Potato Review

52 POTATO REVIEW MARCH/APRIL 2021 MACHINERY Scanstone extends factory to increase capacity and meet demand MANUFACTURER ScanStone is due to complete work on an expansion project early this year which will extend its capacity and improve its drying area. e company, which makes bed formers, bed tillers, destoners, toppers, windrowers and harvesters for potato growers, moved its assembly line to a new building adjoining its existing building in 2018 to accommodate a bigger, more purpose-built, area for its assemblers, complete with under oor heating, tooling and lifting gear. e added capacity enabled the development and construction of an increased product range, including a new haulm topper range with a front-mounted version that can be coupled with a rear mounted machine or adapted to go on the rear of the tractor. Further construction work has more recently followed at ScanStone’s main site outside Forfar, in Eastern Scotland and is due to be completed early this year. It will include an additional paint drying facility, adjacent to the painting and shotblasting area of the factory. Colder weather at busy production spells through the winter has meant that the drying area has had to be increased and improved. e addition of under oor heating and an automated carrying rail, means parts can be painted and dried within 24 hours. Since Covid-19 restrictions have also called for additional sta room area and canteens to be spaced further out, the rm has invested in a rst oor mezzanine of 300 square metres for canteen space which will also have a training area. e most recent building will include a service workshop for overhauling second-hand machines. e factory services those in the Angus, Aberdeenshire, Perthshire and Mearns areas and the model is being rolled out and replicated across ve newly-established ScanStone-owned depots across the UK and Europe, including ScanStone France in Cheppy, Northern France, Brigg, Lakenheath and Kilkeel (NI). e new assembly hall of 2018 cost the company around £300k and the building under construction now is another £300k. A statement from the rm said: “Although these investments are of signi cant magnitude, and particularly when they are in close succession like this, we want to give our customers and sta the best experiences and the best services. is can only be done by making investments in infrastructure as the number of machines working in the ground each year is always increasing. Typically, a destoner or any of our product line requires parts and service back up when it is being used, it is not really a one-o purchase for the farmer.” ScanStone has seen revenue increase by 28% on the previous year, pushing sales of just short of £10M. e company has managed to stay open and supporting the food industry throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. AGRIFAC has used an environmentally-friendly dye to make a painting in the snow to demonstrate how accurate its spraying technique is. e 132 x 200m painting at Steenwijk, in e Netherlands, is believed to be one of the largest of its kind, covering a 3.11 ha area. A self-propelled sprayer with nozzles every 25cm on the beam was used. In practical terms, this allows growers to spray on plant level and dose each nozzle independently. is is done with a fast-switching nozzle that switches on and o 100 times per second. By loading a taskmap into the machine, spraying can be done precisely and accurately. By means of GPS, spraying at the exact location required is possible. e Netherlands-based sprayer manufacturer has been actively developing and supplying this technology since 2016 all over the world. 3.11ha painting in Steenwijk field demonstrates sprayer accuracy