Kubota to acquire Officine

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Kubota to acquire Officine: Kubota Corporation intends to merge the lawn-mower business division of Italian manufacturer Officine BIEFFEBI (BFB) and its subsidiary Gianni Ferrari (GF) into a new wholly-owned subsidiary of Kubota Holdings B.V., Kubota’s European subsidiary for its agricultural industrial machinery business.

The creation of this new subsidiary, which will be called Kubota Gianni Ferrari S.R.L., will expand Kubota’s range of Groundcare products, aimed at professionals in sectors such as parks, stadiums and landscaping for individual customers. By integrating these new resources into its sales, production and development processes, Kubota Holdings Europe will speed up the expansion of this business line in Europe.

Kubota to acquire Officine

Kubota to acquire Officine

Officine BIEFFEBI and Gianni Ferrari have an excellent reputation and large market share in Europe as pioneers in centre collect front mowers (CCFM), a segment of medium to large high-end professional mowers for which demand has been growing steadily in recent years. In particular, both companies enjoy great popularity as CCFM pioneers in Italy, France, Germany and the United Kingdom, among other Western European countries.

That is why Kubota has chosen BFB and GF as the best partners to strengthen and complement Kubota’s lawn equipment business in Europe. The two acquired companies and Kubota have their own competitive advantages and product ranges in the different markets. This allows their offerings to complement each other perfectly, making this commercial partnership the optimal choice to take this line of business forward in the future.

Although Kubota’s lawn-mower division in Europe had been showing solid growth in the professional and high-end consumer segment thanks to its products’ superior resistance and operating capacity, the new company, Kubota Gianni Ferrari S.R.L., will have even vaster capabilities to develop and manufacture lawn equipment in Europe, including the highly-demanded CCFM. Kubota’s CCFM segment will thus also receive a major boost and will have the company’s sales and dealer support network at its disposal.

The closing of this transaction is subject to the completion of the condition precedents including the obtainment of the Golden Power clearance. (The Golden Power is the special power of the Italian government to limit or stop foreign direct investments (“FDI”) and corporate transactions involving Italian strategic assets).

About BFB

Corporate name Officine BIEFFEBI S.p.a.
Head office Gonzaga, Lombardia, Italy
Established 1979
Business Develop, manufacture and sale of small and mid-size mower

About GF

Corporate name Gianni Ferrari s.r.l.
Head office Reggiolo, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
Established 1989
Business Develop, manufacture and sale of small and large-size mower

Reference – About KHE

Corporate name Kubota holdings Europe B.V.
Head office Nieuw-Vennep, the Netherlands
Established 2017
Business Management of farm and industrial machinery business

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Golf courses tackle extreme heat

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Golf courses tackle extreme heat: Smoking bans, course closures, early finishes, just how are some golf courses tackling the high temperatures?

Read the full article from Golf Monthly here

Golf courses tackle extreme heat

Golf courses tackle extreme heat

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TriCure AD™ keeps the greens green

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TriCure AD™ keeps the greens green: As the UK scorches in some of the hottest temperatures ever recorded, the greens at Wexham Park Golf Centre are… well, green, thanks to TriCure AD™ from Headland Amenity!

Course Manager Tom Evans has praised the multi-molecular soil surfactant for retaining condition and presentation on the venue’s 27 greens – citing both a reduction in the amount of hand-watering required and, in turn, an increase in available water to maintain other areas of the site.

TriCure AD™ keeps the greens green

TriCure AD™ keeps the greens green

Three and a half years into his tenure as Course Manager, Tom is currently overseeing a major redevelopment project at the Buckinghamshire club alongside his team of six greens staff. He explains, “No two days are the same and the weather is certainly throwing more challenges into the mix for us. There’s no doubt we’re seeing more of these prolonged periods of hot and dry weather, and that’s when I’m really grateful that we’ve got a solid regime in place with TriCure AD™.”

“Over the years I’ve trialled various wetting agents, but TriCure is the one I keep coming back to – applied at 10L/hectare, monthly, between April and the end of September.” The ‘Tri’ of TriCure AD™ represents the three active surfactant chemistries which work together to help prevent and cure hydrophobic conditions. This combination enhances efficiency over single molecule wetters, treating all types of rootzone particles at much lower rates (like for like) than competitor products.

“This year, more than any other, we’ve noticed just how well it’s working. It has seen us through a dry spell in April/May and again now in the July heatwave, keeping the greens where we want them to be with barely any hand watering needed. We have also, this year, trialled using TriCure on one of our tees with great results. Hopefully, budget permitting, this can be factored into our programme in coming years which will be a major step forward for us in being better equipped cope with these more frequent hot conditions.”

Tom continues, “Like a lot of clubs our water supply is limited. In previous years the water to the tees has been turned off because of how much was required to keep the greens in good shape. That hasn’t been necessary this year, and that really is testament to the effectiveness of the TriCure AD™.”

