Economy Minister test drives new Blaney loader

Minister Hamilton was pleased to hear more about Blaney’s engineering expertise and vision for growth and job creation through expansion of their existing companies Quad-X, Blaney Agri and Blaney Gears, and the launch of Blaney Motor and their range of compact wheeled loaders.

Minister Hamilton commented that he was encouraged by Blaney’s enthusiasm and vision for a new level of growth and their ongoing commitment to R&D and in-house design and manufacture.

Invest NI’s Alastair Hamilton and Tiff Neely as well as Phillip Logan MLA, were also at the manufacturing plant where they heard about the company’s dedication to ongoing investment in new product development.

Within Quad-X and Blaney Agri the focus is on agricultural machinery where recent product launches have included the commercial spec ATV dump trailer, TGS grassland tractor sprayers and the new C550 Contractor Series hedge cutter which adds to an extensive product range already in the hundreds.

Following over 14 years of research and development and identifying key markets, Blaney Motor launched wheeled loader concepts at the Balmoral Show earlier this year. The theme running throughout the new range of Blaney wheel loaders is that they are designed to be compact, weighing under 3.5 tonnes and small enough to transport from site to site on a small trailer. With Blaney’s experience in the attachment sector they will offer a range of off-highway vehicles that are multipurpose and versatile, by offering a wide range of attachments.

With 95% of the company’s production exported outside of Northern Ireland, and Blaney’s expansion into new export markets, the local company were excited to hear Alastair Hamiliton discuss Invest NI’s strategy to enhance the support for overseas market visits.

Blaney’s success so far has been down to their dedicated team of local staff who are driven and passionate about what they are doing.

Blaney have been able to outperform international competitors in various markets thanks to the skills and talents of local people and so continued training and development are crucial.

Sean Blaney, owner and Chief Engineer says: “As we continue to expand, we are looking for people who can bring something special to our team across a range of areas including R&D, CAD, prototyping, production, assembly, machining, fabrication and welding as well as sales, marketing and export development. We are also looking for apprentices and applicants interested in the degree level apprenticeship who want to gain invaluable experience and to earn while they learn.”

The visit to Blaney HQ finished with a look at some of the company’s machinery range as well as an exciting opportunity for the visitors to take to the driving seat of the new wheeled loader concepts, which proved as easy to handle and manoeuvrable as Blaney Motor claims.