Page 78-79 - CIO_Dec2011_FINAL

78 79
CANADIAN INDUSTRY ONLINE - DECEMBER 2011
A t that time, there was only one manufacturer of tree spades, and the
nursery’s tree transplanting needs began to exceed this manufacturer’s
capabilities. When the nursery was shut down during the winter
months, the company began to design, develop and manufacture its own tree
spade. And so, in the early 1980s, Dutchman Industries was born, and with it, the
Dutchman Tree Spade. Today, the product represents the industry standard for
tree equipment throughout North America.
In the early 1990s, when the housing
market in Canada crashed, the company
decided to step up its product marketing.
CEO Tillaart says: “We started doing
tradeshows and marketing our product. The
customers that owned them were our sales
force. It took off.”
Within three years Dutchman Industries
became the leader in the business of
manufacturing tree spades. And business
was great – 10% of what was sold stayed in
Canada and the rest went overseas. The
company went from five models to 100
models.
The truck spades are designed to tackle
both the largest and the smallest jobs. In fact,
it was the company’s goal to manufacture
large truck spades, but it was not enough to
produce what was the industry standard at
the time. Dutchman Industries addressed
common issues in the truck spade industry,
such as tall towers, small frames and weak
blades.
Designed to meet all conditions at all
times, the products use state-of-the-art
technology, computerized sketches, and
stress analysis to build a sleek, compact,
reliable unit. It developed methods to cold
form blades, making them stronger than the
original AR450 material used. Dutchman
Industries designed new methods and
placement for support ribs, and added
scraper plates to keep the soil from sticking.
This now allows the user to wire basket trees
without any obstruction on the outside of the
blades.
After the blades were
strengthened, the compa-
ny focused its attention
on shortening the overall
height of the spade itself.
Many users have com-
plained that their conven-
tional spades cannot get
under the canopy of the
tree. In order to combat
this issue, it had to first
redesign the conventional
way a cylinder operates. The end result was
a new patented, multi-stage cylinder that
does not have any oil displacement issues or
side-load concerns. The speed is consistent
throughout its stroke and has the power to
get the blades in the ground. These cylinders
allow Dutchman Industries to build much
shorter towers than its competitors.
The organisation also wanted to address
concerns around how the blade is supported
on the tower. Rather than guiding the blades
on narrow track like other companies,
Dutchman Industries use the face of the
tower itself. The surface area of the slider is
many times larger than the small interior
rails. The interior support ribs are also used
to mount the blades to the slider housing.
The width of these ribs is more than double
the competition, therefore holding the blade
at a much wider position. The blades are
pulled down the tower by the trunnion-
mounted cylinder in the centre of the slider
box. The position is the most favourable as it
is in line with the direction of the tracking
system.
The company also aimed to address the
constant concern of little operating space
within the frame of the spade. It created a
completely circular frame that has plenty of
room inside to accommodate wide, low-
branching trees. All frames are structurally
much stronger than frames that are pieced
together using hollow tubes and flat bar. The
gates were made taller and have replaceable