Proposed visit to Stewart Trailer factory, Aberdeenshire

[mr softie]

thanks bill, will be nearer 4 if not just after when i get up, going to do a bit of sight seeing on the way up

[BC]

Last night 10 Farm Toy Forum members and 10 guests descended on the Stewart Trailer factory premises at Daviot close to Inverurie in Aberdeenshire. We were greeted by Jim and Mandy Stewart and ushered into the warmth of the board room before Jim started to tell us a bit about Stewart trailers before seeing the 3 factory buildings.

All Stewart trailers are built to order and very few are the same and each has a unique serial number. Jim is responsible for drawing the plans on the computer (CAD) and once a deal is struck and the trailer is started to be made each trailer is recorded on a database with details of specifications e.g. type of axles, tyres lights etc which have been used. Jim was saying this was Mandy’s idea at the onset and he thought god that a lot of paper work to keep but he admitted it has been invaluable in later years when farmers phoned up looking to replace broken lights etc since well they could look back their records and see exactly what had been used on that trailer.

One theme that came through in the visit was quality and the Stewarts seemed to be always striving to make sure their trailer was the best on the market. Before we started the tour I asked Jim if we could take photographs but he said he would prefer us not too. Anyway you will see some of the models made by Andy Ingram and Dode later on in this post.

The tour started in the steel shed where all the steel gets cut and put into baskets before being put into baskets before being passed on to the various fabricators in the trailer build process. The cutting saw is fully computerized and it is a case of keying in the lengths required and the machine will cut it to that size. No mucking about with a tape line and a piece of chalk and then cutting a bit to the left or the right of the line which save time later on in the process where the welder would have to make up for the discrepancy of a piece of steel cut to short.

We then moved on to the main fabrication work shop and Jim gave us a small demonstration of a machine I’m afraid I forget its name bit it didn’t bore holes in metal it simply pressed them out. In addition it could press / cut out v shapes. It looked a very powerful piece of kit and not one to let the fingers get too close too.

In the main shed 3 trailers were being built. Each trailer is worked on by two welders and these guys work in pairs all the time since well they get used to their own ways of working. All the digital welders are mounted overhead and there are no trip hazards such as wire or electrical extension cables.  For smaller stock parts such as brackets for the flasher beacons Jim said they outsourced the making of such items to a firm with one of those laser profile cutters. All the holes etc were cut out for attaching the beacon to the base and even a hole for the bracket to hold the cable. All little things but just makes the build process that bit more efficient.

We moved on into the corner of the shed and in the far corner there was a bay for the axles and springs etc being built up. One of the three trailers being built was one for export to Australia in fact they are exporting three of those to a chap in Australia. They have already exported to New Zealand and Mandy was saying she had sold a trailer to Iceland. Jim was saying the export market was growing one and well it says something for the build quality of the Stewart Trailer factor which employs a staff of 32 including Jim and Mandy.

We then moved on to the next shed were all the aluminum floats both fitted to trailer and lorries were built. This is a very specialized part of the business and there are not very many float manufactures around the country. Jim said the cost of an articulated float could be in the region of £ 130k

Next we moved onto the paint shop where we were greeted by the lovely smell of drying two- pack paint. After shot-blasting and rubbing down two coats of paint are applied one primer and one top coat and no thinners are used. They employ two paint sprayers and the paint is pumped out at extreme pressure and is electro statically applied so the paint is attracted to the metal saves paint waste and less overspray on the spray boot floor. Jim was saying approximately 30 litres of top coat was need for the larger 16 / 20 ton trailers.

Mandy advised Jim to usher us from the paint shop quite quickly because of the fumes and then we moved on to the next shed were the steel is kept and Jim gave us a demonstration of their German made bending machine which is used both to bend steel sheet and aluminum sheets which are used in the trailer and float side. Again a very precision made machine and usually operated by two men.

We then moved on past the steel stock room and on to the finishing department where lights and beacons and air pipes and hydraulic pipes etc are all fitted. The two chaps working in this department add all the finishing touches and Jim was saying if at the point they find a hole has not been bored etc something has gone wrong in the build process and this was not the time to be boring holes and touching up the paint work. There was a discussion about trailer sizes and carrying capacity etc and Jim as saying they decide to brand the trailers with say a number GX18/-22 meaning 18 tons or 22 cubes.

Next we were ushered back to the board room and got a cup of coffee and some fine “piecesâ€.

After the coffee Andy Ingram displayed some of his scratch built trailers together with Dode who brought his silage trailer. In addition Brian (IH634) brought along a flat made by Andy with a Britain’s float. Dode had a John Deere for his silage cart and well I took along a couple of Britain’s blues to hitch up to a couple of the trailers. A dealer boxed NH TM165 and an older Rainbow boxed Ford 7710.

I must say Jim was over the moon seeing the models and seemed very impressed.

