GreenMech’s New Dealer Cover For Devon & Somerset

GreenMech’s New Dealer Cover For Devon & Somerset: Europe’s top-selling wood chipper manufacturer GreenMech have announced a rearrangement of their dealer cover in Devon and Somerset. As from 14th November, Andrew Symons Ltd will be handing sales and support for Devon, with dedicated GreenMech specialists operating out of three depots.

Stocking a wide variety of equipment for agricultural, construction, gardening and groundcare applications, family-run Andrew Symons Ltd have over 30 years of experience offering sales and support for a number of leading brands. The groundcare team headed up by Simon Newsome at the Crediton depot, alongside Lee Hatter at South Molton and Dave Daniel at Holsworthy, will become GreenMech product specialists. Their knowledge, backed up by a fully trained service department, will see the GreenMech product reach a range of customers including holiday parks, golf course, municipal areas and much more.

GreenMech's New Dealer Cover For Devon & Somerset

Commenting on their appointment, Dealer Principle Andrew Symons said, “We are extremely proud to be appointed the new GreenMech dealer for the Devon area. We feel GreenMech offer a superb range of products that complement our existing portfolio and will suit both professional and domestic users. We are also pleased to support them as a British Manufacturer, and as a market leader, which will benefit both us and our existing and future customers.”

Completing the rearrangement, existing GreenMech dealer New Forest Farm Machinery, will be extending their territory to cover Somerset. Having picked up the GreenMech franchise in May 2017 for the Hampshire and Dorset areas, they will now offer sales and support for customers in Somerset, operating out of their new dealerpoint in Sparkford, Wincanton.

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Jensen Grow With New Dealers

Jensen Grow With New Dealers: Arb professionals across the UK are set to see even more from Jensen woodchippers over the coming months, with exciting new dealer appointments in the East of England and Scotland formalised recently.

Constantly growing both in awareness and popularity, the Jensen brand is synonymous with quality, power and longevity, developed by the business who manufactured the world’s first woodchipper in Maasbull, Germany, in 1884.

Jensen Grow With New Dealers

In the East of England, we are pleased to be partnered with P. Tuckwell Ltd, established in 1954 by Len Tuckwell and with 7 depots across Essex, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Suffolk, 3 of which will be offering Jensen sales, service and parts initially.

Tuckwell’s began selling groundcare machinery in 1986 and have since continued to expand and serve a wide variety of commercial industries, well established in their communities as machinery experts who supply high quality machinery and equipment.

Jason Clark, Forestry & Arboriculture Sales Specialist at Tuckwell’s commented, “we have identified the arboricultural market as being under-supplied in the Essex region and are looking to become a key supplier in this sector. Our new forestry and arboriculture line, launched in October, provides a wide-ranging selection of professional brands including tools, clothing, equipment in addition to the Jensen woodchippers.

Excited by the opportunity that the premium Jensen brand offers, Jason added: “Jensen woodchippers are a well-established and highly regarded brand within the arboriculture industry, manufactured to a high specification for optimum performance. Professionals will find the product to be a reliable option while reducing operator costs and improving productivity.

“Our carefully selected brands are recognised for being at the forefront of the industry, and Jensen’s products with their exceptional reputation will complement our existing machinery portfolio.”

Moving into brand new territory for the brand in Scotland, Jensen are now partnered with Field and Forest, who specialise in arboricultural machinery sales and hire. Field and Forest were first established in 2014 by Tom Brown and are delighted to be the first Jensen dealers north of the border.

Tom commented: “Field and Forest’s philosophy has always been to supply the highest quality machinery to the arb and forestry sectors – we see Jensen as being good, reliable, honest kit. We see the A530L as being a particularly versatile machine coming in at 750kg which means it is great for all users and can be towed without a specific towing licence.”

Based just outside Edinburgh in Broxburn, Field and Forest are the first Scottish dealers recruited by Jensen and will be providing sales, hire and service support.

