Makita’s New Factory Service Centre

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Makita’s New Factory Service Centre: Makita UK has opened a third regional Factory Service Centre (FSC) in the busy London borough of Hounslow.  This new FSC joins Makita’s HQ facility in Milton Keynes, which serves the whole of the country, as well as Glasgow, which supports the rapidly expanding market penetration of the brand in Scotland and northern England.  The London FSC will primarily service the essential London and South East region.  In order to offer the best service levels in the industry Makita is committed to offering improved national coverage for the benefit of end user customers, as well as the network of Makita distributors, by building these dedicated FSC’s.

While these facilities satisfy a vital role in providing technical repairs and maintenance services for all mains and cordless construction machines, and the rapidly expanding range of grounds care tools, including 2-stroke and 4-stroke petrol engine products, training remains the cornerstone of Makita’s marketing success.  It ensures that both authorised distributors and operators are fully conversant with the power tools they own, or may purchase in the future; how to obtain the best and safest performance from these machines, and how to maintain them for efficiency and productivity.

Makita's New Factory Service Centre

The first FSC to be opened is based at South Street, Glasgow, which offers Makita product training across the complete range of products; product servicing courses, as well as accredited courses such as the successful and certificated City & Guilds Correct & Safe Use of Handheld Power Tools.  A user or instructor certificate is issued upon successful completion.  Courses are available to meet individual needs and bespoke power tool training can be designed to meet specific requirements.

At each location the theory elements of courses are held in a lecture theatre, followed by essential hands-on practical work which is carried out in specially adapted and fully equipped training demonstration rooms.  Courses are of 1 or 2 day duration or tailored to specific needs.  The CITB certificated course, which can include a combination of in-house and on-site training, relates to abrasive wheel training, and both instructor or user courses are available.  Gas nailer user training, chainsaw cross cutting and service courses are also available.

Tony Coleman, Technical Manager, Makita UK, says: “We are already receiving a very warm welcome from all sectors of the power tool industry in this heavily populated area of west London.  If demand becomes similar to that we’ve established in Glasgow and Milton Keynes we will be looking for additional training personnel.  Both employers and operators will benefit from this convenient location offering improved local services to all customers.”

Makita's New Factory Service Centre

Makita has great experience in supporting worthwhile challenges as WorldSkills UK, APL Apprenticeships and Hire Association Europe Apprenticeship schemes to help support customers of the future with product and training support.  Employees and employers can benefit from Makita’s outstanding training courses, which compliment high quality power tools used by professional trades’ people, raising ambitions and abilities for many.

The Makita range is supported with an equally comprehensive range of over 4,500 accessories and consumables products.

For more news and product information about Makita UK please visit www.makitauk.com.  Follow us on Twitter @MakitaUK, Facebook.com/makitauk and google.com/+makitauk

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Germinal Showcase ForeFront Mixture

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Germinal Showcase ForeFront Mixture: Germinal will be at BTME in Harrogate to showcase its ForeFront Greens grass seed mixture from 22nd to 24th January 2019.

Containing a unique blend of three top-ranking bentgrass varieties, ForeFront Greens delivers the highest levels of disease and stress resistance.  It is rated for cutting heights down to 3mm and, with excellent shoot density, fineness of leaf and unrivalled summer and winter greenness, is the mixture for better golf greens.

Germinal Showcase ForeFront Mixture

ForeFront Greens contains 35% Aber®Regal (browntop bent), 35% Aber®Royal (browntop bent) and 30% 007 DSB (creeping bent).

AberRegal and AberRoyal were both bred at IBERS (the Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences in Aberystwyth) from parent material originally sourced in the UK.  As well as superb disease resistance they also offer excellent shoot density, good fineness of leaf and unrivalled winter and summer greenness.

007 DSB was bred in the US using 24 parent plants to produce a single cultivar with a prostrate growth habit, high shoot density and good wear tolerance in a wide range of climatic conditions.  007 DSB has won plaudits wherever it has been used including at Ryder Cup and US Open courses and at the PGA Masters at Wentworth.  Unlike older creeping bent varieties, 007 DSB has a lower requirement for water and nutrients thereby making it ideal for inclusion in a low input seed mixture.

The recommended sowing rate for Forefront Greens is 8 to 12g/m2 (80 to 120kgs/ha).  The recommended overseeding rate is 5 to 8g/m2 (50 to 80kgs/ha).

To discuss how ForeFront Greens could benefit your course visit Germinal on Stand 257 in  the Red Zone at BTME.  Alternatively go to www.germinalamenity.com

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IOG’s Rallying Cry

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IOG’s Rallying Cry: No-one involved in club cricket will be particularly surprised that the evolution of volunteers in key roles is an ongoing concern. Struggles to recruit enough umpires and shortages of scorers is as old as the hills.

