After turning down a place at Cambridge University, Richard Kane went to Queen’s University where he studied mechanical and manufacturing engineering. While completing his degree, Richard and his father Noel took on an additional 400 acres of arable ground.
After graduating, Richard ran the farm for a number of years before gearing up his workforce. This allowed him to commit two days per week to the family’s famous trailer manufacturing business 12 miles down the road. There, he took up an admin role, which put him in charge of the business accounts, legislation, HR and the homologation for different countries. To this day, Richard still works one day per week in this same role.
“Although I was working in the family’s trailer manufacturing business, it wasn’t enough to quench my thirst for design", explained Richard.
Spreadpoint beginnings
After working hard sourcing suitable staff to help run the family’s 1,000 acre tillage farm, Richard got to the point where his staff hadn’t enough work to keep them busy in the shoulders of the year.
“Although I was working in the family’s trailer manufacturing business, it wasn’t enough to quench my thirst for design. We came to the conclusion that we could set up a microbusiness, with the aim of manufacturing small numbers of a niche product. With the strong connection between our trailer business and cutting silage, we initially looked at designing tedders and rakes. However, around the same time the likes of Malone and McHale launched similar products so that ruled that out”, explained Richard.
In the heel of the hunt, Richard decided to manufacture lime spreaders. “We were looking out for a lime spreader for our own arable farm. After taking a look at the market and what machines local agricultural contractors were using, we felt that there was a niche in the market for a robust, well-designed affordable lime spreader.”
This stone cart is a new product from Spreadpoint. It's almost finished the testing period and is set to hit the market very shortly.
Products
Carrying a wealth of engineering and manufacturing knowledge from the family’s trailer business, Richard began designing a lime spreader with the help of his father Noel. After building and fine-tuning two spreaders across a two-year period, Richard introduced the machine to the market last spring.
“After we built the lime spreader, our next product was a rotary dung spreader. Some might have said this was a U-turn, going from a niche product loaded with technology to a mass-produced simple machine, but it was a product my father used to build and something we regularly are asked about. We designed our machine different to the typical machine in the marketplace. It’s a five-axis spreader which I guarantee can be run with a £1 coin sitting on the mudguard it runs so smooth,” added Richard.
Richard exclusively revealed to the Irish Farmers Journal two products he has just developed. The first is a water bowser, designed for the professional tillage farmer to keep his/her sprayer going in the busy periods. The second is a stone cart, which is almost finished its testing period. Richard noted that both products have been sold and more are in the pipeline.
“In recent times, I have been approached to build a water bowser and a stone cart. The stone cart suits our business as we use many of the same components as what’s in our lime spreader. We have more new products in the pipeline.
“As our company name suggests, these will be to do with spreading and application. No matter what product it is, the big thing my father always told me was don’t put your name to something unless you can control the quality. This has been and will be my motto,” explained Richard.
This 12,000 litre water bowser is a new product, just released by Spreadpoint.
Markets
“I was very lucky that I had access to a pool of dealers through the family’s trailer business. We handpicked four dealers across the North of Ireland and throughout the UK that we knew had knowledge of similar machines. These guys have been doing a good job. However, I’m on the lookout for a dealer in the southeast of Ireland.”
“Outside of Ireland and the UK, I have one machine working in Norway. LAMMA was a great show for me to showcase my products. In recent months, I’ve had a lot of international enquires and I see a lot of opportunities. The coronavirus has set things back, but I’m currently in talks with importers from New Zealand, Australia and Germany,” explained Richard.
Future
“I started up the business to keep my farm staff busy during the shoulders of the year, but the business has gone really well so far and I see great potential to grow. In terms of my product portfolio, we are a bespoke engineering business. I’m going to cast the net on the market and see what bites. Who knows what I’ll be manufacturing in five years’ time?”
“One thing we’re currently investing a lot of time and money in is getting our lime spreaders geared up to spread fertiliser as accurately and as evenly as possible. It’s been our biggest challenge to date, but we’re getting there. I hope to see us being a serious competitor in the bulk fertiliser spreader market within the next three years. We’re now 15 months in business and have built 38 machines to date. I’m over the moon with that start.”
Profile
Business: Spreadpoint.Established: 6 January 2019.Managing director: Richard Kane.No of employees: 5.Address: Seaford, Co Down.Markets to date: Ireland, UK and Norway.
