Don't worry, you haven't put your clocks so far forward that it's Friday already. We're simply publishing on Thursday this week to make way for the Good Friday bank holiday tomorrow.

The Easter weekend is traditionally where the season truly kicks off, at least for garden machinery dealers. The question is, how much different will this year's one be? Hopefully we're entering into the 4-day period with a bit more certainty than 2020's provided. Back then, a proportion of our readers would not even have been open in any form.

This year, whilst the timings are unfortunately not quite right to allow showrooms to be open, dealers at least know they are able to trade - albeit with restrictions. Also, we hearing just how incredibly busy many of you are right now. In good news for domestic machinery dealers, we're being told that the lockdown trend of homeowners reconnecting with their gardens is showing no signs of abating. 

However, the major problem of course, is that everyone is having to cope with this unprecedented stocking situation. The customer demand appears to be there in droves from what both the press and our readers are saying - it's having the machines in hand to meet that demand where the trouble lies.

We will publish the full results of our stock supply survey that many of you kindly filled out for us last Friday, in the forthcoming issue of Service Dealer magazine - although I will just let you in on one little spoiler today.

To the question 'is your dealership facing issues regarding the availability of stock currently?' a staggering 92% of respondents said that they were.

I'm pretty sure that in all our years of canvassing readers, we have never asked a question that has elicited a response with such an overwhelming majority. It truly is a quite remarkable situation in which we find ourselves this year.

Also it seems fair to say, it is a situation that is being felt fairly equally by dealers across the board. Domestic, commercial, ATV and ag machinery specialists are all feeling the pinch.

We received some fascinating comments from our dealer readers last week, for which we're most grateful as always. We shall be featuring as many of your opinions as space allows next issue.

It appears there are some incredibly tough situations being faced right now. Dealers are having to make tricky calls about pricing structures, perhaps finding new brands to stock, new suppliers of parts and methods to keep both customers and staff happy.

As we keep mentioning, key to helping plan throughout this period is clear, honest and up-to-date communications from suppliers and manufacturers. We're being told though, that some are achieving this much better than others.

How these next few months are negotiated will define 2021. Dealers will need their suppliers coming through for them as best they can - whilst dealers themselves will be relying on their own ability to quickly adapt and react to the prevailing circumstances. Don't forget too, there's the Service Dealer Digital Toolkit available to offer help and practical advice in these uncertain times.

I won't hold you up any further today, so I'll just say all the best for this Easter period. Hopefully when we arrive at the next one, it'll be much more of a traditional season opener! 

We'll be back as normal next Friday.

Scamblers have announced the appointment of Chandlers (F.E) Ltd for the Grasshopper range of mowers.

Ed Scambler from Scamblers said, ‘We are delighted to welcome Chandlers as a Grasshopper dealer for Lincolnshire and Peterborough. They were already covering Bedfordshire and are now expanding to cover Lincolnshire and North Cambridge in the form of Peterborough.

"We have dealt with Chandlers for over 30 years and enjoy the values they stand for in sales and service. We look forward to building on that relationship further into the future`
 
Les Butters, groundscare sales manager for Chandlers, said, "We are pleased to add the excellent range of Grasshopper zero-turn and outfront rotary mowers to our existing groundscare franchises. There are with machines suitable for both domestic and professional applications and we have a zero-turn demonstration machines available now."

SIP Distribution (UK) Ltd have announced the appointment of two new dealers.

Covering Devon and other parts of south-west England, Masons Kings have joined the network.

Masons Kings

“We are delighted to take on the SIP franchise as it offers yet more products to our customers and continues to complement our company ethos ‘Premium Product, Premium Support’, "said Alan Rowdon, group agricultural sales manager. "SIP have a range of rakes, mowers, tedders and other products which will provide an added benefit to our customers."

Martin Holden, SIP sales for Great Britain added, “This appointment is another major step in the development of the SIP brand and in combination with the Masons Kings team, SIP now has a bigger shop window in the south-west area. Masons Kings come on board at an exciting time as a number of important product launches are planned ahead of the 2022 season.”

Covering a vast territory from Stirling in the south of Scotland and as far as Caithness in the north, the second appointment is Netherton Tractors who become the first SIP dealer in Scotland since the new SIP organisation commenced in late 2017.

Netherton Tractors' Tollmuir, Forfar headquarters

Commenting on this development, Martin Holden, sales director said, “We are very proud that Netherton Tractors, a highly successful and growing company, have chosen SIP for its range of grassland harvesting machinery complimenting existing suppliers. This is the first step in creating a bigger network in Scotland an important grassland area of our region."

