ProDig is recognised across Ireland and beyond as a quality designer and manufacturer of a wide range of high-quality attachments for the agricultural sector. We visited their County Carlow base to get an insight into the history and current wellbeing of this exceptional family-run operation from co-owner Donny Nolan.
ProDig Attachments was established over a decade ago by the Nolan Brothers – Donny, Eamonn and Brian – who have over 20 years’ experience in both the agricultural and construction attachment industry. A family-run business with a hands-on management approach, they employ a skilled and experienced workforce, many of whom have been with them long term.
Over the years. ProDig – whose mission is to produce excellently-engineered products with a long lifespan – has established an unrivalled reputation as a quality manufacturer of attachments for the agricultural, construction, and recycling sectors in Ireland, the UK and Europe, endeavouring to cater for customers’ exact needs by placing great emphasis on Research & Development, cutting-edge engineering and customer feedback
All products are built using the highest quality materials and components, making them robust, reliable and easy to maintain, thus guaranteeing many years of service. Attachments are also designed in such a way so as to help improve farm efficiency and productivity. All products are designed and continually developed using 3D CAD software and rigorously tested to ensure they will surpass the rigorous demands of customers.
The extensive product range includes Shear Grabs, Shear Buckets, Bale Handling Attachments, Folding Grass forks, Hi Tip Buckets, Bag fillers etc, all of which are manufactured at ProDig’s purpose-built 20,000 square feet factory, which features all the equipment needed to deliver products to the highest possible standards.
Reflecting on the formation of the business, director Donny Nolan notes: “Myself, Eamonn and Brian set the business up eleven years ago and we would have had a strong construction / agri background. All three of us had backgrounds in engineering. Eamonn worked in structural steel, I was involved in Truck body building and Brian worked in construction agri buildings. Between us, we had all the ingredients to put together a strong attachment manufacturing company.
“We started to make construction attachments during the boom and then moved more towards agri attachments after that. The agricultural side of the business has expanded year on year and the majority of what we manufacture now would be for the agri sector.”
ProDig offers a range of Shear Genius attachments in sizes from 1500mm, 1800mm and 2200mm. A bucket, shear grab and bale splitter all in one, the Shear Genius is designed to suit any task required to fill a diet feeder and is ideal for removing silage and whole crop from a pit while opening far enough to allow the user to split round bales in half. Fitted with a plastic retainer, it makes feeding round bales effortless. As a bucket, it allows the user to fill meal into a diet feeder. HARDOX serrated blades are used in the front for better cutting with minimum effort, leaving a perfect pit face preventing secondary fermentation. The blades have an overbite to ensure a clean cut. The two outside tines act as stoppers to prevent the blades from coming into contact with the ground, thus preventing accidental damage. The Shear Genius is powered by two nickel-chromed hydraulic double-acting rams, ensuring anti-corrosion protection against rust and damage to the hydraulic seals.
Other attachments conceived and manufactured on site in Carlow include the ProDig Mega Bite, ProDig, Bale Grab, ProDig Bale Handler, ProDig Bale Stacker, ProDig Folding Grass Fork, ProDig Tractor Tine Grab and ProDig Telehandler Tine Grab along with a lot more.
The market-leading product range is available island-wide and continent-wide. “We have a strong dealer network throughout Ireland and the UK, with 30 dealers in Ireland and 20 in the UK,” says Donny. “We also have importers in Sweden, Germany, Austria, New Zealand and France who are importing and distributing our products. Indeed, we have made great strides in exports and they would now account for between 40% and 50% of our sales.”
Dedication to excellence lies at the very heart of what ProDig does. They insist on the highest standards and this has seen the demand for their functional and robust attachments increase exponentially. “We pride ourselves on design and build quality,” Donny confirms. “We sell a well-designed, well-researched and well-built product that is strong and sturdy. We focus on design, innovation and strength; the attachments are developed with the aim of making farmers’ lives easier & more productive.”
While some of the bigger attachments can be made to order, ProDig also carry up to 100 buckets, 50 shear grabs, 250 bale handlers and 80 bale grabs in stock at any given time to ensure that farmers can get their hands on the products as quickly as possible.
Gainful employment is currently generated for a team of 29 and the future prospects of the business are very positive: “We are developing new markets as we speak,” Donny Nolan concludes. “We are always looking for new export markets. We’ll also be looking at adding to the product range as well as upgrading existing products. We’ll be keeping the pressure up on all fronts.
“As well as the agri sector, we still manufacture some attachments for the commercial and recycling industries, including waste sweeper units. We’ll keep listening to our customers and delivering solutions that they demand.”
Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 4 No 6, July/August 2016
