I see the recruitment crisis that has been discussed in our pages extensively over recent months has finally reached Westminster.

As I was drafting this blog up on Thursday morning I was going to ask how many government jobs are available now, as Big Dog faced his own staff retention emergency? It was difficult keeping up - even with the help of the BBC News Channel's 'total resignation ticker' they kindly put up on screen. But as he finally realised (via everyone telling him) that his position was untenable, it leaves us all in an extremely weird position of limbo at precisely the wrong time. Leave means leave, doesn't it?

There are certainly now many top governmental jobs that need filling with permanent replacements - and quickly - in order to guide the public and business through difficult months ahead..

Perhaps Number 10 could take a leaf out of Ernest Doe's book and establish themselves a thriving apprenticeship scheme? Because returning focus closer to our home sector, it's great to hear from the dealership today, just what value they place on nurturing their own future industry talent.

Angus Doe tells us, "We are trying to encourage more people into the industry, particularly given the pressures we are all under with regard to recruiting.
 

"We are delighted to have such a strong cohort this year but we are always looking to expand our training scheme and attract even more motivated and committed individuals to join our industry and build a career with us."

Positive, forward thinking words - and ones that we know are echoed by dealerships around the country who also place apprenticeship schemes in high regard as a means of ensuring their staffing levels into the future. As we are all too aware, there are genuine concerns in the industry right now regarding how to attract fresh blood.

That said, we shouldn't lose sight that it's not just our specific outdoor power equipment sector (and the Tory party) who are struggling. I saw some research this week undertaken by Claims.co.uk that looked at how the current 1.3million job vacancies in the county are broken down in terms of industries.

It might not come as much of a surprise to readers that according to this research - that was done by analysing adverts on job site indeed.com - that in fact the wider retail sector came second only to the health service in having the most vacancies currently available.

Between the analysed dates of 8th June 2022 and 21st June 2022, the retail and wholesale industry was found to have 33,587 job listings available on Indeed.com. Within those figures, product managers at 6,734 vacancies and sales assistants at 5,397, were the most in-demand retail positions. Chuck in workshop technicians and I'm sure many readers will relate to this.  

The hardest year

I had a conversation with a dealer this week who told me they were going through the hardest ever year they'd experienced throughout their long career in the industry. To be fair they weren't talking specifically about recruitment, it was more the ongoing stocking crisis - which in itself was leading to a myriad of problems.

Essentially they told me they were constantly chasing their tail. Attempting to keep customers satisfied who have orders placed for machinery promised by suppliers, but that as yet has still not arrived, is all consuming. There is little scope to be looking for new business when as a dealer you are forever firefighting, they said.

What was particularly concerning was that this dealer did not envisage the situation being markedly different next year. In fact it could be compounded by the cost of living crisis biting harder. With continuing price rises and the expected recession this autumn or winter, the fear held was that customers could end up seriously thinking twice before making purchases.

However, as we all know, the network has survived recessions before. This dealer I spoke to - and I'm sure many others like them around the country - accept that it's going to be tough, but they are determined to work through it. We've spoken plenty of times about the network's famed resilience and entrepreneurial spirit - well we're seeing that in action again now.

Dealers will get on with the task at hand with hard work and good humour.

Following last week's announcement of the separation from John Deere as their main franchise, further details have been announced by Rea Valley Tractors regarding the transformation of one their depots.

Sudbury depot

The dealership say they are transforming their branch in Sudbury into a dedicated JCB Agriculture sales, service and parts centre to serve customers in Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Shropshire and mid-Wales.

In conjunction with that investment, RVT will also expand its territory into Cheshire in January 2023 to offer the full range of JCB agricultural products from new premises in the county and say they bring their high standards of technical, parts and service support to new and established JCB customers.

They believe both moves will strengthen their 15-year relationship with JCB, serving customers throughout the region from depots in Welshpool, Shrewsbury, Newport, and Sudbury. 

The Sudbury depot, located just 10 miles from JCB World Headquarters at Rocester, will become the RVT hub for managing JCB product sales, service, repairs and parts support.

Experienced JCB-trained technicians will continue to provide local support from all the company’s branches, with a comprehensive parts stock also maintained at each location.

In the meantime, JCB business in Cheshire will continue as usual, with products, parts, servicing and repairs available from the existing John Bownes premises at Winsford for the rest of this year.
 
JCB Agriculture managing director John Smith said, “The RVT management team has ambitious plans for growth of JCB product sales, especially for Fastrac tractors, which have been constrained to some extent by other franchise considerations.

“As other franchise changes take place at RVT, it is very timely that the organisation expands its JCB territory coverage into Cheshire and develops a dedicated JCB facility at Sudbury.”

John Smith added, “We would like to thank the team at John Bownes for the past six years of dealer sales and service support.”

Steve Petford, RVT managing director, said, “During discussions on our future plans for RVT, retaining the JCB Agriculture franchise was always a key priority - after all, it’s a world-class manufacturer right on our doorstep.

“As a large Midlands-based business ourselves, we have always been immensely proud to represent JCB and expand our relationship; transforming our Sudbury branch to a dedicated JCB hub is a clear illustration of that. We are also delighted that JCB has given us the opportunity to expand our territory.

“We have a very strong record in supporting our customers across our existing territory and we are thrilled to be able extend this expertise to JCB customers in Cheshire from 2023.”

STIHL Group has unveiled plans for a new €125 million manufacturing site for their electric and cordless power tools, that they say will significantly enhance their battery-powered product manufacturing capacity.

 
Set for completion in 2024, the company says the new 147,000m2 facility in Oradea, Romania, will create 500 new jobs in the local area and expand their international manufacturing network. In an official statement they say this will strengthen the "flexibility and resilience" of its supply chains.
 
