Since my last blog, more countries have gone into near complete lockdown; The UK, Germany, France and Austria are just some of the countries that decided to enter tougher restrictions.

With all these restrictions happening all around us a new set of vocabulary has emerged; ‘social distancing’, ‘lockdown’, ‘cocooning’, ‘flattening the curve’, ‘zoom meetings’. These are just some phrases that are now used as everyday words. Another phrase used, especially amongst the business community, is ‘click and collect’. The latest trend among dealers in Ireland is to facilitate online ordering, where the customer can arrive at the premises to receive their order or, if the customer is living outside 5km of where they live, the dealer can arrange to deliver the product themselves or by using a courier service. This online ordering facility (or click and collect) is working reasonably well and can mean the difference between surviving or not. Premises are still open for business but are limiting the number of people that can be inside at any one time.

I shudder to think what life would be like for our industry had the coronavirus happened twenty or thirty years ago. Technology has definitely saved the livlihood of many businesses during this crisis. I frequently visit dealer websites to see what they have on offer or what is happening. I have noticed that some dealers do not have up to date information on their site. There is a trend instead to put up the latest news on their social media links, such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram - deal of the day; the arrival of a new machine to their premises; the lucrative sale of a large order to a big client or a video of a machine being delivered to a customer are some of the items that appear on dealers’ App links. It seems that this is the way dealers prefer to get their message out, and they post something new almost every day. It is a very inexpensive way of marketing ones business. Quite often messages appear on how a dealer helped a local community group by sponsoring an event the community group organised. This is good PR for the business and wins over more support.

This nicely leads me on to the Service Dealer Digital Toolkit which is available for Service Dealer Ireland readers. This is a 10 chapter toolkit that helps users with practical tips and advice, from setting up a Facebook or Twitter page, to generating content with which to attract and connect to customers. It will help users to understand what makes an interesting and successful post, how dealers can use digital marketing to increase the number of individuals that follow their dealership’s sites and much more. The Toolkit can be accessed, after registering free here You should try it out and see for yourself.

Going back to our lockdown situation, the good news in Ireland is that the number of daily positive cases reported for coronavirus is starting to fall. The HSE would like the number of cases to be reduced even further, to less than one hundred per day. Hopefully, we should get to that stage if everyone plays their part in observing the guidelines. By December the 2nd we should be at that stage and be back to Level 3 restrictions or less, which can only be better for business leading up to Christmas

New Holland Agriculture has signed a supply agreement with Maschio Gaspardo.

Under the agreement, selected disc harrow and subsoiler models will be manufactured by Maschio Gaspardo for New Holland. The blue products will be sold under the New Holland name and will be available exclusively at the brand’s dealerships.

Carlo Lambro, brand president of New Holland Agriculture, said, “We are very pleased with our new partnership with Maschio Gaspardo. At New Holland, we are constantly looking at improving and extending our offering to provide our customers around the world with innovative and complete solutions to their farming needs. In Maschio Gaspardo we have a partner with a long-standing experience and a leader in its field, so that with this agreement, we are bringing their first-rate products to our customers, further widening the choice of implements to meet their tillage requirements with high-quality equipment.”

Mirco Maschio, president of Maschio Gaspardo Group, added, “Maschio Gaspardo already has a consolidated OEM supply partnership with New Holland. We are proud of this new prestigious project as it also confirms the high-quality standards achieved by Maschio Gaspardo for its products and the offered customer service. It is another important building block for our growth.”

New Holland will introduce in season 2021 the first products to be supplied under the agreement: the SDM and SDH Compact Speed Disc Cultivators, and the SUM and SUH Subsoilers. The manufacturer says the new product lines will be  ideally suited to  their tractor ranges from the T5 Series up to the 300hp T7 Heavy Duty.

The new products will first be launched in key European markets in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Spain and the UK.

New Holland say they will present the new implements in detail later in the year.

The Makita Corporation announced on October 30 2020 their intention to cease production of petrol powered, engine products from March 31 2022.

In an official statement the company said, "In the field of outdoor power equipment, Makita is dedicated to supplying a broad range of engine products such as brushcutters and chainsaws. However, in response to the heightened awareness of global environmental issues and increasing needs for highly convenient, cordless products, Makita has recently been enhancing development, production, and sales of cordless products that are environment-friendly and will gain popularity.

