Tag Archive for: Keeping

Keeping the mountains moving in Saalbach Hinterglemm

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Keeping the mountains moving in Saalbach Hinterglemm: Polaris is a firm believer that a product comes to life through its applications, partnerships but most importantly, via the people who use it.

To showcase the versatility of the Ranger, Polaris has embarked on a journey across Europe, the Middle East and Africa to discover and film how customers are using the Polaris Ranger in their day-to-day lives. The initiative, called Ranger Stories, is set to demonstrate the many ways in which the RANGER line-up is servicing customer lives worldwide.

Keeping the mountains moving in Saalbach Hinterglemm

Keeping the mountains moving in Saalbach Hinterglemm

Episode 15 – Saalbach Hinterglemm, Austria

From the fresh tracks in the morning to the very last chair, RANGER is always at work with customers who live and work in Saalbach Hinterglemm, Austria. In the heart of this world-class ski destination, a Polaris RANGER is a common sight. For the locals that keep the mountains moving, it’s a necessary tool that allows them to get the job done and keep the customers happy, no matter what the mountain climate throws their way.

“Saalbach Hinterglemm is a hotspot for sport and tourism year-round,” said Gerold Vonblon, Managing Director and Founder of Vonblon, Polaris dealer in Austria. “Skiiers, snowboarders and mountain bikers in the summer; the fantastic network of pistes for all abilities means there’s a constant stream of activity. For the people that live and work here, they are guaranteed to be busy year-round, so it’s important they have vehicles that are reliable day-in, day-out, and can be adapted to the extreme seasons.

“Seeing how Polaris Rangers have become an essential part of daily life here—whether for ski event logistics, mountain hospitality, or trail maintenance—is a testament to their capability and the trust that’s been built within this hardworking community.”

Ranger Stories Episode 15 follows Gerold Vonblon as he visits valued Polaris customers across the Saalbach Hinterglemm area:

Thomas Johann Ferner – Owner of the Stöcklalm Restaurant in Leogang and owner of three Polaris Rangers, including the Ranger XP Kinetic and two Ranger XP 1000s. Running a restaurant business on the top of a mountain is no easy feat in winter, so Thomas and his wife, Christine, must find an easy way to transport essential supplies and ingredients from the town below to their restaurant. The solution is a fleet of Rangers, all equipped with snow tracks, to traverse the snowy slopes and carry everything they need in the cargo bed.

Fritz Steger – Local hotelier and Chief of the Piste at Saalbach Hinterglemm Ski Club, Fritz is the main man when it comes to preparing the Zwölferkogel for major skiing events, including the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships that took place on the mountain this year. With a fleet of Polaris’ in operation, including the Sportsman XP 1000 and RANGER XP Kinetic fitted with snow tracks, Fritz is always on hand to monitor and manage the slope during the busy ski season.

Sepp Gensbichler – Winkler Alm Restaurant Owner in Saalbach Hinterglemm, a restaurant that sits amidst all the action on the Zwölferkogel directly on the slope, Sepp is a longstanding Polaris customer now on his third Polaris RANGER XP 1000. Fitted with several accessories that make it ideal for winter use, Sepp’s RANGER has a full cab, including an in-cab heater and snow tracks for travelling up and down the mountain with ease.

Hannes Gensbichler – Zwölferkogel Workshop Manager in Saalbach Hinterglemm, Hannes is the master of winter vehicles that operate in and around the Saalbach region, working round the clock to keep the mountain in pristine condition for the season. Maintaining snow groomers, snow blowers, and snow plows are all in a day’s work, made easier by their fleet of 12 Polaris Sportsman and RANGER XP Kinetic that work tirelessly alongside the team to keep the mountain moving.

The all-electric RANGER XP Kinetic is an important tool for the teams that operate throughout the Saalbach Hinterglemm region, synonymous with their commitment to sustainability and responsibility to both people and nature, whilst supporting them with unmatched capability and strength to get the job done, no matter what the mountain throws their way.

Similar to Vonblon’s customers, Polaris vehicles in operation across the area are commonly seen with snow tracks fitted for travelling across deep snow, complemented by the fact that UTVs are generally much more lightweight than cars, for easy traversing up and down the mountain. Customers can then replace the tracks with wheels in the summer season, making it the ultimate year-round vehicle. For most, adapting the RANGER with a full cab kit, including windshield, roof, full doors and a rear panel, is a must, along with an in-cab heater for extra warmth and windshield defrosting.

