Irrigation Components International
Founded in 1984, Irrigation Components International (ICI) is the world’s largest distributor of Center Pivot irrigation components and spare parts sales. From gearboxes and center drives, to sprinkler packages, and alignment controls, the company has provided irrigation parts to dealers, distributors, and OEM’s for over 30 years. Their Hydrus electrical shop, a UL listed manufacturing unit located in Daphne, AL provides main panels, tower controls, and remote pivot control systems for all major brands of center pivot.
Irrigation Components International has been a client of the University of Alabama’s International Trade Center (AITC), part of the Alabama SBDC Network, since 1996 receiving regular notices on upcoming international trade workshops as well as counseling, export market reports and presentations on pertinent trade topics over the years.
The company is very fortunate to have an internal team of 3 highly skilled international trade experts, Toni Travers, Miguel Cejas and Dara Steele, who work tirelessly to navigate export requirements and to meet the expectations of some of the world’s most demanding clients. They partner with the AITC if questions cannot be answered internally or to obtain additional
Irrigation Components has benefited from many services offered by the SBDC:
- Market research
- Counseling (particularly related to Letters of Credit, licensing requirements, credit insurance and best practices)
- Networking and qualified sales leads
- Technical training: Export compliance, INCOTERMs, international marketing, website evaluation, etc.
- Inclusion in and support during trade missions (preparation for, encouragement to participate, follow-up, gaining support from local in-country representatives, etc.).
The AITC has contributed to ICI’s knowledge and sales planning process by conducting research on various countries where they were seeing activity, helping them to identify in-country distributors and sales opportunities and answering questions about overseas markets and tariffs.
These markets included: Southeast Europe, China and Vietnam, Argentina and Ecuador, the Middle East, Australia and New Zealand, Brazil and Egypt as well as Ukraine, the Russian Federation, Kazakhstan. ICI has been able to expand into some of these new markets.
As tariffs, duties and sanctions became hot topics in 2019-2020, the Trade Center provided ICI with information on country-specific duties and Section 301 Tariffs on Imports from China.
The Center has also provided ICI with counseling and webinars on a variety of international trade topics:
- Introduction to IC-DISC
- Incoterms 2020
- Duty Drawback
- Global Online Marketing
- USMCA presentation
- Global E-Commerce
- Export Letters of Credit
- Export Payments & Trade Finance
- Financing your Exports with SBA and EXIM Bank
The AITC advocated for ICI’s candidacy for the Governor’s Trade Excellence awards, which they won in 2018. “It was a real honor to be recognized in this way and for our international team as well.”
To assist ICI in expanding its global presence online, the AITC conducted Website Reviews / Search Engine Optimization (SEO) analyses on their website. The company was referred to Exim Bank to learn more about insuring receivables under the Export Credit Insurance program.
The AITC, the Alabama Department of Commerce (DOC) and the US Export Assistance Center (USEAC) work together to provide seamless assistance to companies involved in international trade. Together they prepare companies for the State of Alabama Trade Missions. ICI received detailed market research from the AITC, STEP grant funding from the ADOC and Gold Key B2B meetings in the Trade Mission countries which were arranged by the USEAC. They have attended several Trade Missions to Australia/New Zealand, Argentina/Ecuador, Romania/Bulgaria and to the UAE.
Headquartered in Daphne, Alabama, Irrigation Components International now has five office locations in the U.S. and one in Queensland, Australia. They are present in over 50 countries worldwide and on all populated continents, serving the Middle East, Australia/New Zealand, Africa, South and Central America, Eastern Europe and more!