The statement continued, "The new manufacturing facility has been designed with lean production in mind and will utilise the latest technology to maximise the productivity, efficiency and sustainability of the plant in line with STIHL Group’s climate and carbon footprint targets. In addition to the production halls, the site will also comprise offices, a cafeteria, and break rooms for employees."
 
Martin Schwarz, STIHL executive board member for manufacturing & materials, said, “Battery-powered products represent the fastest-growing market for STIHL at the present time. We expect demand for these products to continue rising faster than any other category in the years ahead.
 
“This means that our Tirol plant, which currently manufactures a large portion of our battery-powered range, will one day reach the limits of its space and capacities. The new location in Romania will add to our global manufacturing network and keep us in the best possible position to continue supplying our customers with battery-operated products in the future."

Today, the STIHL Group has production plants in seven countries: Germany, Switzerland, Austria, the United States, Brazil, China, and the Philippines, with facilities opening soon in China. 

Dealership Ernest Doe & Sons Ltd say they were delighted to join some of their next generation of land-based service engineers at Writtle University College recently, for a tour of the campus where they will be studying from September.

New Holland apprentices at Writtle (not all are from Ernest Doe)

Their 2022 intake so far is 14 apprentices who will be based at several of their branches while they learn the trade and work their way up to be qualified technicians.

The dealership's managing director, Angus Doe said, "We are trying to encourage more people into the industry, particularly given the pressures we are all under with regard to recruiting.

"We are delighted to have such a strong cohort this year but we are always looking to expand our training scheme and attract even more motivated and committed individuals to join our industry and build a career with us."

Case IH apprentices at Writtle (not all are from Ernest Doe)

More information is available regarding their apprenticeship scheme in partnership with Writtle College and CNHI, by emailing careers@ernestdoe.com or visit the careers section of their website.

Exhibitors doubled at the second staging of a new trade show for the commercial turfcare sector this week - although visitors through the gates remained on the lower side than might have been hoped.

The sophomore edition of SAGE took place at the Three Counties Showground at Malvern on Wednesday and Thursday, following its debut there last summer.

This year exhibitors included major professional turfcare machinery players including Toro, Price Turfcare, Redexim, Campeys, Ego, Stiga, Trimax, Overton, Handys (with Cramer), Kersten, Cub Cadet and Husqvarna amongst others. This represented a significant increase in stand-holders compared to last year.

Many of the representatives of suppliers on these stands who Service Dealer visited on day one of the show this week, voiced similar feelings. They told us that whilst they would have liked to have seen more people walking through the gates, those who they had met had been quality, decision-making visitors - representing warm leads.

All were keen to support to the show into the future as the ability to demo machines there and then to potential customers in the outside space, was a seen as a real bonus for the show. 

It was hoped that attendance can be built on in subsequent years.

Ariens have announced that it has joined Made In Britain and will now adorn all petrol zero-turn mowers for the EMEAA market with the iconic Made in Britain mark.

Ariens has historically manufactured machinery in the United States, but, to better meet the needs of its European customers, opened its first zero-turn production line at its UK plant over three years ago. This milestone meant Ariens is able to manufacture its complete petrol zero-turn line-up of
Edge, Ikon XD, Apex and Zenith mowers - for the EMEAA market in Oxfordshire.

Made in Britain brings together the best of British manufacturing and only accredited organisations that meet its high standards can use its mark. In an official statement Ariens said, "There is also a growing awareness among consumers of the importance of buying local as recent Covid-19 and Brexit issues have caused supply chain concerns and impacted the quality of imported goods."

Darren Spencer, VP of EMEAA added, “Although we find ourselves in uncertain times, both here and abroad, investing in manufacturing in the UK is critical to ensuring our EMEAA customers continue to receive the quality machinery they expect from Ariens.

"Being able to brand all of our petrol zero-turn mowers with the Made in Britain mark shows them just that.” 

The Bourne To Ride charity challenge has beaten the previous record for driving from Land's End to John O'Groats on a ride-on mower.

Travelling at a maximum of 12mph for 880 miles, for 20 hours per-day, Bourne to Garden founder, Colin North, driving an Iseki SF544 ride-on, has beaten the previous record of 5 days 8 hours by making the journey in 4 days 6 hours and 9 minutes. 

The team including a support van and overnight driver, plus Phil Self as Iseki technical support, received amazing local and national support on the way and a boost to the fundraising.

Colin, md of Bourne to Garden said, "Most drivers gave us the thumbs and friendly toots as they overtook us”.

During the gruelling journey Colin stopped for refreshments and showers, battled heavy rain, and wrapped up in a duvet to handle sitting and driving in the cold nights. “The toughest part was probably the mosquitoes in Scotland, waves of them hitting my face," he said. “We also had a loose wheel nut and puncture on the way but were able to sort these on the roadside without too many delays”.

The fundraiser caught the interest and endorsement from local and national media including Radio 1 & 2. The team posted ‘at the moment’ pictures and video to encourage support and donations.

David Withers from Iseki UK added, “It was so exciting, tracking the guys on the mower, waking up each morning seeing where they had got up to. All the photos and videos they shared from the route were brilliant, some amazing scenery and some interesting weather at times!  It was a real team effort to enable this to go ahead with ourselves and Bourne to Garden Ltd. The machine has performed without any problems whatsoever, we just had one puncture in the whole 876 miles. 

"We have donated some money for the charities chosen by Bourne to Garden Ltd and please, if you can, donate something to the three charities - they would be incredibly grateful.  All are worthy causes and every penny of the money donated is going straight to the charities.

"We are Guinness World Record holders!” 

To Donate click here.

For More information about the route click here.

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