THERE's a sign.

But you have to throw a left (coming from Wongan Hills) before you hit the main drag and then negotiate a bush track before a clearing reveals you've reached your destination.

That briefly describes our recent trip to Beacon where the assignment was to catch up with Peter Munns, director of TSI Beacon at his SCUD Factory.

Farm Weekly met Peter shortly after he set up a business in a shed on Beacon's main street in 1998 after successfully using his home-made chemical mixer called a SCUD on the family farm north of the town, connected to Enviro Drums.

"A neighbour heard about it and wanted one and basically that's how it started," Peter said.

"It took off throughout Beacon and surrounding districts and now I'm selling to the Eastern States and New Zealand."

His business is called TSI for a reason - Time Saver Industries - but it also could be called Totally Safe Industries because tighter safety regulations is one of the drivers of Peter's business.

He correctly identified safety when he designed the SCUD, which allows the operator to fill a boomsprayer without spilling either chemical or water on the ground.

According to Peter this is an important point because one of the main sources of in-cab contamination can come from the operator's boots.

"But if the ground is dry and stays dry where you fill up, then the chances of in-cab contamination and fumes, is greatly reduced," he said.

"When I started there still was a lot of manual pouring of chemicals into buckets and tanks and I'm surprised it's still going on today in some industries.

"But in general there's a better focus on having a system in place to safely transfer chemicals.

"With duty of care requirements, councils and farmers are very aware of ensuring equipment meets safety standards for their staff."

According to Peter, the SCUD system measures chemical volumetrically and is the ideal unit for Enviro Drums, providing a safe, enclosed system.

It is available in sizes from 60-200 litres and also can be used to induct granular chemicals at a rate of 50 kilograms per minute via suction from the boomsprayer pump or venturi.

It also can be used as a seed dressing system and the latter use has led to Peter building a stand-alone system of five main models.

The self-contained unit is mounted on a trolley and is used in conjunction with an auger to deliver product as grains travel up the auger.

He is exporting these models, including supplying Coonawarra Wineries in South Australia - a fact that will encourage Torque to see the models in action for himself.

Another popular product is the 350 litre self-contained SCUD mixer which is capable of mixing liquids and granular fertilisers.

"It allows spray operators to fill on their own and is a very safe and efficient way of also filling a nurse tank," Peter said.

With prospects of increased growth he is planning to build another shed as he has also become the local supplier of parts for machinery along with some general lines such as piping and "bits and pieces like hose clamps and nuts and bolts and belting".

To add to a busy workload he is entering the world of OEM - original equipment manufacturer - to supply major brand self-propelled boomsprayers with SCUD systems.

"When I started out I just wanted to help people to handle chemicals more safely and over the years I've made small tweaks to adapt the SCUD to different uses on farms, councils, vineyards, golf courses, etc.

"It has been a very rewarding business and I see the SCUD as the start of a system to make everything safer."

Peter employs five people at the moment and is looking for a full-time sprayer operator for his contract spraying business, which is still going strong since he started it in 1999.