Kilic Engineering’s Super Roo stackers are being put to use on the Manildra Group’s operations. ABHR finds out how the equipment stacks up.
The Manildra Group, an Australian agribusiness, isn’t afraid of going against the grain. While there has been an industry trend to focus on Sydney, the company has expanded its base in the town it is named after, in New South Wales.
This regional strategy has allowed the group to operate one of the largest milling facilities in the country and continue to find expansion into other regional centres.
To support this growth, Manildra has purchased two Super Roos from Kilic Engineering (KE), one of the fastest drive over hopper fed grain stackers on the market.
KE delivered the first Super Roo to the Manildra-owned Bellata grain handling facility in time for the 2020 harvest, where it was immediately put into service unloading triple semi-trailers to bunkers.
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The machine is a prototype product based on the field performance of the KE BunkerStacker range and delivered bunker load rates of 750 tonnes per hour.
The second machine was delivered to the Stockinbingal site as harvest activity moved south and was in service and ready as grain began to arrive at the site.
Jason Kilic, KE Managing Director said both of the machines were tested thoroughly, as part of the company’s rigorous factory testing regime.
“We were very confident the machines would perform and form an integral part of the Manildra operations,” Kilic says.
“Delivering, assembling, wet commissioning and supporting the machines in New South Wales amid travel restrictions triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic proved challenging for both the KE and Manildra teams at times. Hats off to our Adelaide based team, to the Manildra site staff and to our NSW based sub-contractors for meeting these challenges so the machines could do their job and support Manildra’s grain handling strategy.”
KE is a mechanical engineering company based in Adelaide, South Australia. Owned and operated by the Kilic family since 1973, the company has a history of designing, manufacturing and installing a wide range of conveyors, material handling systems, structures and associated equipment.
It’s local suppliers, including Tristar Electrical, BL Shipway, CavPower and SEW Eurodrive, helped the company deliver its products, including the Super Roo
Peter Sloan, Manildra grain buyer, says the investment into grain storage asset is the backbone of the company’s Australian-grown wheat.
“Customers can have absolute confidence in our supply chain from the paddocks to storage and then to our flour mills,” he says.
Kilic says he is proud to be part of the Manildra success story and shares common values with both companies, each being established last century and being 100 per cent Australian family-owned operations.