"Makita now plans to focus management resources on development, production, and sales of cordless products while leveraging its motor, and battery charging/discharging technologies, and accelerate the departure from engine products and the application of cordless solutions to power tools and outdoor power equipment.

"Accordingly, Makita will discontinue the production of engine products at the entire group level."

The cloud-based DataConnect system that enables the exchange of machinery data between Claas, 365FarmNet and John Deere is now commercially available, with further partners to follow soon.

Claas machinery in the John Deere Operations Centre

DataConnect enables the exchange of machinery data between different platforms, to allow users to view all of their mixed-brand fleet information within the single data platform of their choice. Previously, viewing such information required duplicating effort by using each manufacturer’s corresponding but separate platforms or web portals.

John Deere says the structure of this new direct cloud-to-cloud system enables a seamless and automated data flow without any effort required by the customer. The real-time data exchange allows a live overview of the whole machinery fleet. The system works without any additional hardware and software components and ensures secure data handling.

With this new approach, customers can view five different machinery data sets for their fleet:

• current machine location;
• historical machine location;
• fuel tank level;
• status of the machine in the field;
• machine speed

Customers can decide which company’s digital platform they prefer to use, to display all the data. As soon as they are connected, other manufacturers’ machines appear automatically. Machines are either displayed with icons in the respective brand’s colour combination or are visible in the icon’s information panel.

Further partners and functions are due to be announced in due course.

Bernhard and Company say they have used the restrictions in movement in the UK to plan some alternatives to visit customers or potential customers interested to hear more about their grinders.

“As a company, we have put protocols in place to make product demonstrations on site as safe as possible. But it is still difficult to organise visits in some areas,” said Steven Nixon, director for Bernhard Company.

“Keeping people safe is our priority, but our distributors and their customers are keen to carry on as best as they can. We are pleased to be giving them the opportunity to understand the benefits of grinding as well as experience the new Bernhard sharpening equipment online,” adds Angelique Crosnier, the company's marketing manager.

A series of demonstration webinars will be available to book online and be free to attend at a time to suit individuals' timetables.

Dates and times to be released shortly. For info email marketing@bernhard.co.uk

From 1 April 2021, Dr Martin von Hoyningen-Huene will join the Claas Executive Board, having assumed responsibility for the Tractor Business Unit and Claas Industrietechnik GmbH.

Dr Martin von Hoyningen-Huene

“We’re delighted that we’ve been able to recruit a manager for our tractor business with such formidable industry experience as Dr von Hoyningen-Huene,” says Thomas Böck, chair of the Claas Executive Board.

After studying Mechanical Engineering at the University of Karlsruhe and the ENSAM Grande Ecole in Paris, von Hoyningen-Huene completed his PhD at the University of Siegen. He began his professional career as a business consultant and project manager at McKinsey & Company in Stuttgart.

From 2004 to 2008, he worked for the Freudenberg Group; most recently as managing director of Freudenberg IT. After joining John Deere in 2009, Dr von Hoyningen-Huene was responsible for its global 6B and 6D/E tractor range, holding roles such as head of development.

In 2014, he was initially appointed factory manager and then sole managing director of Maschinenfabrik Kemper, which is part of John Deere. Since February 2018, Dr von Hoyningen-Huene has been managing the John Deere factory in Arc-les-Gray (France).

Väderstad has appointed Henrik Gilstring (35) as president and group CEO, effective from February 2022.

Henrik Gilstring

Henrik replaces current CEO Mats Båverud and represents the third generation of the owner family. He is the son of Christina Stark, owner of the second generation, and Gert Gilstring, who currently works as senior design engineer at Väderstad.

Henrik has worked at Väderstad since 2012 and currently serves as vice president for business development and is a member of group management. 

“I’m looking forward to continuing to drive Väderstad forward sustainably and to ensure that, as a company, we are able to adapt to the challenges and opportunities ahead, both with regard to agricultural development in general and in terms of new political and global ground rules,” he said.

Prior to his present role in Väderstad, Henrik served as business controller of production, sales and marketing, and product development. He also worked on issues related to product management and strategy and served on the board. 

Crister Stark, chairman of the board of Väderstad Group said, “The decision gives us good conditions for an efficient and smooth handover, and a rejuvenation of the CEO role.”