Well that’s the visit as I saw it but if any members have anything to add please do and correct me if I have got any of the facts wrong since well unless I write things down my memory is not as good as it used to be.

Jim inspecting an Andy trailer

Andy trying to sell Jim a trailer

Dode’s trailer and John Deere

Brain’s trailer and Britain’s float made by Andy and pulled by my recently acquired Dealer Boxed Britain’s New Holland TM 165.

Andy’s trailer in tipped position

Andy’s low loader trailer pulled by another recent Britain’s acquisition of mine a Ford 7710

[BC]

I dropped Mandy an email thanking her and Jim for taking the time to show us around their factory last night. Personally I found it a well well conducted tour and very informative.

A nice response from Mandy too 8)

Bill,

It was a pleasure to have the group here and we are glad that you enjoyed the tour.  It makes it so much easier for us to have a friendly group of people who chat and ask questions!

Kind regards

Mandy

Mrs Mandy Stewart

Director

Stewart Agricultural Limited

[catkom3]

Looks like you all had a great day at Stewart trailers Bill,

Regards

Joe.

[Manor Farm]

Dode’s trailer and John Deere

Who made that silage trailer

[BC]

Looks like you all had a great day at Stewart trailers Bill,

Regards

Joe.

Aye it was a nice viewing Joe. Good build and a lot of quality control goes on there.

[mr softie]

bill we cant thank you enough for taking the time to organaise last nights visit to the stewart`s trailer factory , jim and mandy were amazing with the detail of the visit and answering any questions asked by the forum members / guests, it was good seeing what happens behind the scenes in the build from the drawings to the finished product rather than visiting shows and just seeing rows of finished product.

it was good that we managed to get a full house for the tour and that everyone arrived on time for the tour , many thanks bill for arranging the tour and for your hospitality before the event and viewing your collection absolutly excellent bill

[BC]

Well I'm glad you and your dad enjoyed it Brian despite probably not getting hme before 2 to 3am in the morning ;)

I'll be dropping in past you at some point in the future since its always nice to see other folks collections.

[mr softie]

Well I'm glad you and your dad enjoyed it Brian despite probably not getting hme before 2 to 3am in the morning ;)

I'll be dropping in past you at some point in the future since its always nice to see other folks collections.

bill any time your down this way you are more than welcome to drop in to view the collection and for a chat

[51MON]

them 2 model  stewart trailers are the best ive seen to date 

[NewHolland2]

A superb evening. A big thanks to Bill for organising the trip and to Jim and Mandy for having us 

[BC]

Cheers Mart but it really did not involve much other than emails and PM's and most were done it works time anyway. I see it as me having my " ***" break that smokers seem to be able to take within working hours ;)

Andy Ingram PM'd me and jokingly said when's the Marshall one :

Seriously I would not mind seeing the the up in comparison if enough of the 20 folk that attended Stewart's would like to visit Marshall's then I would be quite willing to do it.

We need to get more outings and get together's arranged for the Aberdeenshire crowd.

Finally a big thanks to all the 19 of you who came along since I was dreading drop outs at the last minute. I was over the moon when we had a full house and Mandy and Jim seemed to appreciate our chat and charm ;D ;D

[BC]

them 2 model  stewart trailers are the best ive seen to date 

Well 51MON I think Jim Stewart and the 20 visitors would second that. Jim really looked as pleased as punch when viewing the model and perhaps honoured that folk like Andy and Dode had made models of the real deal.

Now I have to say Dode was being a bit modest about his trailer....even Andy was saying there was nought wrong with it. Keep up the good work Dode and Andy ;)

[toyboy]

First of all a much deserved thank you to Bill for organising the trip. Secondly to Jim and Mandy Stewart for giving up an evening of there time to show us round their factory. Any time i have seen a Stewart trailer in the past i have always thought they looked a sturdy well built piece of equiptment but not until last night did i fully appreciate just how much care and attention to detail goes into making their first class trailers. It was clear from listening to Jim and Mandy that they are not just out to sell you any trailer, large scale, churn them out by the dozen, bog standard, run of the mill has no place at stewart trailers!!!! It became very clear early on in the tour that nothing less than perfection is acceptable from cutting the first piece of steel to putting the last sticker on the back door before delivery the whole process seemed very methodical and well thought out and the enviroment in which these trailers are built was very clean and tidy.The finished product is a credit to all involved. There was only one downside to last night i felt and that was when we all arrived and were waiting outside it was pitch black and i didn't have a clue as to who anyone was   by the time we got inside Jim and Mandy were there and the talk turned to trailers. The only ones i could put a face to a name, were, bc, newholland 2, mr softie, big a and brian ih but then again half of the group were guests and not forum members but i'm sure if anything is organised for the future we can rectify it then.

