For more than three decades, PFM Machinery & Fabrication has served the farming community with outstanding service levels when it comes to manufacturing and erecting high-quality steel sheds and agricultural buildings. We travelled to Rathangan in County Kildare and spoke to managing director Pauric Fitzpatrick to find out more about the wide range of products and services provided by this exceptional, market-leading family business.
Pauric Fitzpatrick of PFM Machinery & Fabrication Ltd. has completed many sheds / agricultural buildings down through the years. With the capability to fabricate buildings in its state-of-the-art workshop before erecting them on-site – always to the highest standards – PFM provides one-stop shop solutions with an emphasis on quality workmanship, rapid turnaround times and excellent value for money.
Alternatively, if requested, they can fabricate the shed and provide suitable drawings to allow the customer to erect the building themselves – one possible way for a farmer to save even more money.
Boasting a diverse range of abilities to suit all steel manufacturing and construction needs, PFM also provides a keen commercial buildings service, having delivered a large number of commercial projects throughout Kildare and beyond. One such contract was Colton Motors, a project which involved the demolition of the existing showroom in Tullamore and the construction of a spectacular new showroom, completed from start to finish by PFM to Ford specification.
Newbridge Cutlery and AES Ireland are two other commercial projects completed to the highest standards by PFM, with the latter comprising extensive pile driving, reinforcing, civil works and an industrial unit for the construction and erection of this building.
Managing director Pauric Fitzpatrick set up initially as a sole trader – operating a steel fabrications and a building business combined – in 1985. On the back of a steady increase in business, PFM Machinery & Fabrication Ltd. was subsequently established by Pauric in conjunction with his late wife, Ida, in 2015.
Today, PFM Machinery & Fabrication Ltd. manufactures steel products for the agri sector, the building trade, the education sector and the telecommunications industry as well as civil and structural engineering. Centrally located between Portarlington and Rathangan, the modern premises features a state-of-the-art 12,000 square feet workshop in addition to a spacious 70,000 sq ft yard.
From the humblest of beginnings, the business has growth organically to the point where it now generates direct employment for a team of twelve – six in the workshop and the same again out on site.
Co-founder Pauric Fitzpatrick has years of experience in the fabrication and erection of agricultural and industrial units and all buildings are designed, manufactured, delivered and erected to the very highest standards. As well as sheds / agricultural equipment, PFM also specialises in a diverse and versatile range of steel products and buildings including all requirements for animal sports (stables, horse walkers and greyhound traps, etc.), turf cutting machines, general steel fabrications, civils / groundworks and many other products and services.
PFM are proven experts in their chosen field and the fact that the business came through the economic downturn relatively unscathed speaks volumes for the quality of the products and services offered. Benefiting from a steady stream of repeat business and work through positive referrals / word of mouth, the company is currently in a strong position:
“It’s going very well and we had a good year last year,” reports the founder / MD. “We’ve just installed two new machines in the workshop and we’re currently working on projects at NUI Maynooth and Newbridge Silverware. We specialise in all types of structural steel and obviously that includes a good bit of agri work.
“Our industrial units, commercial units and farm sheds are all manufactured in-house and we take our Health & Safety responsibilities very seriously. To this end, we carry the CE mark for structural steel for agricultural buildings.”
At the time of writing, the order book was looking extremely healthy and PFM Machinery & Fabrication were busy working on seven farm buildings at different locations, including contracts in Rosenalis, County Laois and in Tipperary and Kildare. Pauric and his team were also in the process of delivering a new school building in Booterstown, Dublin.
The aforementioned stunning 15,000 sq ft milking parlour in Rosenallis – which will contain four robots – is nearing completion and can be viewed on Youtube – an informative video which grants a great insight into the sheer scale and scope of PFM’s capabilities as well as the painstaking attention to detail and high-quality workmanship inherent in each and every job.
Regarding the catchment area covered, Pauric notes: “We go down as far as Waterford. For turnkey projects, we are prepared to travel. However, generally speaking, we try to stay within a 50- to 60-mile radius of the workshop due to the extra cost and time involved in moving plant, etc.”
Free expert advice is offered to clients to ensure that they end up with the best-possible solution. “When we get in the specs, we often have to adjust things and detail it up in a way that will work best,” says Pauric.
As for the secret of PFM’s longevity and continued success, he adds: “If you do good quality buildings, then that is going to stand to you. You have to do the work properly and build up a strong reputation for quality and reliability. When times are busy, you have to keep your standards high instead of throwing up anything. And when things get quieter, you need to continue to focus on providing good work; otherwise people won’t come back to you. Bad workmanship is terrible advertising … if you do bad work then nobody is going to come back to you. Word of mouth is very important. For example, we put up a large grant-aided tomato store in Rush, County Dublin and on the strength of that work we were asked to do another one close by.”
Has the abolition of milk quotas led to a noticeable increase in work? “Yes, milking parlours are very popular at the moment. We’ve become very busy with farm buildings and they are mostly biggish jobs, within reason. More and more dairy farmers are moving towards robots for convenience as they no longer want to spend two or three hours in the parlour. For these new parlours that can accommodate robots, the structures are bigger but also simpler, as there are no pits, cluster removers etc. You just need a few clean rooms and then the robots are quite straightforward to set up.”
PFM Machinery & Fabrication also recently secured a contract with Fastway Couriers to make 8x3x3 stillages, while a meat factory has also ordered 60 stainless steel stillages, which are much more hygienic than the plastic ones they were previously using.
“We have good gear here and very good men,” Pauric concludes. “We have a drill line, saws, press brakes and a new plasma machine – all the equipment we need to keep manufacturing top-quality stainless steel buildings. My sons Stephen and Robert run a separate company – F-CON Civil and Structural Engineering – and they do a lot of concrete work alongside me. Between the two companies, we can provide a wide range of services.”
The range of products and services provided by F-CON includes structural steel, sheeting & cladding, structural concrete, foundations & groundworks, plant hire & drainage, flat pack sheds and agricultural buildings.
PFM Machinery & Fabrication Ltd.,
Clonsast,
Rathangan,
County Kildare.
Tel: 057 8629069
Fax: 057 8629177
Web: www.pfm.ie
Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 5 No 8, December 2017/January 2018
