NEW INNOVATORS - MULTIHOG.COMDIFFICULTIES FINDING a machine capable of cutting grass on steep slopes around the village of Carlingford, Co Louth, prompted a father and daughter to set up a business.

Ruth McAdam says her father Jim, who worked with Moffett Engineering in Monaghan until it was sold in 1998, decided to use his experience to set up a design and manufacturing firm to build a suitable machine.

“Before we started, we spent a lot of time on the road in Ireland, the UK and Europe, looking and testing different machines, talking to suppliers and contractors to see what was available and, more importantly, what was required. We showed them our plans and drawings.”

The feedback was that existing multi-purpose machines were either too large or too small or limited to specific tasks.

“With money tight, people didn’t want one machine for a specific application, they wanted a machine to perform many tasks, something to be used all year.” They built a prototype in 2008 and, following redesign tweaks based on industry feedback, launched Multihog at a UK trade show last September.

It is targeted at the highway maintenance and local authority sector and can cut grass on rough ground or slopes with a 30 degree incline, cut hedges, snowplough, grit roads and street sweep. It has a 40km/h top speed. The chassis is based around a pivot mechanism for manoeuvrability.

The company has 15 orders and is hoping to reach a target of 50 by the end of year.

All manufacturing and design is carried out at Dundalk – bucking a trend of manufacturing moving out of Ireland – where the firm employs 19 people. It has filed patents on two sections of the machine.