Building a second factory has allowed Kerfab to bring back a promise of a seven-day turnaround on its most popular attachments
Attachments manufacturer Kerfab is seeing a tangible benefit from its recent investments in long-term growth – bringing back its signature Attach + Go promise.
Being able to say this with confidence is also a symbolic statement that Kerfab has left the malaise of the COVID-19 era in the past and is charging towards a bright future.
At its essence, Attach + Go is a promise to firstly have an official quote within two hours, free delivery around Australia, and most crucially – attachments dispatched within seven working days of order confirmation.
This is a significant advantage for dealers as it gives the confidence they can access quality Australian-made attachments on short notice for machinery they are selling.
“We’ve found it’s something that dealers really value,” Kerfab’s marketing coordinator Ryan Hoban says.
“Dealers don’t particularly want to be holding too much stock, so it helps them do their job and get back to selling machinery.
“The Attach + Go promise gives them the trust that attachments will arrive and the job is actually going to get done.
“Dealers don’t want to lose sales and upset their customers by having their machine delayed because of an attachment.
“If someone’s looking at buying a tractor, it’s a significant investment and they also want to do it for a job on the farm.
“If all of that is getting held up because they’re waiting on an attachment, then that’s a major frustration for everybody.”
Attach + Go applies to the range of products which Kerfab has identified as its most popular and which it says most customers need – bale forks, buckets and pallet forks.
Kerfab’s products are manufactured in the northern Victorian town of Kerang, while the company also has a warehouse and office in Perth to assist with distribution to the nation’s west.
Attach + Go is not a new concept, however even as an experienced local manufacturer, Kerfab was not immune from the supply chain issues and extended lead times caused by COVID-19.
According to Hoban, being able to offer this guarantee again with confidence is a sign Kerfab has returned to normal operations.
“It’s been one of our main focuses for the last three or four years,” he says.
“Attach + Go was something that our customers loved before COVID and something that we were known for.
“We were extremely disappointed to have to cancel it during the latter stages of 2020 and ever since then it’s been a key focus for us to get it back to where it once was.
“It’s taken a significant amount of time, effort and research to do that.”
Attach + Go is officially back, but none of this has happened by accident.
Continual growth in demand for its core products led to Kerfab deciding a second factory adjacent to its original facilities in Kerang was necessary.
Opened in 2022, this second factory measures about 2,000sqm and is mostly dedicated to producing the attachments covered by the Attach + Go promise.
Doubling its manufacturing capacity has made a significant difference, while there has also been an investment in both more staff and new technology in addition to the larger footprint.
Kerfab’s team includes expert design engineers who have worked diligently to refine the production process and helped the manufacturer to, in its words, “step up our game”.
As a result, Kerfab’s dedicated Attach + Go factory is not just an extra building but a shining example of modern production featuring robots and automated processes.
“We’ve got an automated welding system that’s welding either all of the attachment, or a large percentage of, which is then completed and quality assuranced (QA) checked by another qualified welder at the end of that process,” Hoban says.
“We’ve got an automated blasting chamber to sandblast everything so it’s ready to paint, and we’ve just installed a new paint facility.
“Things move on a rail system so they can almost float through the factory suspended on rails and then move through each stage.
“Products go into the blast chamber, then into the paint and then into the oven which heats it up and allows the paint to dry and cure a lot quicker, so we can then get it out to the customers as soon as possible.
“We’ve also added more people and nobody has been let go because of this. The automation is just to help us keep up more than anything – we’re definitely not replacing anybody.”
All of this speaks to a company on a rapid growth trajectory and with a clear eye on the future.
It also comes after Kerfab celebrated 30 years in business last year, meaning customers can purchase attachments with the knowledge they are from a local manufacturer with a long history.
Kerfab’s attachments are designed to suit the types of machinery most commonly used by Australian farmers – tractors, telehandlers and front-end loaders.
If one individual product could be described as Kerfab’s bread and butter, and summed up its overall growth, it would be bale forks.
Kerfab’s round bale fork can be used to either pierce a round bale on the flat side, or have the tines slide underneath the bale for support.
In either case, the hay is securely held to ensure the bale is kept firmly in place and will not rotate when being stacked or carried.
Kerfab also produces a tractor hay fork as part of its Attach + Go offering.
Also usable with larger front-end loaders, it is capable of handling individual and multiple hay bales, regardless of whether they are round or square.
The standard size tractor hay fork features an adjustable back frame with a range of heights from 1.5m to 2.5m, plus the option of three, four or five tines.
Kerfab’s larger model can lift up to two additional bales and has a back frame height of up to 3m.
Customers needing a pallet fork for either a loader or telehandler are also looked after thanks to Kerfab’s Attach + Go promise, as are those needing four-in-one buckets for both machines.
This variety of products, which can be turned around in seven days, has expanded since Attach + Go was first offered.
It has been carefully curated to reflect what Kerfab’s customers need most, but Hoban says there is scope to expand this even further.
“We have the capacity now to look to expand Attach + Go into the future into other attachments,” he says.
“We are looking at doing this – nothing is set in stone yet, but we do have that capacity thanks to the new factory and the robots.”
Kerfab’s quick turnaround time does not mean any corners have been cut, instead reflecting the benefits of investing heavily into local manufacturing, quality control and production processes to create a system which they know works.
“Customers are getting that Kerfab quality attachment and they’re getting it a lot quicker than what we’ve been able to do during the last few years,” Hoban says.
“The quality is the same as it ever was – that top notch Kerfab quality that we’ve been doing for 30 years.”
Kerfab’s head office is located at 11 Tate Drive, Kerang and its full product range is available at www.kerfab.com.au