Since transferring the production of Jacobsen mowers to the Turf Care Centre of Excellence in Ipswich, the manufacturer says their three-hole golf course has become more important than ever to product development and testing.

Justin Hunt, golf course greenkeeper at RJ National

The beginning of 2021 has seen new product lines start up with the new AR530, Eclipse ELiTE 360 and HR800 all in the later stages of testing and development.

The company says it is at this point the 3-hole course comes into its own, with the product development team able to test the mowers in real-world situations and often pass the machines onto greenkeeper, Justin Hunt. 

Justin began his working life as an apprentice at Ransomes before becoming a product demonstrator in the UK and Europe. Despite leaving the company, he stayed in the turf industry working with Ernest Doe and Bartrum Mowers before joining Woodbridge Golf Club as a greenkeeper where he eventually became course manager for six years.

During his time as a demonstrator, he says he and others at Ransomes knew the land could be a useful asset for product testing.

"Initially, I found preparing a golf course in the middle of an industrial estate a bit strange," Justin begins. "Where we're sat in the main building now would have been our workshop back in the day, and the land across there that's now the golf course was wasteland. 

"That whole area was full of ploughs ready for sale because agricultural machinery was still made here then, and over time all of those ploughs disappeared, and we as demonstrators needed somewhere to test the equipment we were going to take out. We actually built in the loosest terms a little golf course. We fabricated a green out there so we could test greens mowers before we took them out. We knew its possibilities, but several years later it turned into what we see out there today, which is a fantastic facility. 

"It needs to simulate the best it can a proper golf course because they are trying to gather data and information that will be taken forward into the real world. Because of that our aim is always to keep it as close to a commercial golf course as possible. 

"To do that we use traditional methods just applied in a slightly different way. We aren't under the same pressures that you would be at an ordinary golf course. We haven't got a society of 60 or 70 people teeing off at eight o'clock, so it's easier to manage in that way. Because if you've decided you're going to do that job today, you can get on and do it, there's no reason you shouldn't apart from perhaps the weather. 

"There are different challenges, for example, if there is a big visit to the factory obviously everything needs to be spot on for that day, so all the focus goes onto getting it prepared for that occasion. So it does have different challenges and different things to have to cope with."

The three-hole course and adjacent football pitch were constructed using as much of the natural materials as possible whilst introducing a new body of open water. Having been constructed and operated in an environmentally conscious way, the course was certified by the Golf Environment Organisation (GEO) in 2010, and operating in that way has continued with the focus now turning to stop the use of fungicides on the site. 

David Timms says he is delighted to be working with Toro again after 18 years as the new regional business manager for Reesink Turfcare in the Southwest and Midlands.

David Timms
 
Having started his career in the turfcare industry as an area sales representative in Sussex working with Toro and Hayter machinery in 2003, David went on to become sales manager within the distribution company of JSM in 2007 before relocating to Somerset with Textron in 2011. Now he has come full circle as he returns to working with Toro machinery.
 
“It’s great to be back working with Toro and Reesink,” says David. “I’ve had a love for the brand since working with them 18 years ago and for some time now, I’ve had the desire to again work with and promote the leading brand, so when the opportunity arose it was a really easy decision."
 
“In my time in the industry I’ve learned what is really fundamental when it comes to selling turfcare machinery,” continued David. “First and foremost is building strong relationships with customers, dealers and colleagues. People don’t buy from people they don’t know. Secondly, backing both the product and customer through the machine's life is very important, and simple aspects which are all too easily overlooked. All customers are asking is for you to go out and do a good honest job.”
 
David can be contacted via Reesink on 01480 226800.

BAGMA have announced that they are sending out around 400 surveys to tractor-franchised dealers this week.

In conjunction with other CLIMMAR members, BAGMA say they are conducting the research to discover how dealers value their suppliers so they can use the results to encourage suppliers to improve their service.

The association traditionally conducts this research annually, but it didn't take place in 2020 due to the pandemic.

Keith Christian, director of BAGMA, said, "The purpose of the survey is to collect dealers' opinions in different countries concerning tractor manufacturers, how they are perceived by their dealers and what are their weaknesses that need improvement. The overall country results and the overall European results of the survey are shared with manufacturers to encourage them to improve their service and support to their dealers."

BAGMA are encouraging tractor-franchised dealers to look out for the survey and to take the time to complete it "as it is an important tool for the industry to work with."

Bobcat has announced that the company’s first new compact wheel loader (CWL) - the L85 model - is now in full production at their plant on the Dobris campus in the Czech Republic.

Jiri Karmazin, Loaders product manager at Bobcat

The first machine is heading to the Bobcat Institute on the campus, where it will be used to train Bobcat dealers and customers.

