Awesome Earthmovers recently caught up with sales director for Ulrich Attachments, Josh Copeland, along with David Lloyd, general manager at its large steel fabrication sister company LCR Engineering, to reveal the ‘secrets’ of its continuing success and growth.
Ulrich, based in Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, initially began manufacturing a range of High Tip and general purpose buckets before adding loader arms, telescopic dippers and other bespoke attachments, in addition to winches, forks and couplers, for a variety of sectors, including agriculture, waste and recycling, construction and demolition.
Josh, who previously worked as an account and sales manager at Ulrich for four years up until 2021, became sales director in 2024, having gained almost two decades of experience in the construction industry. He is focused on driving business development and growing client relationships along with the company’s wider sales team.
So to what does he attribute the success of the company which supplies customers across the UK and Ireland and farther afield in Europe and the Middle East? He says there are many elements, not least the bespoke approach to the business, which enables it to meet the precise needs of its customers.
Customer feedback vital
“Our USP is having the ability to produce anything that the customer needs for a particular application. Understanding the specific requirements of a client is vital to ensure we provide the right product,” says Josh. “We also take on board all of our customers’ feedback when designing our products, to ensure they are fit for purpose.”
To that end, the company maintains a close relationship with clients, dealers and OEMs who include JCB, Caterpillar, Hitachi, Liebherr, Volvo, Case Construction, Komatsu and Liugong. In addition, it also regularly conducts site surveys after which its after sales and design team visits sites to assess the condition of equipment, and provide recommendations for potential upgrades or new products.
“Getting out on site helps us to understand what our products will be used for and in what sort of environment they will be utilised. The more information we can gather to feed back to our designers and engineers, the better placed we are to satisfy any client’s needs,” says Josh.
“We might only be talking about a bucket or other frontend attachment, but it is the most important part of the machine because it moves material, so it needs to be done in a reliable, productive and efficient way.”
UK manufacturing facilities
All of Ulrich’s products are manufactured in the UK, working closely with sister company LCR Engineering, both part of the UTS Group. LCR’s 65,000 sq ft facility in Hull provides a fully-equipped one-stop-shop, offering fabrication, stress relieving, high precision machining, load testing, shot blast and paint and assembly, as we discovered during our visit.
We met David Lloyd, LCR’s general manager, who has been with the company for the past five years. “We are an Execution Class 3 company qualified to work on not only bespoke fabrications for Ulrich, but on safety-critical structural steelwork for the likes of bridges and high-rise buildings,” explained David.
A business holding certification to BS EN ISO 9001:2015 QMS (Quality Management System) and to BS EN 1090 Execution Class 3 standard, means they have the qualified personnel, processes and controls. This certification ensures their steel structures and fabrication processes meet the highest standards for strength, quality and safety - and they have a robust factory production control system that manages all aspects of production, from customer contact to final quality checks.
“We also have a RISQS accreditation (Rail Industry Suppliers Qualification Scheme) to manufacture steel fabrications, from safety fences and gantries to bridges. Our certification to the UK rail industry supply chain ensures LCR Engineering meets high standards of safety, quality and compliance for our fabrications,” says David.
“We are a one-stop-shop steel fabrications company with the latest state-of-the art equipment, including a 12m plasma and gas profiling machine which enables us to profile up to 150mm-thick steel plates. We also have a 410-tonne press brake to turn out any shape or form, in addition to mobile drilling stations, CNC machines, and a vertical boring machine, and we have our own shot blasting bays as well as two spray units, all of which help us evolve from a flat plate into a finished product,” says David.
“We have a very knowledgeable and experienced workforce here. Some have been with us since they were apprentices, so they know how to turn out high quality products.”
Additional warranties
All of that, of course, means that Ulrich customers can be assured of getting the very best products on the market, which are offered with warranties of up to five years.
“People are looking for longevity and better value, so we also provide additional warranties, and regular service inspections,” says Josh.
Not only that, clients are assured of the highest standards of after sales support, which includes a nationwide repair service for customers whose attachments require maintenance and repairs. Where necessary, a replacement attachment is provided on a loan basis if the repair is taking longer than expected.
Minimising downtime
The company’s highly experienced warehouse staff have decades of experience and are ready to assist in quickly sourcing any spare parts that may be needed by customers to keep their businesses up and running.
“Customers don’t like unnecessary or costly downtime, especially in these tough trading environments, so our service engineers respond accordingly, working together as a team with our after sales and parts departments, to minimise any potential for disruption to our customer’s business,” says Josh.
“As to the future, while we predominately supply attachments to the construction, and waste and recycling industries, we are looking to spread our wings into the agricultural sector and more into quarrying, rental fleets and railways. As machines are getting faster, stronger and heavier, we are also constantly refining our portfolio of products. We are always looking to introduce more solutions and products to serve our ever-changing and expanding customer base.”