Is it as bad as it ever was? I’ll leave that to you to ponder but the relatively small pocket of volunteers propping up tens of thousands of players across Yorkshire isn’t germinating, if I can put it like that.

IOG's Rallying Cry

In his first article for Cricket Yorkshire below, former Telegraph & Argus journalist Bill Marshall looks at the issue of where the cricket groundsmen of tomorrow are going to come from.

Rod Heyhoe, secretary of the Yorkshire branch of the Institute of Groundsmanship (IOG), has issued a rallying call in order to attract younger members.

In his report to their annual meeting at Cleckheaton Sports Club, he wrote: “We again published and circulated to all members our programme of events, giving details of speakers and meeting dates.”

“Attendances at meetings are still very good – long may this continue into the future. We must be doing something right?”

“But we seem to have peaked on numbers attending this year and we cannot be complacent in moving forward. We need more younger people involved in branch matters. Where are you?”

Heyhoe added: “Your committee believe that we are here to help all the groundsmen – from professionals to amateur volunteers – to raise their profile and improve their knowledge and the playing surfaces in their respective sports and pastimes.

“Just over four years after the appointments of Jason Booth and his regional advisers running GaNTIP (Grounds and Natural Turf Improvement Programme), a lot of their time has been spent helping local county FAs, county cricket boards and rugby league clubs improve their pitches.

“With the young directors and your branch officials working hard for the cause, I think we are moving forward and also encouraging the younger end into the business with apprenticeships and training schemes.

“This raises the profile of groundsmanship along the way, and it is good to see younger people attending our branch meetings, but there are not as many as we would like.”

Meanwhile, deputy chairman David Robinson wrote of the four pillars that hold the Yorkshire branch together.

He said that there were “the willingness of excellent industry speakers and sponsors who support the meetings, the sterling effort put in by Keith Johnstone and John Hawksworth at Cleckheaton Sports Club, all members and friends who regularly attend the meetings and contribute to the camaraderie, raffle prizes, cakes and overall ambience, and the small band of committee members who tie it all together.”

Robinson added: “Should any of these pillars begin to creak, the other three may begin to lean, despite all the goodwill generated to bind them.”

He also said that it was a great pleasure to listen to branch president Keith Boyce, the former groundsman at Headingley, at the ordinary meeting in December, even though he brought news of his impending retirement.

Robinson added: “Keith, you are inspirational and the reason that so many are committed to excellence in groundsmanship.”

Many Yorkshire County Cricket Club fans will remember Keith Boyce but he then transferred his knowledge to transforming the Richmond Oval, New Rover Cricket Club’s home.

Thanks to Bill for that contribution, he has had his ear to the ground on local cricket across West Yorkshire for many years and we hope to have more club features from him in the months to come.

Of course, the groundsmen may be out there already, just not necessarily members of the IOG, but the general point stands around the sustainability of cricket clubs and the key part that groundsmen play in that, along with ongoing training and knowledge transfer.

Click here to read the original article

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Pitchmark Announce Launch Of Turfix

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Pitchmark Announce Launch Of Turfix: Pitchmark announces at BTME the exciting launch of Turfix, a newly formed subsidiary of The Pitchmark Group. Turfix will act as Pitchmark’s sole UK distribution arm, offering premium pitch solutions to the professional sports turf sector. This will include bespoke advice, education and the supply of a wide range of products from manufacturers including Pitchmark, ICL, Harrod Sport, Tildenet and BMS.

“We have developed very good relationships with other manufacturers in the sports turf industry worldwide,” says The Pitchmark Group’s Chairman, Mark Rodman, who has over thirty years of experience in the horticultural and amenity sector. “We have a highly experienced team with years of knowledge of a wide variety of products. Pitchmark is a line marking specialist brand, and to in order to offer complimentary product ranges we felt creating a new structure was the best approach.”

Pitchmark Announce Launch Of Turfix

What makes Turfix different, Mark says, is the quality of service, with the facility to spend more time with groundsmen and implement specifically tailored solutions for all their requirements. Every turf support manager has been a groundsman or greenkeeper in their career, adding a unique level of understanding. Turfix customers nationwide will also have access to a unique GPS pitch-marking service using Pitchmark’s LineMaster system.

The introduction of Turfix is another landmark in The Pitchmark Group’s development that has led to rapid expansion and the appointment of three new directors. The company supplied all stadia at FIFA World Cup Brazil 2014 and Euro 2016 France, and Pitchmark paint was also used to mark the pitch at the Principality Stadium for the Champions League Final 2017.

