Coventry-based Sarginsons Industries has been commissioned by Irish firm MagGrow to manufacture a manifold that can be retrofitted onto crop sprayers to make them more targeted and reduce waste.
Sarginsons has an order to supply around 200 units, with the potential for around 1,000 a year. It is the latest project for Sarginsons’ Design for Manufacture Technology Centre, which was established in 2019 to support manufacturers from the product concept through to production.
MagGrow is a patented technology for droplet formation that is said to yield drift reduction of more than 70% and increased spray coverage performance ranging from 36% to over 100% compared to conventional spraying. As well as the two core benefits of drift control and coverage, MagGrow is also said to reduce water by up to 50%, extend spray windows and reduce labour requirements.
Gavin Shipley, Sarginsons Technology Centre manager, says: “The manifold we are making for MagGrow is quite complex – with the body requiring a two-part diecast solution under very high pressure. We have worked with Ceracon, a German company with a base in Leamington, to develop the manifold and it is a partnership that has worked extremely well.
“MagGrow can see very strong potential for this product, especially as the statistics on water waste reduction and lowering the spread of pesticides are so impressive, and that would mean a good pipeline of orders for Sarginsons.
“The fact that this is another product that has environmental benefits is another factor that is very important to us as a business so, all in all, this is a very exciting development for Sarginsons.”
The new contract follows on from Sarginsons’ contract with Char.gy, which has seen the company developing bollards that can be fitted to lampposts to turn them into electric vehicle charging points.