TriCure AD™ is available in liquid, granular and pellet form, for accurate dosing through hose end applicators and offers cost-effective multi-rate use on all types of sports turf surface.

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Trencher Hire’s Mr Fixit

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Trencher Hire’s Mr Fixit: Meet Steve Kingdom who is responsible for ensuring the smooth running of Trencher Hire on a day-to-day basis.

As Operations Manager his role can be demanding, but he loves the interaction with customers and helping them through the process of selecting the right trencher for a particular application. He comments: “For many people hiring a trencher is a ‘one-off’ purchase and therefore it can be a little daunting, particularly if they are not used to operating such machinery.

Trencher Hire's Mr Fixit

Trencher Hire’s Mr Fixit

“It is my job to take the initial phone inquiry and ensure that the machine is delivered on the due date and take care of every detail in-between, including advising them on what the machines can do and how to operate them. It’s important to me that we not only meet a customer’s expectation but go beyond it.

Steve is a qualified car mechanic who worked for 12 years in that environment and so servicing the trenchers – another part of his job – is something he is well suited to, even though the machines are somewhat different!

Twenty months ago, Steve and his wife Amanda took the decision to move out of the hurly-burly of London and opt for a slower pace of life here in Shropshire. “We have settled happily into country life and feel our well-being is in a better place. However, we do enjoy going back to London now and again……but we really notice how busy it is in comparison to here.

“I was born in East London and spent over 40 years of my life in North London. My career has been varied and includes undertaking domestic appliance repairs, as well as 12 years as an Area and Regional Manager for Miele. However, having worked for a number of global organisations, I wanted to find a role with a small, local, family business and when I saw the vacancy at Trencher Hire, I was immediately drawn to it and haven’t looked back since.

“Prior to this, I took a year out to set up a mobile bar business called “Tipple On Tap,” which my wife continues to run and is hired out for such events as weddings and festivals. On board are a selection of drinks ‘on-tap’ including draft beers, wines, cocktails and prosecco.

“My time at Trencher Hire has been really enjoyable, but challenging at times – but that’s the way I like it.”

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Martin Lishman collaborates with Manterra

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Martin Lishman collaborates with Manterra: In a world of self-driving tractors, cars and even lawnmowers, the call for the precision and reliability of GPS controlled vehicles is sweeping across all industries.

For compact sprayer manufacturers Martin Lishman Ltd, their venture into the world of autonomous spraying became a reality when they were approached by UK based precision equipment specialist, Manterra Ltd. The plan was to mount a Martin Lishman Mini-Spray 125 litre demount sprayer with 3.5m boom on their XAG R150 fully autonomous utility vehicle and create a go-anywhere unmanned GPS controlled spraying system.

Martin Lishman collaborates with Manterra

Martin Lishman collaborates with Manterra

With both Martin Lishman and Manterra having roots in the Agricultural industry, their shared ethos of understanding customer requirements to provide solutions which were not always readily available was a perfect match for this project.

With Martin Lishman’s long history of designing and manufacturing compact sprayers, the choice was clear when it came to choosing a sprayer for the project. “We were struggling to find a UK based manufacturer who could fill all our requirements for lead time, quality, specification and value”, explains Andrew Manfield, Managing Director of Manterra Ltd. “Martin Lishman were able to fulfil all our requirements regarding these critical aspects, worked closely with us to meet our needs and were always responsive to our requests.”

The XAG and Mini-Spray combo provides a robust and versatile ground-based platform, which offers a whole plethora of spraying capabilities at an affordable level. It utilises the Trimble control system to deliver a full suite of variable rate application and targeted application solutions using Trimble Weedseeker sensors.

The use of the unmanned sprayer vehicle brings with it many benefits; the precision aspect means incredibly accurate spraying application and minimising the overuse of chemicals, from a safety perspective operators have greater separation from chemicals when the sprayer is in use and from an environmental point of view, the battery vehicle is quieter and lighter than typical UTV’s or tractors, minimising disturbance, and ground pressure.

“One simple but very effective application is using the XAG ‘follow me’ mode to do spot spraying using the lance attached to the Lishman sprayer”, adds Andrew. “As the R150 will follow the operator, stopping and starting automatically at approximately 2 metres away, it is infinitely better than using either a knapsack sprayer or a machine which must constantly be driven forward. Ultimately the applications for the sprayer and XAG platform are only limited by the ingenuity of the operator.”

“We jumped at the opportunity to get involved when Manterra approached us”, explains Gavin Lishman, Managing Director of Martin Lishman Ltd. “Our sprayers are going from strength to strength each year and we can firmly say that they have taken a strong hold in both the agricultural and amenity industries. Exploring new ideas and driving our product development is one of the reasons we got to where we are, so to be a part of this project was a good fit for us. We’ve seen GPS driven sprayers before, but never a fully autonomous unmanned sprayer – this could be a world first!”

“Field tests have been run successfully and we have machines in the process of installation with customers. Some of these are educational establishments so it will be interesting to get feedback from the next generation of operators”, Andrew Manfield concludes.

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