Synonymous with the industry-leading ArboCut range of hedge cutters, AR Engineering Services Ltd continues to go from strength to strength after more than 40 years in business.
Operating from Carrigeen on the Kilkenny-Waterford border, AR Engineering Services is fronted by Anthony Roche who, while serving his time with an engineering firm in the UK, attended college in the evenings and secured a degree in mechanical engineering. He also worked in R&D with ABB, the global Swedish supplier of products and systems for power transmission, as well as for process and industrial automation.
Anthony returned to Ireland to set up his own business in 1983 and manufactured his first ArboCut 2000 series hedge cutters five years later. A patent was taken on the rotors. Four decades later and AR Engineering Services remains one of the few Irish manufacturers of such machines.
In 1992, Seamus Foskin – formerly a director with Abbey Engineering Services toolmakers – came on board as a partner. Sadly, Seamus passed away four years ago following a tragic accident involving a tractor and trailer, leaving Anthony to plough a lone furrow once again.
Committed to providing the best design, performance and production of quality hedge cutters, the company also specialises in mulching heads, flail heads along with the replacement of saw blades and rotors. Indeed, mulching heads now account for a large part of Anthony’s business due to the shorter hedge cutting season which extends from September to March when ground conditions can be less than favourable.
“The Wildlife Act has had a massive impact on the business and on all hedge cutting because farmers and contractors can now only cut for six months of the year instead of 12,” he points out.
“While it has affected hedge cutter sales, it has led to a much bigger demand for heavy duty mulchers. The beauty of mulchers is they can work in wet conditions on a track machine. They have really taken over – we’re making four a week.
“Having said that, we’re still selling about 20 ArboCut 2000 series hedge cutters a year. There continues to be a steady order also for replacement heads for hedge cutters. We make them for every machine and are a much cheaper option than buying a new machine.
“Our biggest volume of sales are replacement heads and saws, although saw sales have slowed down a little. We can design or make anything. One of the more usual items that we made was a winch to help a farmer to get in and out of his tractor. There was a video made about it that has been widely viewed and shared online.
“When we design something, we subcontract the fabricating and welding to ELC Group in Waterford. Another local company, SP Heat Transfer, looks after the painting. We only make products that are tried and tested.”
Known for their efficiency, reliability and heavy-duty construction, AR Engineering Services’ extremely well-built ArboCut 2000 hedge cutters are the first choice of farmers and contractors. Alongside the ArboCut saw and flail-and-saw, ArboCut 2000 also manufactures saw unit attachments and saw blades, fine and rough cut.
Fitting and removing the ArboCut 2000 series hedge cutter is straightforward due to its easy-to-use adjustable parking legs, which are carried on the machine at all times to prevent them from being mislaid.
Meanwhile, independent hydraulic systems eliminate the messy chore of coupling hydraulic hoses. No tools are needed to complete fitting or removal, which can be carried out in less than 10 minutes. Standard mounting is by unobtrusive axle brackets – designed to be left on the tractor throughout the year for quick coupling of the trimmer when required – which do not normally affect check chains, stabilisers, pick-up hitches etc.
“The ArboCut 2000 hedge cutters now come with self-cooling tanks that don’t require a fan. This is a big selling point for us,” the affable South Kilkenny man adds.
AR Engineering Services has captured the entire UK and Germany markets for saws for excavators between 2.5 and 30 tonnes. Furthermore, the company has sold hedge cutters as far away as Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
“We’ve sold ArboCut 2000s in Australia for verge work so that truck drivers can see kangaroos crossing the road. We’ve had exhibitions in Sydney and Cairns. But we only sell hedge cutters to the Irish market now.,” Anthony explains.
“We provide repair and maintenance services on every make of hedge cutter that comes to Ireland. We can read rotors and measure vibration and provide vibration analysis, using a state-of-the-art machine. We get rotors here every day from all over Ireland, which we read and rebalance.”
The future of AR Engineering Services is secure due to the dependability of the products and services provided.
“ArboCut is known for reliability and we make a very good, reliable machine. You live on your reputation and thankfully we have a good reputation for manufacturing hedge cutters and for sorting out customers’ rotor or vibration problems.”
Anthony would like to take this opportunity to thank his customers and suppliers for their continued support as well as his small but dedicated team for their hard work and expertise.
AR Engineering Services Ltd
New Aglish,
Carrigeen,
Co. Kilkenny.
Telephone: 087-2594595
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.arbocut2000.com
First published in Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 12 No 4, November/December 2024
AR Engineering Services, Featured