Hear the stories of Saalbach Hinterglemm’s winter workforce and see why no other machine gets the job done like RANGER.

CATCH THE LATEST EPISODE OF RANGER STORIES HERE

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Keeping John Deere connected

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Keeping John Deere connected: Scott MacCallum was one of a small group of journalists who flew to Germany to see the latest technological launch from industry heavyweights, John Deere.

There we were, sitting in a lovely clubhouse in the middle of Germany, using an iPad to watch the movement of machinery on the legendary Carnoustie Golf Links, over a thousand miles away.

Keeping John Deere connected

Keeping John Deere connected

We could see a Gator making its way back to the sheds, or a green being cut out on the 14th.

Now there is more than one way in which this overarching technology can be viewed. Carnoustie had given their blessing to the be the example shown to the interested press and delegates, but yes, there is an element of Big Brother watching over your every move, but the more positive outlook is that you can identify inefficiencies or numerous ways in which time can be saved and resources used to their very best advantage.

John Deere has recently invested massively into the amenity turf industry, drawing much from the more advanced research and development from the much larger agricultural sector.

So there was much anticipation for the small group of press who were at the launch, held in John Deere’s European headquarters in Mannheim and those wonderful green machines with the yellow wheel inserts didn’t disappoint. The group were shown around the state-of-the-art factory, which is home to the two millionth John Deere tractor, which features the pictures of 300 of the staff who had worked on it.

John Deere Precision Turf technology has shown to increase productivity and efficiency. The focus is on connecting, guiding and managing the machines.

Connect The machines are connected using John Deere’s JDLink telemetry system. Machine data, such as hours, fuel level, or location is sent to the cloud-based John Deere Operations Centre . Fleet managers have a comprehensive view of individual machines or even the entire fleet whether they are on the go or in the office.

This allows precise planning of tasks, maximises uptime and uses the machine’s location to ensure optimal use. All golf equipment already has a JDLink modem for any turf-related operations. Starting with model year 2024, the 1500 Series TerrainCut front mowers and the TerrainCut 1600 Turbo wide area mowers will also be equipped with a JDLink modem.

There is the option to retrofit modems to commercial ZTrak Zero Turn mowers and compact utility tractors. Guide Precision guidance systems can be used to make turf operations more efficient.

Machines can accurately follow a pre-planned route, even in low visibility or during the night.

Keeping John Deere connected

Keeping John Deere connected

This allows the HD200 GPS Precision Sprayer to avoid overlaps or missed applications with a guidance system to accurately treat the turf. Standard Individual Nozzle Shutdown allows operators to only cover pre-defined turf, while lower maintenance areas are automatically left out.

This greatly simplifies the work processes as Public the operator can fully concentrate on the actual work process without having to take additional care to maintain the tracks. Components such as the StarFire receiver and the Universal Displays, plus technologies such as AutoTrac, enable the use of precision guidance systems.

The components can be easily transferred from one machine to another. Manage The John Deere Operations Centre provides a central platform for managing machine- and work-related information to make data-based decisions quickly and easily.

The Machine Analyser inspects and visualises machine data, for example, to identify service needs in time or to evenly distribute hours between machines.

The new John Deere Connectivity programme allows Course Managers, dealers and John Deere themselves to track machinery while out on the golf course from wherever they happen to be. It allows a much more objective assessment of performance.

“We can track how many hours a triple mower has worked and over time if we need to even up hours on leased equipment cutting units on tees mowers can be swapped with those on greens mowers as greens mower hours are much greater than those of tees mowers,” said Paul Trowman, John Deere’s European Marketing Manager.

This software integrates OnLink into the John Deere Operations Centre. John Deere Operations Centre PRO Golf provides solutions for managing golf course maintenance.

It provides functions to manage machine fleets and human resources.

At the same time, it provides information that greenkeepers need to manage their assets more efficiently and distribute tasks.

The work at John Deere shows that modern day technology can be a genuine force for good, a benefit to the industry and not something about which to be closed and suspicious.

