Visiting the Spider’s Web

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Visiting the Spider’s Web – A number of the UK turf industry press attended a factory visit in the Czech Republic enabling them to catch up with the latest developments being made by the manufacturers of the unique four-wheel drive wheel Spider remote controlled slope mower. 

Visiting the Spider’s Web

The company’s  new 1.8 million Eur, 3,500 square metre factory that was officially opened in 2014, replacing the old factory owned by DVORAK – machine division was opened in 2004 by its current owner, Lubomír Dvořák, the man responsible for coming up with the original concept of the remote radio-controlled slope mower, which was named the Spider.

The idea stemmed from the need of their highway construction company, who having constructed many miles of motorway embankments, were then tasked with the ongoing maintenance of the steep grass road verges. So, to help reduce time and make the job safer, Lubomir came up with the solution of a remote-controlled banks mower.

The first Spider the ILDO1 was launched in 2003, offering an 80cm cutting width, using one blade with the capability of mowing slopes of a maximum of 55 degrees using a winch.

This was then followed three years later with the ILD02 in 2006, offering a 123cm cutting width using four blades, again with the capability of cutting slopes of a maximum of 55 degrees.

In 2014 the company launched its now popular Spider, offering a 56cm cutting width using one blade with the capability of mowing slopes of a maximum of 30 degrees.

The company manufacture over 1500 parts of the mower themselves, reducing the reliance on other providers, thus improving their quality control and waiting time.

The factory is geared up to produce two spider mowers a day, while there are plans to extend the factory doubling its size in the coming years enabling to cope with the growing demand for spiders worldwide.

Like most companies, not content to rest on their laurels, they spend a huge amount of money on research and development, refining their products, improving performance and above all listening to their customers.

With the future in mind, the company was keen to allow the press a chance to witness a demonstration of a new prototype of one of the next generation of machine expected to come on line next year, to be named Spider 3.

It is essentially a remote-controlled ride on transport unit that can offer different mowing options to the end user. The operator can sit on and operate it from a seated position, when mowing reasonably flat areas and then jump off and stand and control the mower on steeper slopes.

Offering a triple deck option will no doubt be a big hit with Local Authorities, Highway agencies and contract firms thus allowing the machine to operate efficiently over flat and steep ground using the same mower and operator.

The company has recently changed their distribution in the UK and are now represented by T H WHITE Machinery Imports Ltd. They also recently recruited two well-known UK Sales Managers, Nick Penn is European Sales Manager, while Jason Bristow leads the Americas sales operation, supported by Lubor Hladik, International Sales Manager.

Synthetic Success at Bloxham School

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Synthetic Success at Bloxham School – Tom Hall, deputy head groundsman at Bloxham School in Oxfordshire has reported excellent results from using SISIS equipment to maintain the school’s two synthetic sports surfaces.

Synthetic Success at Bloxham School

With a rich history that can be traced as far back as 1853, Bloxham School is a prime example of great British public schooling. The independent co-educational and boarding school, covers approximately 60 acres of land in the picturesque village of Bloxham and over 400 pupils attend the illustrious school.

Standards are extremely high, as you would expect at a school of Bloxham’s stature, and equally impressive are the first-class sports facilities. Sport plays a significant role in Bloxham life and the school has enjoyed great success in sports such as rugby, hockey and cricket – to name but a few.

As well as a plethora of grass sports pitches, Bloxham also features two synthetic surfaces, and to maintain these; the grounds team relies on a range of SISIS equipment.

“Here at Bloxham, one of the synthetic surfaces is sand filled and the other is sand dressed. Predominantly we use the surfaces for hockey, but during the summer, we also have tennis, and in some circumstances we use it for cricket.”

“We use two pieces of SISIS equipment to maintain our synthetic surfaces – the SSS1000 Sweeper and the SISIS Twinplay Implement Frame, complete with a straight and zig-zag Brush.”

The SISIS SSS1000 is a tractor mounted sweeper which can be pulled by any machine. There are no tools required for the adjustment of the brush or the angle of the draw bar and to make storage easy the draw bar lifts to an upright position. With an aluminium hopper with stainless steel mesh, any infill that is collected when using the machine is returned back down to the surface leaving it free from contamination of debris.

“I am really impressed with the SSS1000,” says Tom. “Before we had it, we used to manually clean the synthetic surfaces using blowers, hand-held brushes and bags. At Bloxham we have a problem with ash seed falling onto the synthetic surfaces, and this is one of the main reasons we bought the SSS1000. Now we have it, it makes the job a lot quicker and it allows us to spend time on other tasks. We tend to use the sweeper before games and generally once a week just to pick up any organic foliage.”

The SISIS Twinplay tractor mounted implement frame can be fitted with several attachments for the maintenance of synthetic surfaces and Tom chooses to attach the SISIS straight brush and the SISIS zig-zag brush – which he claims “do exactly what they are supposed to.”

