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United Heavy Industries debuts tractor in Australia

Having built a reputation in earthmovers and wheel loaders, and with service bases across the Australian mainland, United Heavy Industries is heading to the farm with the debut of its UHI454 45hp tractor

Machinery importer United Heavy Industries is expanding its product range, with the first tractors it has ever offered about to arrive in Australia.

The move marks a significant step in UHI’s expansion, having grown to cover all mainland states just four years after first establishing an Australian presence.

UHI’s core business has been in affordable earthmoving equipment, with machines such as wheel loaders and mini excavators being the most popular among its farming client base.


UHI wheel loaders have proven popular

The company’s business development manager James Wang says the first tractors are expected to arrive in the coming weeks, having been introduced following feedback from customers who have bought other machines from UHI.

“Since we have been selling more wheel loaders to farmers, customers are asking whether we could get tractors,” he says.

“Tractors will help with jobs that need something smaller and more compact than the wheel loaders.

“On the farm, normally someone has a small machine and big machine for two different types of work, so that’s why customers wanted us to see whether we could get reliable tractors, like the wheel loaders.”

The first tractor being introduced is the UHI454 – a compact, 45hp (33.5kW) model with a 2,600kg load capacity, eight forward and reverse gears and an overall size of 4.7m in length, 1.75m in width and 2.51m in height.

Wang says the philosophy of an economical, compact machine appeals to the company’s customer base in the same way as its other equipment does, such as the mini excavators it offers.

“Many people are retired or have a hobby farm,” he says.

“First of all, they can’t hire anyone to do the job and then, secondly, it is very costly as well – if they want someone to dig a trench and someone quotes prices more than $10,000.

“If they get our machine, which is a similar price, they can do the job and they can use it for future purposes as well.

“We deliver a benefit to the customer, not only the price, but they can enjoy the budget machine, which can do lots of different work for them.”


The new UHI454 tractor

United Heavy Industries sells factory direct, which enables the company to pass on savings to customers without compromising the machine itself, Wang says.

The company also provides aftersales service and quick access to spare parts around the nation, which is what Wang believes sets it apart.

“Some other importers just import the products and when the customer has a problem there will only be the manufacturer’s warranty, so customers have to deal with the overseas factory or sourcing parts by themselves, which is very hard,” he says.

“Our business is different. When we import the machine, we get the parts ready as well, so if the customer needs anything we have the parts straight away.

“The big brands obviously have their own spare parts warehouse, but the problem is that most of our customers buy machines more for private use and they don’t want to spend $30,000–40,000 on a small machine, but they still want a reasonable service as well.

“If they want to buy filters, if they want to buy some parts or need to get some parts under warranty, we are ready straight away and in two or three days we can get a machine running again.”


United Heavy Industries provides affordable earthmoving equipment

Every machine imported by United Heavy Industries meets Australian standards, Wang says, and the company has branches in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Townsville and Darwin.

This strong local presence, which has grown rapidly, has allowed UHI to understand the unique requirements of Australian farmers.

“The benefit of us is we are in the Australian market and we understand what customers need,” Wang says.

“We know what customer requirements are, and especially with the tractors we ordered them, so they can match up with different brand attachments.

“This means if a customer has an attachment al- ready, they can just use it with the new tractor and they don’t need to buy a different attachment.”

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