“Breaking new ground has been the hallmark of our business,” adds Mark. “Turfix brings together our experience and our understanding of what groundsmen need. It provides the ideal platform for sharing our knowledge and premium products.” Turfix officially opens for business on the 22nd January 2019 at BTME Stand 137, Blue Zone.

Turfix 03333 580505.

www.turfix.co.uk

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Efficiency A Priority For Foley Grinders

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Efficiency A Priority For Foley Grinders: A vital question for a workshop manager is how to maximise efficiency and minimise labour and maintenance equipment costs. One area to achieve excellent savings is to look at how you maintain the sharpness of your cutting units.

As an illustration of this, Foley and UK distributor ProSport UK Ltd are delighted to acknowledge St Andrews Links Trust for choosing Foley Grinders as part of its maintenance programme for its complete range of professional TORO cylinder mowers.

Efficiency A Priority For Foley Grinders

Foley United’s grinders are designed to be ergonomic and deliver on performance and reliability every time. St Andrews Links Trust like so many other clubs large and small are always looking for the latest techniques and will implement new ideas to deliver best practise, but it’s all about having the information to make that judgement. Which is why Foley United is so consistent in getting over the message about the benefits of relief grinding back to OEM specifications; it is a vital tool in achieving best practise in professional mower grinding.

Ian Robson ProSport UK Ltd the UK & Ireland Importer/Distributor for Foley United explains why relief grinding maximises the performance of reels by giving a factory finish every time.

Firstly, why is having sharp cylinders (reels) that are the correct shape so important anyway? The answer is obvious – unhealthy turf brings a whole host of other issues which are costly to correct. Therefore, prevention is a far more economic approach than a cure.

A huge amount of research and development has gone into designing a cutting unit to produce the cleanest cut possible with the least amount of fraying and tissue damage to the plant. The result is that all manufacturers of grass cutting equipment supply new units with relief ground edges.

Efficiency A Priority For Foley Grinders

Why relief grind?

Tests carried out by leading manufacturers have established that relief ground cylinders stay on cut up to 3 times longer than spun ground ones and require less horse power to drive the unit, resulting in greater fuel efficiency and less stress on the hydraulic power systems. In addition, a relief ground cylinder will withstand the abrasive effects of top dressing far better than one spun ground because the relief edge on both the bed-knife and the cylinder allows the top dressing to clear the cutting blades easily, helping to prevent the dulling effect seen on spun only units.

Continual relief grinding also decreases the squeezing and tearing of the grass as the units get dull, and most importantly it allows the cylinder to be returned to a factory specification perfect cylinder as quickly as possible.

The overall cleaner cut achieved by relief grinding gives a better after-cut appearance, increased recovery rate due to the clean cut of the grass and reduces the stress on components because less horsepower is needed to drive the cylinder.

Horse Power Study

As a reel wears flat and loses shape (becomes coned), more stress and strain is put on the cutting systems.

Efficiency A Priority For Foley Grinders

Using the figures from the above study a 5-gang cutting unit with relief can require up to 4.5 HP (5 x 0.88HP = 4.5HP) to drive the cutting units therefore a 35HP engine has 30.5HP remaining to drive the rest of the traction system.  A 5-gang unit which has been spun ground only, can require up to 13Hp (5 x 2.59HP = 13HP) leaving only 22HP to drive the rest of the traction system.

So, it has been established that relief grinding your cutting units saves you money not only by reducing workshop maintenance time with far fewer grinds but also through a reduction in fuel costs and replacement parts.

It is also important to acknowledge what relief grinding does for a reel. By removing metal from the trailing edge of the blade it forms a relief angle, which reduces the contact area of the cutting edges, resulting in less friction, longer wear life.

Efficiency A Priority For Foley Grinders

Typically, when a new mower is delivered the reels will be a perfect cylindrical shape. Over time the blade naturally loses shape, and the sharp edge it arrives with becomes flat and dull, often meaning the reel is no longer a perfect cylinder from end to end. This is referred to as ‘coning’ and a natural point for grinding to take place. The decision then sits between touch-up and spin grinding, or relief grinding.  If there is sufficient relief still on the reel then a quick touch-up is fine but once more than 50% of the relief has gone my advice would be to relief grind again and remove any coning.  Failure to remove the coning will eventually be seen in an uneven cut appearance of your turf.

But, the main question mentioned at the beginning comes back; how to get the most out of your workshop resources by choosing the most effective method to sharpen your cutting units. The answer is to trust the manufacturers judgement and return the reels as close to the original factory standard as possible, and for that, relief grinding is the best option. The bonus is this method also maximises performance and gives the best cut. www.prosportukltd.com

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