Engineering. In 2018, the company changed its name to Schutz Industries after the Busch family decided to retire from the business. Though best known for their hay press lines, Schutz Industries also manufactures a range of other agricultural and industrial products, including Landrollers, as well as a range of machinery for the vineyard industry.
Mark says Schutz Industries’ hay press lines are renowned for their reliability and for producing the best-looking packs
in the industry.
“When hay export companies receive the hay from farmers, they can firstly tease it in the blender and clean it from any contaminants. The hay then gets re-baled in the press which squashes the hay down to a hundred-kilogram bale, ready for export. Our machines combine all of those processes and one of the best things about our press lines is that they produce perfect cubical bales, making them easy to ship in containers,” explains Mark.
Schutz Industries’ engineers are also constantly revisiting their designs and making improvements where possible – which is another reason Mark says their products are so successful.
An example of this was when Schutz Industries’ designers decided to replace the chains in the hay press teaser heads with Gates® Poly Chain® synchronous belts. The reason, as Mark explains, was to achieve smoother power transmission, with more efficiency.
“Hay press lines work continually throughout the year, so it’s important that every part of the process runs as efficiently as possible. The roller chains that we had in the teaser heads tended to be noisy and they would also break if not timed up properly. So, through our engineers we approached CBC, who in turn suggested replacing the chains and sprockets with Gates® Poly Chain® belts and pulleys instead,” says Mark.
Located more than a hundred kilometres away from Eudunda, CBC’s Regency Park branch in Adelaide had been Schutz Industries’ go-to supplier for over 25 years. Rick Raimondo, CBC Key Account Executive, was the one who recommended the Gates belts for Schutz Industries’ application.
“Gates® Poly Chain® synchronous belts can tolerate considerable torque and power. Belts are also often more compact and easier to maintain than sprocket and chain systems. The chain-to-belt solution that we worked out with Schutz Industries’ engineers proved to be an efficient solution, and Schutz Industries has since adopted the Gates® belts in all of their new Teaser Head machines,” says Rick.
Mark says the future plans for the business are to stay heavily involved in the manufacturing of the machinery for the hay export industry, and to further develop their existing and new products for the agricultural and industrial fields.
“The export hay industry is growing in Australia as there is quite a need overseas for Australian hay, so our focus is mainly on our hay plants. We are currently looking at expanding our shed and the size of our team so we can do more within the hay industry.”
References: 1. https://www.ibisworld.com/au/industry/hay-other-crop-growing/31/
