Twenty Pellenc dealers from England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland recently visited Pellenc's state-of-the-art facilities in Pertuis, France to reward them as the best performing dealers for the range of battery-powered equipment.

20 of the best performing UK Pellenc dealers at the factory in Pertuis, France, with UK md Les Malin

The delegates began by being given a presentation of the company and told how Etesia UK, the exclusive distributor for the UK and Ireland, and Pellenc had come to work together ten years ago before they set off on a tour of the R&D department, which has seen 844 patents registered. Next up was a tour of the factory including production, assembly line and distribution centre.

The second day gave everyone the chance to test out the latest equipment ahead of its 2019 launch before departing for a sight-seeing tour of Marseille.

The trip was rounded off with a presentation to the best overall and best new Pellenc dealers of the year, which were won by RT Machinery (best overall Pellenc UK dealer) and Myrddin Garden Machinery (best new Pellenc UK dealer).

Scott Reynolds of RT Machinery said, "It was very interesting and surprising. I never realised just how big the Pellenc operation was. It was also fantastic to pick up the dealer of the year award, which rewards the efforts of the whole RT Machinery team."

Matthew Clark of South East Groundcare Machinery also commented, "I was amazed at the sheer scale of the operation - from the R&D department, which invests a considerable amount of profit back into the development of new products, to the assembly line. It has given me a greater insight into product development and to test the new products ahead of their launch was very interesting."

Etesia UK Managing Director Les Malin said, "To get feedback from Pellenc dealers on new products ahead of their official launch is invaluable. Our customers now acknowledge that battery products are here to stay and can see the benefits of this technology, so it’s vital that our dealers see what our future plans are. We are very proud of our relationship with Pellenc and have gained recognition with local authorities, landscapers, contractors as well as groundsmen and greenkeepers who are now looking at environmentally-friendly products as a real alternative to petrol machines."