Below are some articles that have been printed about Hansa and our products:
Looking Chipper — Article from: Outdoor Power Equipment Magazine, June 2011
Green Chip Investment — Article from: Central Today, June / July 2010
Hansa goes 'Stainless' — Article from: Outdoor Power Equipment Magazine, June 2010
Chippers make light work — Article From: Manawatu Standard, March 2008
Success the old fashoined way — Article From: Farm Trader, Issue 94, 20 January – 13 February 2005 Lifestyle Machinery Feature
Precision made in Hamilton — Article From: Farm Trader, Issue 98, 16 May – 12 June 2005 National Fieldays Feature
Built to last — Article From: Deals On Wheels, Issue 139, 9 May – 19 June 2005 Fieldays Preview
Looking Chipper
New from Hansa Products at Fieldays 2011, the C110 Brush Chipper has a maximum branch capacity of 300mm. This chipper has an 110HP Perkins diesel engine and is fitted standard with hydraulic winch and hydraulic lift and crush feedroller for high throughput. With a 360° rotating swivel / pivot outlet chute, discharge direction & height can be changed within seconds. The C110 has a 480mm wide feed opening, making it suitable for dealing with bushy branches and an Auto feed controller that monitors engine RPM and controls feed to suit.
Green Chip Investment
If you take a man with vision, drive and industrial expertise and put him in a honey shed, he will grow a business. This is exactly the case with Manfred Vogel, co-owner and operator of Hansa Products.
Designing and manufacturing brush chippers for garden enthusiasts, lifestyle block owners, arborists, councils, contractors and the New Zealand market in general, Hansa Products was born from humble beginnings.
Today, its precision engineered brush chippers are among those heralded as the best in the business. Living by its motto “Born to chip; built to last,” Hansa Products is celebrating 30 years in 2010.
A chip off the old block
It was a sweet beginning for Hansa Products. Founded in a honey shed on the outskirts of Hamilton in 1980, the business has undoubtedly outgrown the confines of its original place of establishment, but has retained the core values and specialist expertise which gave it life in the first place.
A German immigrant's response to the growing need for mulching machinery in the 1980s, Hansa Products has been built on a foundation of industrial knowledge.
After settling here in 1977, Manfred Vogel drew on his ingenuity and mechanical engineering expertise to formulate suitable machinery for gardeners and orchardists who were recognising the organic value of recycling waste.
While much has changed for the business since its inception with regard to its professional capacity and premise, the company's core asset, its owner, still remains. New lifeblood has also been introduced into the business mix with Manfred Vogel's son, Martin Vogel, succeeding his father as managing director. It's an “M&M” combo, you could say of the Vogel team.
Following in the footsteps of his father and earning a mechanical engineering degree, Martin Vogel has a natural gift of the gab for business management and a pre-disposition for the trade inherited from his father.
Hansa Products is a business where the theory “looks can be deceiving” is more than apt. Because while the business is a highly capable and competitive entity, the Vogel's are in the company of just a small team of welders, assemblers and subcontractors who supply specific material when required. “We're a small team, but we're efficient,” Martin Vogel says.
The Hansa difference
As a small business participating in a niche market, Hansa Products has gained professional momentum with the growing consumer trend to engage more environmentally friendly practises.
“In the past, burning and dumping rubbish was the general way of thinking, but this has changed over the course of time as more people become conscious about the environmental effects of these practises,” Vogel explains.
Throughout its operation, Hansa Products has endeavoured to keep pace with evolving consumer wants and needs. It has developed a simple and logical cutting principle which Vogel credits as a key ingredient to the efficiency of the machinery. “It's like a big bean slicer,” he offers as a humourous simplification of the process.
This innovative cutting system is part of the company's commitment to manufacturing the best quality and functioning machinery. “Manufacturing the best is particularly important when you are in competition with mass produced products and market importers.”
On the research and development front, Manfred Vogel is still actively involved in the conceptualisation of new generation machinery and Martin Vogel says the small structure of the company is advantageous because innovation can be brought to market rapidly.
“Developing new products is a continuous process for us and our business size is an advantage in this respect, because once we think of something, we can set about getting it into the market very quickly,” he explains.
Working with the best technology and industry experts including reputable steel fabrication firm Stainless Design, Vogel says the benefits attached to Hansa Product's smaller machinery lies in their unmatched features, which are a hybrid of Hansa and sub-contracted expertise.
Vogel says high discharge and self-feeding attributes integrated into the brush chippers offer a combination of functionality and quality for consumers.
In addition, the company only utilises reputable Honda engines in its machinery and sources quality wheels, pulleys and bearings for the machinery construction.