“We are extremely excited to be working with Jensen and have taken delivery of our first few machines. Our aim is to build a short- and long-term hire fleet – and Jensen was the obvious choice of woodchippers having been tried and tested.”

In addition, the Jensen UK team has expanded with the full-time recruitment of Nathan Jacobs as a Jensen specialist sales representative. Nathan joined the business in the summer and has spent several months learning the ropes with the Jensen distributor as well as working with the team at T H WHITE Groundcare to develop his understanding of the brand from a dealer and end user perspective.

“I’ve been working in the arborist sector for ten years,” Nathan recounts, “initially as a field engineer and then moving into management of groundcare and treecare machinery hire. “I am enjoying my role within the Jensen UK business, it is a great challenge and I’m looking forward to continuing to build the brand across the country, supporting dealers and working with the manufacturer to reach the full potential that we know is possible for the Jensen brand.”

Nathan is a dedicated Sales Representative for the Jensen brand across the UK, working with Business Manager Bill Johnston to support the ever-growing dealer network and customers across the UK.

Naturally Bill is delighted with the expansion for the brand:

“The Jensen brand is ever-increasing in awareness, popularity and market share, and we are pleased to welcome new dealers into our growing network, especially in the East of England and Scotland where we see huge potential for the business in partnership with Tuckwell’s and Field and Forest.

“Both dealerships bring a wealth of experience and knowledge to the table in a range of sectors and I’m looking forward to working with their teams to develop our business in their regions alongside our existing selection of dealers across the country.”

Jensen continues to expand its dealer network across the UK, so keep your eyes peeled for even more new dealer appointments over coming months.

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SALTEX Shapes The Future Of Groundscare

SALTEX Shapes The Future Of Groundscare: From robotics to hybrid mowers and digital apps, ground-breaking ideas to thought provoking debates, career enhancing advice to limitless opportunities; the recent SALTEX 2018 at the NEC in Birmingham was a landscape packed with possibilities and prospects for the future of groundscare.

Europe’s largest annual groundscare event featured 300 exhibitors, many of which embraced new technologies through the launch of their latest products and services showcased at the event.

SALTEX Shapes The Future Of Groundscare

One visitor – Chris Wood, ECB pitch consultant, was certainly impressed with the machinery on show: “My job with the ECB is to gather as much information on all the new innovations and this is one tremendous outlet for that. I always think that we are one big family in this industry and SALTEX is the one occasion of the year where we can come together, network, and look at all the new machinery – it’s like a toyshop at Christmas.”

The vibrant show floor offered a fantastic opportunity to witness just how these latest technologies are having a positive impact in the groundscare industry – particularly in the all new Innovation Hub where visitors were free to attend live interviews with industry experts and trend setters at the forefront of new groundscare innovations.

This new Hub was also the ideal platform to showcase and celebrate the SALTEX 2018 Innovation Award. After making its successful debut at last year’s show, the SALTEX 2018 Innovation Award attracted even more entries from various exhibitors across the globe and included a wide variety of high-quality products, services and equipment. Judged by an independent panel of industry experts it was decided that the Toro Outcross 9060 from Reesink Turfcare, PrecisionPro from Sherriff Amenity and the ROBOCUT from McConnel were the stand out entries. Sherriff Amenity’s PrecisionPro was crowned as the winner.

Sherriff Amenity representatives however were not the only trophy winners at the show as Bridgewater & Taunton College saw off fierce competition to win the SALTEX College Cup and the winning students can now look forward to visiting the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in the run up to the Wimbledon tournament, to experience court preparation from Neil Stubley, head of courts and horticulture.

There were also an increased number of visitors looking to progress within the industry as Frank Newberry’s Job Clinic sessions were fully booked between 9am and 3pm on each day of this year’s show. The expert careers advisor offered some fantastic tips on: perfecting a CV and cover letter; how to succeed at job interviews; negotiating a package; proactive job searching and self-employment.