Keeping it genuine keeps costs down

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Keeping it genuine keeps costs down: Since Toro started filling its machines with its new PX Extended Life Hydraulic Fluid, customers have been enjoying a reduction in downtime, increased time between services and an improvement in the total cost of ownership of their machines.

To provide customers with value added improvements, Toro changed its standard fill hydraulic fluid to an extended life hydraulic fluid called Toro PX Extended Life Hydraulic Fluid.

Keeping it genuine keeps costs down

Keeping it genuine keeps costs down

Since 2019 every machine out of production has been factory-filled with this new PX fluid, and customers and distributor Reesink Turfcare have noticed that by sticking with this genuine hydraulic fluid brings big benefits.

Michael Hampton, purchasing and sales process manager at Reesink Turfcare, says: “Just as buying genuine applies to all Toro parts so does it ring true when it comes to hydraulic fluid. By sticking with Toro PX Extended Life Hydraulic Fluid customers are guaranteeing a reduction in servicing intervals for hydraulic fluid and filters to up to 2,000 hours compared to using the standard Hydraulic Fluid which requires a change every 800 hours.”

Sticking with the new PX fluid allows for increased hydraulic fluid and filter change intervals, eliminates the initial low hour hydraulic fluid change, allows for common change intervals across product offerings reducing confusion during maintenance servicing, as well as reducing the overall cost of ownership.

Michael continues: “Hydraulic fluid is an essential part to the machine. Its main function is to provide energy transmission through the system, which enables motion. Hydraulic fluids are also responsible for lubrication, heat transfer and contamination control. So, when it comes to quality control and safeguarding the performance of the machine, sticking to genuine hydraulic fluid surely rates highly.”

Toro PX Extended Life Hydraulic Fluid is suitable for all Toro machines apart from the GP1260, Groundsmaster 7210, Groundsmaster 360 and Outcross. It is available through Reesink Turfcare online at via reesinkturfcare.co.uk, by phone on 01480 226800 or by email at info@reesinkturfcare.co.uk.

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Keeping garden bugs at bay

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Keeping garden bugs at bay: Green fingered homeowners falling victim to destructive garden bugs are being given advice on how to keep them away.

The team of outdoor experts at GardenBuildingsDirect.co.uk have provided some cheap and easy solutions on how to tackle these bugs.

Keeping garden bugs at bay

Keeping garden bugs at bay

As the sun starts to come out, Brits are making the most of their outdoor space and making them look as beautiful as possible.

Unfortunately, the likes of moths, slugs and snails also come out in the sun and can do a lot of damage to gardens.

A spokesperson for GardenBuildingsDirect.co.uk said: “It is inevitable that garden bugs will cause a bit of disruption, whether you’re out relaxing, planting your own veg or growing your own garden.

“This guide is full of some of the most destructive garden bugs and the top tips to help keep these at bay, so the outdoors can be stress-free.”

Slugs and Snails

Slugs and snails are some of the most common yet destructive garden pests. Not only do they leave a sticky trail behind them, but they also love to munch through leaves and vegetables. This can be particularly problematic on vegetable patches if you are growing plants like lettuce and cabbage.

Salt has always been a fool proof way of killing slugs and snails, but if you want to stop them in their tracks, copper tape acts as a great deterrent, giving them electric shocks.

Caterpillars

Caterpillars love to nibble their way through fruits, vegetables, and plants. They are also detrimental to some flowers too, with the buds and seeds often all destroyed.

One of the most natural and inexpensive ways to rid your plants of these pesky bugs, is to spray them with hot soapy water. This can then be poured into a spray bottle and used as many times as necessary.

Moths

This type of garden bug can be especially damaging in the summer months. They love cotton and wool fibres so homeowners need to be aware that leaving outdoor cushions and furniture in the garden could be targeted by moths.

An easy solution for deterring them is to use herbal sprays in the areas you want to protect. Herbs like lavender and rosemary are not loved by these bugs, and they also smell nice too.

May Bugs

Usually seen around May-time (up until July), which is how it earned its name, May Bugs can cause considerable damage to gardens. In their early years they live under the soil and feed off the roots of plants and flowers.

As there are not a lot of homemade options available to keep these bugs away, the best option is to use an insect killer.

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