Shelbourne Reynolds Engineering Ltd
Since 1972 when Keith Shelbourne purchased the business assets of Reynolds Engineering Ltd and formed Shelbourne Reynolds Engineering Ltd, Shelbourne Reynolds has been designing and manufacturing farm machinery in Suffolk, England. We are all very proud of this remarkable achievement which is credited to the company philosophy of using the best technology available to produce technologically advanced, top quality, highly durable farm machinery. Shelbourne Reynolds commitment to innovation has leant itself well to the export market with over half of production being exported to over 50 countries worldwide.
Company details
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- Business Type:
- Manufacturer
- Industry Type:
- Crop Cultivation
- Market Focus:
- Globally (various continents)
- Year Founded:
- 1972
About Us
The business is operated from two main locations, the main manufacturing facility in Stanton, Suffolk and the US Distribution centre in Colby Kansas.
The 110,000 square foot factory on a 5 acre site is in rural Stanton near Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England and currently employs 140 people and utilizes some of the most sophisticated manufacturing equipment including: CNC machine centres, laser steel cutting machines and one of the UK’s largest powder coat paint facilities. Most of the products currently manufactured are machines that originated in our own design office and have been evolved and improved.
A very high proportion of the manufacturing is done in house including all machining and gear cutting, this means that specific drives can be manufactured for specific applications rather than compromising on a mass produced 'off the shelf' drive. Accountability is very much a keyword in the Shelbourne manufacturing philosophy.
Shelbourne Reynolds Inc
The Kansas base was established in 1996 and serves as a sales office, machine storage facility and parts distribution centre. It supports all of Shelbourne’s customers in the USA and Canada. A team of mobile field support people spend most of the harvesting season in the field supporting customers and dealers.
Shelbourne stripper headers were first sold in the US in 1990 in Kentucky. The concept quickly gained acceptance and sales took off. Initial sales were of 20 foot machines mostly in the Eastern states where the benefits of a fast, early harvest coupled with the benefits of planting soybeans straight back into the stripped straw were quickly recognized. Machines were at the same time gaining acceptance in the rice growing states of Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi and Missouri. Here the benefits in terms of harvesting productivity were enormous.
The first 20 foot header sold in Kansas in 1993, was mainly as a disaster recovery tool to assist with harvest after hail storms had ripped through the wheat belt and laid large areas of crop on the ground. A 28 foot header was introduced in 1995 and once again sales surged of the wider machine as Western wheat belt farmers started to recognise the benefits of the stripped straw in their No-Till farming systems. It was at this point it was determined that a regional base was needed in order to provide parts and service advice to customers.
Colby, Kansas was chosen as a location due to its geographical position at the center of the wheat belt and due to its interstate and rail links.
2001 saw the introduction of the wider still CVS32 foot machine, this represented a significant step forward with a variable speed drive and 32 foot width.
Many larger American rice farmers have turned to stripper headers to boost their productivity. The RSD rice header was introduced in 2002 and features a fixed speed belt drive; this enabled more power to be transmitted to the rotor and greater output in adverse crop conditions. The RSD32 was introduced in 2007 and coupled with new class 8 combines is setting unprecedented levels in productivity.
Despite the success of the CVS32 there was still strong interest for a wider machine. Preliminary testing started in 2010 of a new generation 42 foot machine. After several years of testing in Australia and North America the XCV range was launched, this featured 3 models, the XCV32, XCV36 and XCV42. All XCV models are centre mounted on the combine feeder house making them suitable for Controlled Traffic Farming applications. XCV machines also incorporate a spring loaded lateral tilting adaptor plate and spring loaded gauge wheels to allow the header to follow ground contours independently of the combine.
Sales continue to grow as the stripper header becomes an increasingly accepted part of a dryland farming No-Till farming system.