BAS Manufacturing was originally founded by Archie Short in 1928 as Rewiti Farm Ltd. Working with his son Bruce, his business provided contracting and transport services to agricultural and rural communities.
Bruce Short was eventually to become the company director as Rewiti Farm evolved to become BAS Manufacturing (BAS); and thanks to his inventiveness BAS gained a reputation for real innovation in the field of contractor attachments.
Aside from Earthmoving and Contracting, Bruce was responsible for significant innovations in the field of heavy Transport Trailers. He developed light-weight container trailers, crouching trucks and trailers and pioneered air-suspension in New Zealand.
There were a number of unique ideas, which made significant inroads within the contracting industry at the time of their creation, including the original Post Driver attachment invented in 1960.
Perhaps BAS' most important development regarding Earthmoving Attachments was in double-ram tilt-buckets in 1998 later developing into tilt-hitches. They tilt from the force of two single acting displacement rams hydraulically locking against each other, a design concept unique to BAS. These robust tilt-hitches with their 90 degree range were a world-first in the way of tilting couplers, providing added flexibility and extended application for Earthmoving machinery.
Bruce Short's designs in the 1980s and 1990s also allowed for further development of the Tree-Splitter, Concrete Cruncher, Stump Grinder and Dipper Arm extensions.
BAS operated from new production facilities in Wiri from 2004 for almost 5 years where, with involvement and investment from lawyer and successful businessman Graham Smolenski, BAS created a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility - investing heavily in automation and streamlined systems.
It supplied both custom products and a range of standard Earth Moving Equipment products to the New Zealand market.
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