“We use the brushes at least three times a week and we use them to relieve compaction within the pile and to evenly disperse the sand over the surface of the pitch,” he added.

Synonymous with exceptionally dependable, durable equipment and an excellent after sales service, SISIS is the brand most groundsmen are turning to for all their synthetic turf maintenance – and Tom claims he wouldn’t hesitate to recommend the products.

“If SISIS is mentioned to me I think of high quality products that do the exact job they have been designed to do. We’ve never had any issues with them and they perform the tasks excellently that we require here at Bloxham.”

“I would recommend SISIS equipment to anyone maintaining synthetic surfaces, purely because they’re reliable and top performing products.”

For further information or a no obligation demonstration, please contact SISIS on 01332 824 777 or visit www.sisis.com

The answer for groundsmen?

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The answer for groundsmen? Artificial surface maintenance machinery is one of the fastest growing areas for SCH (Supplies) Ltd. Having worked with maintenance contractors and sports groundsmen over a number of years, SCH say they are producing more and more of these products and are flattered by the amount of interest they have received in them.

The answer for groundsmen?‘We are working very hard to keep up with demand,’ says managing director Andrew Rodwell. ‘What we’re noticing is that a lot of people in the industry are talking to each other about our products and recommending SCH to their friends and colleagues. ‘

Andrew puts this down to a number of things.

Firstly, the pricing of SCH sports maintenance machinery is such that it fills a gap between those clubs and associations with enormous budgets and the ones that don’t want low quality flat packed machines which may not make it to the end of the season.

Andrew says he spoke to someone at a small football club recently that told him; “it may be alright for the likes of Arsenal or Manchester United to buy from the big guys, but some of us have to work within a budget and it’s been a real relief to discover that SCH can deliver top notch machines without the heart-stopping price tag!”

Secondly, the company relish the challenge of adapting their standard machinery to suit the individual.

‘We’ve been making bespoke machines for years, and as a family company we understand that a one size fits all approach doesn’t work for everyone. So we make it clear to our potential customers that if we can make changes that will make their life easier, we’ll do it.’

Finally, Andrew says having their own parts department provides a lot of reassurance to their customers.

‘I know myself the frustration of buying something, needing a spare or replacement part after a few years, and then finding the company you purchased from aren’t remotely interested. At best, you may have to spend hours on the internet before finally locating somewhere in China or the USA and waiting an age for the part to be shipped – at worst, you may not find anything and could face the possibility of the item being deemed useless. At SCH, we can always help you with spare tines, replacement brushes or whatever you need. We’re just a phone call away.’

Wiedenmann Gives Scotscraig GC Additional Polish

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Extra Wide 3.95 m Wiedenmann Terra Brush Gives Scotscraig GC Additional Polish – A golf club celebrating its bicentenary this year has taken delivery of a double width Wiedenmann Terra Brush.

Wiedenmann Terra Brush Gives Scotscraig GC Additional Polish

Scotscraig Golf Club is the world’s 13th oldest course and was founded in 1817 by members of the St Andrews Society of Golfers. Just 15 minutes north of St Andrews, it features a championship course in a traditional loop, influenced firstly by Old Tom Morris and later by James Braid.

Course Manager, Chris Barnard, and his greenkeeping team of five have newly finished an intensive two year renovation project which reinstated many original features of the famous links and heathlands layout.

Chris Barnard said:  “We’ve wanted a brush for a while. Last year we improvised and fashioned one ourselves but it didn’t quite do the job.  We chose the Terra Brush with folding wings, and yellow bristles, the firmest ones, because it suited our situation best.

“Its arrival coincided with just 9mm of rain in nine weeks so we took immediate advantage of a dry course, though careful to avoid drought stressed turf.”

The Wiedenmann Terra Brush comes with four rows of bristles, two rows aligned perpendicular to the direction of travel and two in a zig zag formation, making it ideal for intensive and even brushing. On large area such as fairways, the wings can be deployed to extend the working width to 3.95 m.

“Stiff bristles help lift matted areas of the Sheep Fescue fairway sward as well as pulling out dead or dying foliage prior to mowing. In the last few weeks there’s been increasing amount of seeding on greens by the Annual Meadowgrass. We’ve brushed it to stand it up then immediately cut off as much as possible. The brushing has the added benefit of standing up any other lateral growth prior to mowing. Continual brushing means we remove the need to verticut almost completely, detrimental to our good grasses if done too frequently.” continued Chris Barnard.

“Here we have a predominantly Fescue and Bent sward and the bristles help to stand up the grass better and give it a more polished look. The brush will also be a valuable tool in spring, prior to growth starting, as we can use it to create definition around the fairways.”

The team at Scotscraig GC plans to groom all over with their new brush including tees and greens. Gareth Rogers, Area Sales Manager for Fairways GM, Wiedenmann UK’s dealer for Scotland, helped install the new Terra Brush.