With smaller products sold to dealerships and larger machines generally sold direct to the public, Hansa Products also has machinery manufactured under licence in Australia . But no matter the manufacture location, Hansa products are precision engineered and built to specification.
The big 30
Although Vogel and his father are humble about the success and resilience of the business, their attitude is that customer testimonials do the talking, along with the operation's longevity.
This year marks 30 years of Hansa Products serving the New Zealand market and despite the company having no concrete plans for celbration, the year will be event-filled. Hansa Products will be releasing a new generation of machinery in 2010 and while these products will retain the fundamental features of former models, they will have new aesthetic appeal and be manufactured more cost efficiently. “It's about keeping ahead in design and having a fresh start with intellectual property — something which is really important in our market,” Vogel says.
This new generation machinery will include a new 12 inch log capacity, 108 horsepower diesel-powered brush chipper, which will eclipse Hansa's existing nine inch machinery. “We are looking to have this on the market in the next 6-12 months,” Vogel says.
“When you are developing a new product like this you have to build a prototype first and test it for several months before you can look at marketing it. We are in this stage at the moment.”
The 2010 New Zealand National Agricultural Fieldays event will also be a significant marketing opportunity for the business. Running from June 16-19 at Mystery Creek, the event will give Hansa Products the opportunity to exhibit its range. “Because all of our competitors are there, customers can actually directly compare our products and make a decision that's right for them. It is a great opportunity for customers to see our product in the flesh.”
Choose Hansa
So, besides the innovative nature of the machinery, why choose Hansa Products? “Because they are made very, very well,” Vogel says with pride.
Thirty years of solid operation is certainly testament to that. In fact, Vogel jokes that their durability and quality is almost a double-edged sword, because the machinery lasts so long and does not often need replacing, means repeat business can be a case of few and far between.
Vogel says most business sales are through customer referrals, which confirms that people trust the Hansa Product brand. “Most of our sales are through word-of-mouth and of course, in time, machinery becomes obsolete, so people will replace what they have. “A lot of repeat business is also through commercial businesses like Hirepool.”
With its 30 th birthday on the horizon, Vogel says he and his father's appreciation of how far the business has come is not taken for granted. “We have enjoyed seeing the business grow and to watch it move in the direction it is going. There is so much satisfaction for us as we do the whole process ourselves from the development to the manufacturing, sales and receipt of feedback.
“For the future, we will continue to focus on core quality which is so important when you are competing in a world market. “It's not about getting all the customers because you won't always be able to. It's about retaining a marketshare and playing your part in what is really a niche market.”
Hansa goes ‘Stainless’
Hansa is celebrating its 30th birthday this year by upgrading its manufacturing process. It is now using the Stainless design company and machines are being modeled by computer. They now also feature tabbed design.
The company is not content to rest long on its laurels though and company founder, Manfred Vogel, is now working on the design of a 12-inch chipper with 108HP engine. Though still in the design stages, work is progressing quickly and this new model will be available for purchase in September.
To support the release, the company is launching a television advertising champagne, which will initially air on Prime in August.
Chippers Make Light Work
Hansa Products was born out of a honey shed on the outskirts of Hamilton and has grown to be New Zealand's only manufacturer of quality brush chippers. It is a family owned and operated business, with father and son working together to design, manufacture and sell the Hansa chippers to the New Zealand market.
Hansa's products start with Model C6, which is perfect for lifestyle blocks or larger gardens. These chippers are easy to operate and have a history of reliability. The machines are designed with quality in mind, from the construction of the machine through to the installation of the Honda engine that powers it.
Models C9 and C16 are widely used in the hire industry, and by orchards and smaller contracting businesses that need medium sized machines. They come with various options, including road towable or PTO tractor mounted options.
Hansa's gravity feed machines feature a “self-feeding” action, making the chippers user-friendly. The company also designs and manufactures brush chippers for arborists, councils, and contractors.
Hansas Models C30 and C60 feature wide in-feed openings, 6in by 12in and 9in by 15in. Maintenance and servicing is also an important consideration in the design of these machines.
Success - the 'Old-Fashioned' Way
Richard Bentley profiles the Hansa brand – hand made in Hamilton
Pick up a garden chipper or shredder from your local machinery hire center and chances are that the machine will carry the brand name Hansa . It is no coincidence that hire companies prefer Hansa chippers – they are robust, do their job well and require little maintenance.
Delve a little further into the Hansa brand and you will find that they produce eight sizes to suit a variety of users, from home garden enthusiasts to lifestyle block owners, orchardists to contractors. Options include trailer units, and being powered by their own engine or driven by a tractor PTO.