The many opportunities to gain expert advice prompted John Ryan, founder of Lawn Care Legends, to travel from Northern Ireland to SALTEX: “I found my visit extremely beneficial because there are a lot of industry people you can connect with that can help provide ideas on how to develop a business. It’s great to see people with such a passion for the industry and share it with others. For anyone who wants to know what’s going on in the industry, I would recommend that they visit SALTEX.”

Free advice was available at every turn throughout the three large halls at the NEC. Visitors had the opportunity to gather one-to-one sports turf management advice from IOG regional pitch advisors at the Ask the Expert feature and Pathology and Soil Science LIVE provided an opportunity to share soil samples which were magnified, displayed on a large screen and assessed.

Learning LIVE 2018, SALTEX’s all-encompassing education programme, featured more than 50 free-to-attend seminars. Visitors gained CPD points for attendance and got to hear from expert speakers from the UK and abroad who focussed on vital issues that affect the industry.

James Pope, grounds manager at St Paul’s School in London, said he visited SALTEX to explore new concepts: “I’ve gained more ideas just from coming to this one show than I have all year. SALTEX is the right time of year and it’s the busiest and most vibrant show around – everyone is always in high spirits.”

Echoing James, was Ted Mitchell from the RFU, who was pleased to see just how the world’s longest standing groundscare exhibition has transformed over the years. “I’ve been attending SALTEX for many years and to see the event as it is today is incredible – it takes your breath away. It offers such a unique opportunity to meet the range of people at SALTEX in five or six hours that would, in any other circumstance, take me a huge amount of time over a number of months. SALTEX brings the industry together all in one place.”

SALTEX does indeed unite every corner of the industry – the manufacturers and suppliers, the visitors and speakers, the governing bodies and associations; who contributed to the conversations, the learnings, the ideas, the debates, and actively played their part in shaping the future of groundscare and creating opportunity for all.

For more information visit www.iogsaltex.com

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Lloyd Ltd And Bobcat Construction Expansion

Lloyd Ltd And Bobcat Construction Expansion: Carlisle-based Lloyd Ltd, the Bobcat dealer for County Durham, Teesside, Cumbria and Northumberland in England and the southern part of Scotland, covering South Ayrshire, the Border counties and Dumfries and Galloway, has expanded the services it provides for customers in the construction and hire markets, bringing significant benefits for both Lloyd Ltd and Bobcat.

Results have been especially impressive in product and aftermarket sales for the Bobcat range of compact loaders, compact excavators and attachments. As well as the construction and rental markets, the other main sectors for Lloyd are agriculture, groundcare and materials handling, where sales of Bobcat equipment have also increased.

Lloyd Ltd And Bobcat Construction Expansion

This has been supported by Lloyd’s own finance team, with a wide choice of finance options available to suit different customers in the market. It is one of the advantages that arises from cross-fertilisation with the motor vehicle side of the Lloyd business, covering the same areas in the North of England and the South of Scotland.

Alistair Whitby, Dealer Principal at the Lloyd branch in Bishop Auckland, said: “The expansion in construction has delivered a 20% rise in Bobcat business. This is backed by similar increases in the number of finance packages we have sold. We are also investing heavily in our facilities and processes to ensure that it is even easier for new and existing Bobcat customers to do business with us. The Construction side is headed by our Construction Sales Manager, Chris Stephenson, who runs out of Bishop Auckland and Newcastle.”

Family-owned Business

Founded in 1964 as a tractor dealership in Carlisle, Lloyd has grown considerably over the past five decades but has retained its approach and style as a family-run business with local roots. A key feature of the company is the easy accessibility customers have to interact with personnel at every level of Lloyd Ltd.

As well as Bishop Auckland and Newcastle, Lloyd Ltd has branches right across the North of England in Alnwick, Carlisle and Penrith and at Dumfries and Kelso in Scotland, where the company has increased focus on the construction sector with the appointment of construction sales representatives at each of the branches.

