Spence Engineering Ltd in Hillsborough, Co. Down will from now on be known as Spence Bespoke Engineering. As part of the rebrand, a new logo has been designed to reflect the company’s expertise in the manufacture and repair of excavator buckets and specialist equipment.
The new logo cleverly incorporates the teeth of an excavator bucket in the letter ‘e’ of Spence. Managing Director Paul Spence is hoping the rebrand will make prospective clients more aware of what the family-run concern has to offer and ultimately generate new business.
“We’ve been trading for well over 50 years and we felt it was time to freshen things up a bit. We tweaked our name, designed a new logo and are in the process of revamping our website. The business we’re in is evolving all the time and we want to let people know that we’re evolving with it,” he says.
The origins of Spence Engineering goes back much further than 1961 when the business was started by Paul’s father Eric (also known as John) and mother Mabel, who is still actively involved. Eric’s father William Spence was a well-known blacksmith in the Hillsborough area before branching into electrical welding in 1952.
The family tradition lives on with three generations of the Spence family promoting their company’s wares at this year’s Balmoral Show. Eric and Paul were joined on the trade stand by Paul’s two sons, Aaron, who has completed his welder / fabricator apprenticeship, and Kyle who is in his second year. Incidentally, Aaron is a former Quad Racing champion who holds the distinction of having won the Irish, British and Ulster championships in the same season (2012). Sadly, a knee injury brought his Quad Racing career to a premature end.
Positioned at the upper end of the market, Spence Bespoke Engineering manufactures high quality excavator buckets for machines ranging from one to 75 tonne, and related equipment, including buckets, quick change adaptors, pallet forks, silage grabs, buckrakes, HTS cutting edge, bucket pins and bushes, and hydraulic rams.
In addition to manufacturing, the family-run business carries out general repairs to excavator and hydraulic equipment. Spence Bespoke Engineering are also agents for Kvernex Ware (KVX) parts and stockists of a wide range of hydraulic tubings, chrome rods, hydraulic cylinder seals and ‘O’ rings.
KVX is Norway’s leading manufacturer of GET (ground engaging tools) and a growing international player serving the construction, quarry and mining industries, while also offering products for a range of other severe industrial applications. The brand has gained worldwide recognition for its highly wear resistant bolt-on ground engaging tool system for earth moving machines.
Spence Bespoke Engineering serves a large customer-base throughout Ireland, mostly in the quarrying and agricultural sectors. It also supplies excavator buckets and parts to dealerships . The company prides itself in its expertise and flexibility which is reflected in the range and versatility of the products it manufactures and repairs.
“Our products may be a little bit more expensive, but they will stand the test of time,” Paul explains.
“We were the first manufacturers of buckets and hitches in Northern Ireland and our product range has grown considerably since then. We do a lot of one-off builds – the kind the bigger manufacturers tend to steer clear of. We can also carry out repairs and refurbishments onsite as well as in-house.
“We can refurbish everything from buckets and crushers to tankers and cattle feeders. We also manufacture a wide range of heavy duty buckrakes complete with push-off to the customer’s exact specification. Fold-up buckrakes and buckets with long blades and penetration teeth are another speciality of ours”.
“If a customer has a problem, we try to solve it for them and save them money in the process. If an agricultural contractor or a quarry operator has a problem, we’ll send someone out and get them back up and running as quickly as possible. We’ll keep their downtime to a minimum.”
The company employs 18 staff who, according to the affable managing director, are “very much hands on”. He adds: “Our staff have an array of skills and are well versed in all aspects of the business. One of our most experienced employees is Joe Corbett who has been with us for over 40 years, we also have several other employees who have been with us for 20 years plus and bring a wealth of experience to every job.”
Spence Bespoke Engineering’s location just off the A1 dual carriageway is another selling point.
“We are a 20-minute drive from Belfast and 30 minutes from Newry. Dublin is 90 minutes away. We are within easy reach of our customers and they are within easy reach of us,” Paul concludes.
Spence Bespoke Engineering (Spence Engineering Ltd)
67 Tullynore Road,
Hillsborough,
Co. Down BT26 6QE
Telephone: 028 9268 2435
Fax: 028 9268 9045
Email: [email protected], [email protected]
or [email protected]
Web: www.spenceengineering.co.uk
Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 4 No 6, July/August 2016
