Approaching 25 years in business, Roberts Engines in Clonegal, Co Wexford continues to thrive under the leadership and management of its founder, John Roberts. Irish Tractor & Agri caught up with the man himself to get an insight of the business.
Established in 1992, Roberts Engines is a family run business based just outside Wexford’s Enniscorthy in the village of Clonegal.
The company provides a nationwide service for its customers and its manager John Roberts has been in this field of work since 1976.
Having served his time as a fitter/ turner, John established a one man engine shop back in 1992 which he has built up to one of Ireland’s leading engine reconditioning businesses with the help of his two sons Brian and Ciaran, along with other staff members.
Roberts Engines boasts an up to date workshop and thanks to the company’s facilities, they can provide an impeccable service for customers all over Ireland. They machine all engine components themselves and supply a vast quantity of engine parts.
A Clonegal native born and bred, John gave us some insight to his decision to start up his own company all those years ago and run it himself from his home village.
“We’re here in Clonegal, which is outside Enniscorthy in Co Wexford,” said John.
“We started up in 1992 and before that I had worked in a similar line of work fixing engines and that for 15 years. It got to a point then where it just made sense for me to go out on my own and I haven’t looked back since, thankfully.
“At the moment, there are six of us working here altogether, between fitting and everything. I’ve two sons working with me as well that help run the business.”
John’s own background had seen him working as a fitter and he admits that he hadn’t had much experience in farming until he began to break down and repair engines for some of the local famers around Clonegal.
Nowadays, he is the first man many farmers around Enniscorthy will come to when they have a problem with their tractor engines, after having built up a solid reputation through the work he had carried out for them through the past two-and-a-half decades.
“I didn’t come from a farming background at all, but I’d know a good few local farmers around here,” he said.
“I started at it when I was 17 and served my time working in a local mill. Eventually I got out and was able to go out on my own and since that time I’ve been at this.”
Roberts Engines cater for engines in the industrial, commercial, marine and agricultural sectors and this time of year in particular sees them concentrating heavily on the latter sector.
“Basically what we do is re-building engines every week. We remove them from tractors and then re-manufacture them as well. If they can be exchanged we will do that too,” the managing director explained.
As for business at the moment, John says he “can’t complain”, citing the fact that they’re willing to work practically anywhere in the Republic of Ireland as a major bonus.
2016 has been reasonably busy for John and co thus far and they’re now gearing up for the hectic summer months when their phones will be hoping with busy silage cutters on the other end of the line.
“Tractors are breaking down all the time and that more or less means that we’ll be kept busy through our customers,” he stated.
“The first year I started it was hard to get going, to be honest. It took time to build up a customer base, like any business I suppose, but thankfully we’re doing okay at the moment.
“We go up as far as Monaghan, Cavan and Longford. We wouldn’t cross the border all that often but we have probably covered all of the 26 southern counties at this stage when it comes to the work we’ve done.”
The downturn didn’t have a huge effect on John’s business either, with many local farmers having kept their older tractors maintained regularly rather than splashing out on new machinery.
It made for busy times for John and his staff during those years, as the man himself explained.
“It (the economic downturn) never really affected us. This line of work will always keep you busy because engines will continue to breakdown,” said the Clonegal man.
“During the recession not as any farmers we’re buying new machinery, which means that the older engines would have to be maintained, so that would have kept us busy.”
More than most, John relies on repeat business from his customers and that stems from two things he feels his company does better than most competitors.
“A fella could come back to me after 10 or 15 years from when I last did an engine for him,” John outlined.
“Naturally, I’d be picking up customers as I go along too, but we do rely on repeat business a lot here – there’s no arguing that.”
He continued: “We feel that we’re very competitive price-wise and there is plenty of opposition in this line of work. But I think the main reasons why our customers choose us first is because of our fair price and our reliability.”
Roberts Engines are now coming towards the busiest months of the calendar, which will likely lead them taking on more men, if necessary.
“As you could imagine, the silage season would be our busiest time of year,” John illustrated. “We are flat out from May until August and that would lead to our summer time staff coming in as well, so we’re certainly putting in long hours during those months.”
Time is money in any line of work and when it comes to every engine, John makes sure to take his time and ensure that the job’s done right.
“A big engine takes longer to do, maybe twice as long,” he said.
“In the busy time we could be doing anywhere between six to eight engines a week, which means longer hours. There’s no going home at 6pm; we’d be staying up all night to get it done.”
That’s what customers like to hear and, with that in mind, it’s not hard to understand why Roberts Engines will soon be celebrating 25 years.
Roberts Engines
Address: Leinster View
Johnstown, Clonegal,
Bunclody, Co Wexford
Tel: 053 9377834
Web: RobertsEngines.ie
E-mail: [email protected]
Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 4 No 5, June 2016