By entering the wheel loader category, Bobcat say they now have the largest loader portfolio of any manufacturer in the world. To meet demand, an additional fourth production line has been built at the company's plant in the Czech Republic. The capacity of the new production line is around 1000 machines per year and will be operated by 15 workers per shift. The overall new investment involved was worth over one million Euro.

Jiri Karmazin, Loaders product manager at Bobcat, said, “A product of the Bobcat Innovation Center on our Dobris campus, the L85 has been designed to set a new market-leading performance benchmark in this segment of the market. The L85 is built with proven components including the engine, structures, axles, electronics and hydraulics sourced either from Bobcat or our prestigious Tier 1 suppliers.

"Many components are already widely used in our market-leading compact loaders, mini-excavators and telehandlers, and the L85 undergoes the same final assembly and test procedures as these products."

Väderstad has announced that they have passed the milestone of producing 1000 of its high precision planter, Tempo L. 

Launched in 2017, the Tempo L hit the world farming headlines when it set a planting world record in Hungary the same year, planting 502ha of maize in 24 hours at a speed of over 20km/h. Väderstad say their patented PowerShoot technology enabled Tempo to deliver unparalleled precision, both in terms of the distance between every seed but also regarding the planting depth.

“The Tempo L has definitely pushed the limits regarding planting, capacity and precision,” says Väderstad senior vice president global sales and marketing, Mattias Hovnert. “Two months after the world record, Gödöllő University helped us analyse and measure 6808 plants on the world record fields. The results were clear, there were minimal deviations in planting depth precision, doubles and skips.”
 
Väderstad say they produce around 5500 machines in total annually. The Tempo L is currently available with 8-24 row units, and from June 2021 the new Tempo L 32 goes into production. It will be the biggest Tempo planter yet with 32 row units and an operating width of 12m.

With the ongoing shortages of lawnmowers and parts unlikely to ease shortly, an enterprising dealer in mid-Wales, operating both garden machinery sales and hire business, is planning to trial an innovative approach which he hopes may see the return of Suffolk, one of the UK’s most popular mower names.

First manufactured in 1954, the Suffolk range of cylinder mowers, particularly the Punch, Colt and Pony were an essential part of the product line-up offered by garden machinery dealers in the 1950s and 1960s.

The mowers were made by Suffolk Iron Foundries of Stowmarket, later part of the Atco-Qulacast group, and the Suffolk Punch was its first motorised model after early push mowers

However, the dealer (who has asked not to be identified until he has finalised his plans) got his idea when he recently heard the CEO of BIGGA Jim Croxton, in a recent podcast,talk about preparations for the Festival of Turf in July. Mr Croxton revealed that the extensive outside display area at the Warwickshire Event Centre had been kept in trim by sheep during the past few months.

“That was my light-bulb moment,” he said.

“My brother-in-law breeds a flock of Suffolk sheep and he has said that he is prepared to loan me three of them to add to my hire fleet," he told Service Dealer.

“The demand for hire machines is crazy at the moment and here in this part of Wales, folk are well used to owning and looking after sheep, and certainly if used in a paddock or similar, they would do as good a job as a robotic lawnmower.”

At the moment, he is trying to cost out a realistic hire rate “which would have to balance the cost of feed, healthcare and specialist transport against the cost of fuel, repair and service after each hire, depreciation etc.” 

He added that the livery of Suffolk sheep with its strong, low slung frame, black face and black legs ideally complements the look and characteristics of the original Suffolk mower range.

The month long Suffolk trial is to start on 1 April.

Vacancy - Technical Support Technician

Ariens Company Ltd is a UK subsidiary of AriensCo, a family-owned manufacturer of outdoor power equipment located in Wisconsin, U.S.A. Our Oxford plant manufactures a leading range of ride-on lawnmowers and accessories for the U.K. and European markets. 

We are looking for a Technical Support Technician to join our busy support team within the RapidCare division of the company. Reporting directly to the Technical Support Leader, this role will provide telephone and online support to dealers and international distributors alike, as well as developing and delivering online and in-person training programmes.  Other technical administrative duties fall under this role, such as supporting the warranty administrators and Knowledgebase, our online technical support forum.  The role is expected to be 90% office and 10% workshop based.