[BC]

Well Dode the organising was easy really and yes it was a bitty dark outside as we waited to get into the factory yard. Jim did actually go round the 20 folk and ask "fit did ye de or work at" and I think I said " I coount numbers" ;)

Anyway point taken I should have interjected and asked each one to say if they were a forum member and say their user Id or say I'm a guest [

Anyway as they say Dode we all learn from mistakes. My old man always says to me some one who hasn't made a mistake has done nothing ;)

Anyway the members you missed were ( in no specific order ;D )

Tractor Tam aka Stevie Fraser who is a farmer / contractor and drives a McCormick tractor and you will see photos of him on my farming posts spreading fertilizer and also baling and wrapping with his McHale baler / wrapper.

ronan7051 who comes from Ireland lives near Turriff and works in the oil industry in Angola. Ronan introduced himself to me but left sharp at the end since he was bound for Angola this morning.

smitch  aka Steven Mitchell who farms with his brother Keith (also a member)  over the back of me between Drumoak and Cullerlie and you will see posts of him on various Massey Ferguson tractors cutting hay and carting tatties.

And last but not least ROB7810 aka Robbie Dewar who works for the Still's at Lyne of Skene and drives a John Deere tractor...again you will see him at the tatties in BC's farming photo's

[brianih634]

Many thanks to Bill for taking the time to organise this trip for us, and also to Jim and Mandy Stewart for allowing us to see round their business.

You really do deserve the thanks Bill, if you hadn't bothered, then we would have all missed out. I look forward to the next outing and as Dode said, maybee we can get a chance to have a decent blether together.

The visit really did impress me and just re-enforced my positive views on Stewart trailers. A nice run enterprise with an increasing customer base by the day.

[BC]

Well I'm pleased to get feedback from some FTF members from last night so I think we need  to continue these meet ups.

As I have said I would easily approach Marshall trailers or if into articulated trailers Gray & Adams at Fraserburgh but that's maybe too diverse from farming

[NewHolland2]

Well I'm pleased to get feedback from some FTF members from last night so I think we need  to continue these meet ups

As I have said I would easily approach Marshall trailers or if into articulated trailers Gray & Adams at Fraserburgh but that's maybe too diverse from farming

Indeed Bill, would be good to get some more dates for the diary 

Marshall would be interesting to see around too - would give a good comparison to what we saw at Stewart's - just have to mind our tongues   

[toyboy]

Well I'm pleased to get feedback from some FTF members from last night so I think we need  to continue these meet ups.

As I have said I would easily approach Marshall trailers or if into articulated trailers Gray & Adams at Fraserburgh but that's maybe too diverse from farming

I'm streets ahead of you here Bill. The lad i took along last nite, Atholl, the Ravenhill rep, i spoke to him about it and asked him if he could think of any of his customers that he dealt with that ran any large or impressive farms and he briefly mentioned one in particular who runs a large beef unit somewhere in the northeast. He said that he has something to do with the royal highland show and has had groups on tours round his farm before so this is maybe an option. Also on the Marshall trailers front he speaks to Charlie Marshall (junior) quite often and is away with the Vesuvieus muck spreader model i built to let him see it so there is maybe some scope here for something to happen, early days yet but Atholl seemed quite keen to try and help us set something up so we will wait and see what he comes up with.

[BC]

Sounds good Dode. Andy Ingram was telling me Atholl is into the models too so time to get him signed up on here too me thinks. ???  Being in the job he is sounds as if he could be a valuable addition to the forum for the North East.

Keep us posted Dode.

[BC]

The one thing I forgot to mention we were given a "goodie bag" at the end of the evening which contained a brochure, pen and notepad.

One to go with the Fraser of Rothienorman brochure........just a shame it was not a "Stewart" carrier bag as someone said they had at the Royal Highland Show for my carrier bag collection ;) ...but...beggars can't be choosers as they say ;D  

[robl12]

sounds like a good time was had by all Bill.

Have had a thought about a visit but will PM you about it

[BC]

Well yes I haven't had any negative feedback yet Rob...shame you missed it but well you would not have been able to write that post had you come along I suppose ;D ;D

I'll have a look at your PM now

[robl12]

Well yes I haven't had any negative feedback yet Rob...shame you missed it but well you would not have been able to write that post had you come along I suppose ;D ;D

I'll have a look at your PM now

Yes the lovely wife enjoyed her night out which is the main thing and yes if I had been there would not be alive just now.

[ronan7051]

Hi Everybody,

First of all, BIG THANKS TO BILL for organising the tour and a HUGE thanks to Jim and Mandy for taking the time to give us a tour of their excelent facility. I thought it was a brilliant night ,very interesting and nice to meet some of the FTF members (Big A, BC, MR Softie...) The models were excelent also.Just a pity I had to nip off early at the end and missed the goodie bag Looking forward to any other trips or meetings we get up to. Thanks again Bill. Will have to swing by sometime when I'm home for a fly cup and a look at that collection.