As well as building new premises for the Penrith branch, the construction expansion includes new investments in facilities together worth over £7 million, including refurbishment of the Carlisle, Newcastle and Kelso branches.  The investment also includes a new facility Lloyd Ltd is planning opposite the current Bishop Auckland branch, where a new 2900 m2 building will be constructed on company-owned land that will offer an outstanding showroom, triple workshop area and a training centre.

In addition, with the Bobcat range now fully available from Kelso, Lloyd offers Bobcat products from every branch. The expansion at Lloyd has coincided with numerous developments in the Bobcat range with new Bobcat products with enhanced features and quality designed and supplied from plants in the Czech Republic and the USA.

In the six years the company has been a Bobcat dealer, Lloyd has developed very close ties with Bobcat, with regular focus meetings with Paul Hyslop, the Bobcat District Manager UK North. The focus meetings explore every aspect of the Bobcat-Lloyd relationship, with a key discussion being customer focused actions to ensure the right customers are targeted with the right solutions and including forward planning on stocks of Bobcat products to help optimise lead times for customers.

Paul Hyslop commented: “I have been very pleased with the strides taken over the last two years by Lloyd, which have provided a significant boost to Bobcat sales in the areas they cover. I was delighted that Bishop Auckland was able to host the recent 2018 Bobcat Customer Roadshow as it toured England and Scotland, providing a great Bobcat experience for existing and prospective customers alike.”

Bobcat Roadshow at Lloyd

The Bobcat Roadshow provided visitors with a great opportunity to experience first-hand the latest products in the Bobcat range under the guidance of expert demonstrators from the Bobcat European headquarters in the Czech Republic and staff from Lloyd’s sales and finance departments.

One of the main themes of the Roadshow event was a focus on the Bobcat range of compact track loaders and the landscaping/groundcare market using a wide variety of Bobcat attachments on these machines. This was illustrated by using the Bobcat T450 compact track loader and MT55 mini track loader with a number of Bobcat attachments for these applications.  The Roadshow also offered visitors their first look at the new E26 mini-excavator, one of five models in Bobcat’s new ground-breaking R-Series 2-4 tonne excavator range, taking performance and innovation to new levels.

The T450, MT55 and E26 were complemented at the event with a range of other Bobcat machines and attachments provided by Lloyd.  This demonstrated the fantastic versatility offered by the machines in the Bobcat range, where the operator can switch quickly between different attachments to carry out a wide range of different types of work with the same machine.

Summarising, Alistair Whitby added: “Our Bobcat Roadshow event was a great day for our staff and customers. We had visitors from as far afield as Scotland, with several families joining in with the fun. With its unique atmosphere, the Roadshow allowed us to close off several new deals for Bobcat equipment. We are looking forward to a very exciting future with Bobcat and the expansion which will soon become a reality at Bishop Auckland with the planning permission finally in the bag.”

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New Germinal Appointment

New Germinal Appointment: Alan Thomson has been appointed as Germinal’s new Amenity Technical Sales Representative for Scotland and the North East of England.

Based from his home in Glasgow, Alan will provide technical sales support to Germinal’s customers throughout his region, and will be responsible for promoting the company’s popular range of Grade-A sports and amenity grass seed mixtures to golf course greenkeepers, turf growers, sports groundsmen and landscapers.

New Germinal Appointment

Currently training with the STRI (Sports Turf Research Institute) to gain his FACTS (Fertiliser Advisers Certification and Training Scheme) qualification, Alan will also be responsible for promoting Germinal’s specialist amenity fertiliser range which includes conventional compound products as well as liquid and phased-release fertilisers and specialist sward conditioners.  Alan will also promote Germinal’s range of regional and general landscaping wildflower seed mixtures.

Alan joins Germinal from Glasgow-based John Deere dealership, Nairn Brown, where he was the company’s area sales manager for the central Scotland region.  Prior to this he has worked as the Scottish sales manager for Tacit Golf and also has previous greenkeeping experience from his time at Bothwell Castle Golf Club.

Alan can be contacted via the following:

Mobile: 07887 578802

Email: alan.thomson@germinal.com

Web: www.germinalamenity.com

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