With such superior performance from their range of models you might think that Hansa is a substantial company with a team of designers and large precision engineering workshops, but you would be wrong. Hansa is a modest family business based in Hamilton , and the design and precision engineering expertise are all due to its founder, Manfred Vogel.
With a degree in mechanical engineering and experience in machine shops in Germany , Manfred had no difficulty finding work when he came to New Zealand in 1977. However, large engineering companies are sometimes reluctant to take risks, and that can be frustrating for innovators like him.
In the 1980's, gardeners and orchardists began to realise that organic wastes could be recycled into valuable compost if only they could be mulched, and there was a growing demand for chippers and shredders but no suitable machines on the market. In his spare time at home, Manfred Vogel worked on a shredder design, and then built a prototype in a friend's workshop.
“I could see the overseas trend coming and yet nobody here was interested in making shredders, so in 1981 I left my job and started to make them myself,” he says. “ My in-laws had a lifestyle block with some old sheds at the back, and that's where we started. Overheads were very low and we ploughed all the money we generated back into the business. Within 18 months we were able to buy premises and move into Hamilton .”
Vogel worked most of the time on his own, with occasional help, and after a few years he started contracting out more work just to keep up with the demand. But by then the competition had noticed him and started coming into the market.
“The bigger companies started bringing in small shredders, and at first I though it would be impossible to compete against them and their large financial resources,” says Manfred. “But we went up-market and made better machines that were easier to maintain and had a superior design, and over the last 23 years it seems to have worked out quite well – we have managed to earn a better reputation than the imported machines.”
One disadvantage of working on your own is not having someone to use as a sounding board for new ideas. Recently that has changed in the Hansa workshop. Manfred's daughter Heidi joined him in the business 18 months ago, and his son Martin started in November. Both have degrees in mechanical engineering, and both are keen to learn from their father's workshop and entrepreneurial skills.
Manfred's old-fashioned business sense has meant that the company hand makes many of its components in small numbers whereas his competitors probably make them in thousands at a much lower cost.
“With new technology you can often overcome this,” explains Vogel. “Our advantage has always been in better design and in lower distribution costs. By offering our machines direct to customers we bypass all the extra marketing expenses that large companies face and this makes us quite competitive.”
Precision Made in Hamilton
By Richard Bentley
Pick up a garden chipper from your local machinery hire center and chances are that the machine will carry the brand name Hansa.
Delve a little further into the Hansa brand and you will find that they produce eight sizes to suit a variety of users, from home garden enthusiasts to lifestyle block owners, orchardists and contractors. Options include trailer units, and being powered by their own engine or driven by a tractor PTO.
With such superior performance from their range of models you might think that Hansa is a substantial company with a team of designers and large precision engineering workshops, but you would be wrong. Hansa is a modest family business based in Hamilton , and the design and precision engineering expertise are all due to its founder, Manfred Vogel.
He started his business in the 1980s when gardeners and orchardists began to realise that organic wastes would be recycled into valuable compost if only they could be mulched, and there was a growing demand for chippers and shredders but no suitable machines on the market. In his spare time at home, Vogel worked on a shredder design, and then built a prototype in a friends workshop.
“I could see the overseas trend coming and yet nobody here was interested in making shredders, so in 1981 I left my job and started to make them myself,” he says.
He designed his brush chippers to be functional and easy to use. They had to be compact and robust with a quality finish, but also easily maintained. Despite competition from large companies importing light equipment, the Hansa brand established itself as the most reliable option.
“We went up-market and made better machines that were easier to maintain and had a superior design, and over the last 23 years it seems to have worked out well – we have managed to earn a better reputation than the imported products,” says Manfred.
Manfred has new been joined in business by his children, Heidi and Martin, who are also qualified mechanical engineers, and, together, they are increasing the range of chippers.
On its stand, Hansa will have a range of models, including the C6 designed for domestic use, and the more powerful C9 in road trailer, standard and PTO versions. C30, ideal for the commercial contractor.
Built to Last
Hansa brush chippers are robust and require little maintenance By Richard Bentley
Precision engineered and built to exacting specifications, Hansa chippers come in a variety of sizes to suit contractors, orhardists, arborists, landscapers and other heavy-duty users. Options include trailer units, and being powered by their own engine or driven by a tractor PTO.
One of the units that will feature at the fieldays is the C25H model. It will process branches up to 150mm in diameter into quality 11mm wood chip of an even size for composting, but is also ideal for ground cover in gardens and parks, and on steep slopes for erosion control.
The C25H is easy to use – its powerful hydraulic feed system pulls in brushy, twisted and even forked branches without effort. The draught action of the rotor blows chips into any size of truck or stockpile, and the rotating outlet chute means that the discharge direction can be changed in seconds.