Torquay, west of Melbourne in Victoria, is well known for its surf beaches, so it is the last place you would expect to be overrun by rabbits!

One of our customers, a keen gardener, had gone to a lot of trouble rabbit-proof fencing his five-acre property at Torquay, but the rabbits were still getting in. They were sneaking in underneath his gate and making a mess of his garden.

The customer wanted to know if a Bump Gate would work in his situation, as they have been successful in keeping pets and livestock in, including small pets.  We explained what he could do to ensure it would keep out his troublesome four-legged visitors.

One part of the solution was to reduce the gap below his gate by fixing weld mesh to the bottom rail. The other was to move one of his posts to make the gap between the gate and the posts narrower than usual. This process involved a bit of work, but it was worth it in the end to close off this last point of access to the persistent rabbits and allow his garden to grow!

Over the years, Bump Gates Australia has strived to continually improve its products and service. From humble beginnings in 1999, manufacturing a standard mechanical gate opener/closer for timber posts for the Australian market, we received enquiries from USA where they commonly use larger diameter steel pipe for their gate frames. So we adapted components to fit the larger frames and commenced sales into the US and Canadian markets.

Meanwhile there had been a significant increase in the numbers of four wheel drives on Australian roads and the need for a Bump Gate model to suit these vehicles became obvious. As 4WDs are higher off the ground, they were putting pressure on the top part of the Bump Arm only. This was solved by bracing the top of the Bump Arm and we commenced supplying heavy-duty Bump Gate kits within Australia and internationally. These models now comprise around 80% of all sales.

Conversations with customers in western Queensland and the Northern Territory led to the next development. We became more aware of the extent of their termite problem which prevented them using timber posts. Consequently, we developed fittings for steel hinge posts. Although Bump Gates for timber posts are still more popular, kits to fit steel posts are also well received in the market today.

Unexpectedly, we were approached about using Bump Gates to prevent wildlife crossing aeroplane runways. This resulted in a small but significant improvement to all Bump Gates.  New Bottom Offset components were manufactured specifically for fixing Bump Gate kits to the higher steel mesh gates around airfields. Subsequently we realised that the new Bottom Offsets would improve gate operation on all models and they became a standard item in every kit.

A thorny problem we wrestled with a few years ago, was how to reduce the length of the Centrebar component, as it made the packaged kits awkward to carry. We were mindful that our customers were having to cope with this when they received products, as were those in the distribution chain. We finally overcame the engineering hurdle for our desired solution of shipping the Centrebar in sections. Simultaneously, we worked with our carton supplier to develop a box that is smaller, stronger, quick to assemble and requires less fastening. Nowadays the kits are much easier to handle and easily fit into car boots/trunks.

During 2016, we made changes to the production process for the Bottom Offset and Delay Catch components, resulting in an improvement to the quality of the finished components and their longevity.

With other developments on the agenda this year, we are continually looking for innovative ways to improve our products and service to better meet our customer’s needs.