Responsibilities;

• Provide first-line technical support to International distributors and UK dealers for Ariens, Countax and Westwood lawn and garden products (tractors and zero-turn mowers), snow throwers, and ECHO handheld tools (via telephone and online portals)
• Maintain and distribute technical support materials via Knowledgebase
• Responsible for supporting AriensCo EMEAA warranty policies and warranty processing and ensuring timely resolution of warranty claims
• Assist with the development and delivery of technical training to the AriensCo EMEAA customer base (UK and International customers)
• Be an active participant in improving finished product quality by executing finished goods audits, providing product training, and timely feedback of any quality problems

Education / Qualifications / Experience:

The following qualifications and experience are essential: 

• Experience in a technical support role with a proven ability to communicate at different levels and to manage customer expectations effectively
• Strong technical knowledge of outdoor power equipment, preferably from the lawn and garden sector, and including IC engines (four stroke and two stroke)
• Practical basic automotive electrical diagnostics (12v systems, relays, actuators)
• Problem solving and a systematic approach to diagnostics
• Excellent verbal and written communications
• Excellent knowledge of MS Office applications (PowerPoint, Excel, Word and Project)

Competitive salary, 25 days salary, pension contribution, and a basic healthcare plan.

To apply contact ukhr@ariensco.com

Closing date 16th April.

GGM Groundscare, specialise in supplying tractors, professional groundscare machinery and after-sales support including Kubota, Baroness, Roberine, Dennis, Major, Amazone & Husqvarna to customers throughout the North-West of England and Yorkshire. 

We are in and exciting stage of expansion and we are now looking at recruiting for the following positions:

• Groundscare Sales Manager – North West (Full-time)
• Groundscare Sales Manager – Yorkshire (Full-time)

We’re looking for enthusiastic individuals to manage Groundscare Sales across the regions and develop relationships with both new and existing customers.

Each role will involve but won’t be limited to:

• Develop and manage the sales of new and used Groundscare equipment across our product portfolio
• Feedback relevant market data, including competitor activity, market trends, and business opportunities
• Support the sales team at regional and local shows and exhibitions

An ideal Groundscare Sales Manager will hold the following skills and experiences:

• Experience from within the Groundscare market
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills and the ability to establish effective business relationships with internal and external partners
• Self-starter with a professional attitude
• Full clean driving license covering categories B+E
• Excellent PC and ‘Microsoft Office’ literacy

Each role offers a competitive salary plus a commission-based bonus, company vehicle and Pension.

To apply

Interested applicants can apply in confidence with a CV and covering letter (quoting ASM04) to:-  Diane Cowell, GGM Groundscare, Regent House, Regent Street, Whitewalls Ind Est, Colne, Lancashire, BB8 8LJ, Email diane@ggmgroundscare.co.uk

Closing Date for applications: 19th April 2021

We are currently recruiting one Service Technician/Mechanic to join our workshop team based in Penrhyndeudraeth. 

You will be responsible for your own workload of machinery service, building, repair, and breakdowns. Machinery will range from groundcare and small agriculture machinery and accessories to plant machinery from brands including Kubota, Toro, Manitou, Gianni Ferrari and Greentek.

We are dedicated main dealers, service agents and parts suppliers for over 29 manufacturers specialising in five key markets: Domestic Groundcare, Pro-Groundcare, Construction, Agriculture and Arboriculture. Remaining a family owned business for 40 years, we pride ourselves on providing a first-class service to our customers, old and new. Our expertise allows us to be one of the most dynamic dealerships in North Wales and Cheshire.

Your role will involve working closely with our Service co-ordinators and Parts team to deliver a high standard of customer service.

Responsibilities and Duties

• Carrying out machinery diagnosis and, if necessary, providing an estimate of potential parts replacement and time of labour to complete repair to the Service Co-ordinators
• Carrying out repair work and servicing on machinery to a high standard
• Attend machinery breakdowns where required
• Ensuring effective use of technical knowledge and skills enabling efficient, economic, and safe repair and servicing of customers machinery
• Removing, fitting, and replacing components on machinery
• Carrying our work under warranty were required
• Performing pre-delivery checks and building of new machinery
• Building effective working relationships with colleagues built on communication, sharing expertise and trust
• Carry out test drives on machinery to diagnose existing faults
• Working within time frames, deadlines, and targets
• Maintain a high standard of housekeeping whilst working

Qualifications and Skills

• Previous mechanical experience
• Mechanical qualifications would be advantageous
• Good understanding of machinery and diagnostics
• Able to demonstrate a high standard of work with attention to detail
• Self-motivated and able to work on own initiative
• Able to communicate effectively with all members of the team and customers
• Excellent organisation and problem-solving skills
• Good time management
• Committed to maintain a safe and healthy workplace

Benefits

• Competitive salary, negotiable on experience
• Ongoing training

Closing date - 30/04/2021

Applications to be sent to admin@majorowen.co.uk

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