After turning down a place at Cambridge University, Richard Kane went to Queen’s University where he studied mechanical and manufacturing engineering. While completing his degree, Richard and his father Noel took on an additional 400 acres of arable ground.
After graduating, Richard ran the farm for a number of years before gearing up his workforce. This allowed him to commit two days per week to the family’s famous trailer manufacturing business 12 miles down the road. There, he took up an admin role, which put him in charge of the business accounts, legislation, HR and the homologation for different countries. To this day, Richard still works one day per week in this same role.
“Although I was working in the family’s trailer manufacturing business, it wasn’t enough to quench my thirst for design", explained Richard.
Spreadpoint beginnings
After working hard sourcing suitable staff to help run the family’s 1,000 acre tillage farm, Richard got to the point where his staff hadn’t enough work to keep them busy in the shoulders of the year.
“Although I was working in the family’s trailer manufacturing business, it wasn’t enough to quench my thirst for design. We came to the conclusion that we could set up a microbusiness, with the aim of manufacturing small numbers of a niche product. With the strong connection between our trailer business and cutting silage, we initially looked at designing tedders and rakes. However, around the same time the likes of Malone and McHale launched similar products so that ruled that out”, explained Richard.
In the heel of the hunt, Richard decided to manufacture lime spreaders. “We were looking out for a lime spreader for our own arable farm. After taking a look at the market and what machines local agricultural contractors were using, we felt that there was a niche in the market for a robust, well-designed affordable lime spreader.”
This stone cart is a new product from Spreadpoint. It's almost finished the testing period and is set to hit the market very shortly.
Products
Carrying a wealth of engineering and manufacturing knowledge from the family’s trailer business, Richard began designing a lime spreader with the help of his father Noel. After building and fine-tuning two spreaders across a two-year period, Richard introduced the machine to the market last spring.
“After we built the lime spreader, our next product was a rotary dung spreader. Some might have said this was a U-turn, going from a niche product loaded with technology to a mass-produced simple machine, but it was a product my father used to build and something we regularly are asked about. We designed our machine different to the typical machine in the marketplace. It’s a five-axis spreader which I guarantee can be run with a £1 coin sitting on the mudguard it runs so smooth,” added Richard.
Richard exclusively revealed to the Irish Farmers Journal two products he has just developed. The first is a water bowser, designed for the professional tillage farmer to keep his/her sprayer going in the busy periods. The second is a stone cart, which is almost finished its testing period. Richard noted that both products have been sold and more are in the pipeline.
“In recent times, I have been approached to build a water bowser and a stone cart. The stone cart suits our business as we use many of the same components as what’s in our lime spreader. We have more new products in the pipeline.
“As our company name suggests, these will be to do with spreading and application. No matter what product it is, the big thing my father always told me was don’t put your name to something unless you can control the quality. This has been and will be my motto,” explained Richard.
This 12,000 litre water bowser is a new product, just released by Spreadpoint.
Markets
“I was very lucky that I had access to a pool of dealers through the family’s trailer business. We handpicked four dealers across the North of Ireland and throughout the UK that we knew had knowledge of similar machines. These guys have been doing a good job. However, I’m on the lookout for a dealer in the southeast of Ireland.”
“Outside of Ireland and the UK, I have one machine working in Norway. LAMMA was a great show for me to showcase my products. In recent months, I’ve had a lot of international enquires and I see a lot of opportunities. The coronavirus has set things back, but I’m currently in talks with importers from New Zealand, Australia and Germany,” explained Richard.
Future
“I started up the business to keep my farm staff busy during the shoulders of the year, but the business has gone really well so far and I see great potential to grow. In terms of my product portfolio, we are a bespoke engineering business. I’m going to cast the net on the market and see what bites. Who knows what I’ll be manufacturing in five years’ time?”
“One thing we’re currently investing a lot of time and money in is getting our lime spreaders geared up to spread fertiliser as accurately and as evenly as possible. It’s been our biggest challenge to date, but we’re getting there. I hope to see us being a serious competitor in the bulk fertiliser spreader market within the next three years. We’re now 15 months in business and have built 38 machines to date. I’m over the moon with that start.”
Profile
Business: Spreadpoint.Established: 6 January 2019.Managing director: Richard Kane.No of employees: 5.Address: Seaford, Co Down.Markets to date: Ireland, UK and Norway. 
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