The three-week shutdown at Sulky-Burel due to the Corona virus (Covid-19) situation is over. Production of new cultivators, seed drills and fertiliser spreaders has resumed and the company stresses it is now able to honour all current and future orders.
The news follows several weeks of nothing but bad news, which has seen tractor and farm machinery manufacturing operations across Europe shut down. The restart of production at Sulky’s two French plants was decided in conjunction with plant staff representatives and after sanitising the facilities and reorganising the assembly lines to guarantee the health and safety of its employees.
The production facilities all ground to a halt on March 18, 2020, but after-sales services and spare parts remained operational. Managing director Rob Thurkettle of Sulky UK Ltd told us that spare parts are still readily available for the busy spring season. “The only things that are really affected is on-farm servicing, because of the required social distancing, and the supply of new machines.”
“We still have one new machine to deliver (hopefully next week) but most of the new machines arrived in the UK and were delivered to customers before the factory closures,” he added.
Most of the new machines needed in the UK this spring were delivered to customers before the factory closures, said managing director Rob Thurkettle of Sulky UK Ltd.
Mr Thurkettle explains that getting new machines from France to the UK has been a challenge, especially during the first week of the Corona virus situation when transport companies did not want their trucks held up at the border. “Things have now improved and we have hopefully turned the corner and are on the return to some sort of normality.”
Production of new cultivators, seed drills and fertiliser spreaders has resumed at Sulky-Burel’s two French plants.
There is one exception. Sulky-Burel sources its power harrows from Italian-firm Frandent and this plant remains closed on the advice of the Italian government. “We still have a good stock of machines and parts in France and are hopeful of the Italian plant re-opening again sometime soon.”
Based in Châteaubourg near Rennes, Sulky-Burel, a family-owned business, employs around 250 people and depending on the year exports some 40% of the roughly 3,500 machines made each year. The UK is the second biggest export market. “It is also a highly advanced market and the French company is always keen to follow the latest trends.”
