December 2006

2006 in review

The last 5 years have seen steady growth for the TFM company but 2006 has certainly been a season worth remembering.
 
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  • A commendable effort from our dealers has meant that for the first time Krone was the number one selling round baler in New Zealand.       
  • Top product performance and continued support led to our greatest recorded forward order Indent Deals to date achieving a 9% increase on last seasons record performance. 
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  • In March 2006 we hosted a dealer conference in Masterton which because of the enthusiastic turn out, was a tremendous success. 
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  • The new service training initiatives were well received with a special CombiPack program added.
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  • Construction of the new storage warehouse covering over 900sq. m.
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  • Launch of new web site.

Sales Milestones
 
  • The first of the new generation BigPack balers was sold in New Zealand (BP890XC - Hawkes Bay)
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  • The first of the revolutionary MultiBale balers sold (BP1270XC MB – Waikato)
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  • Two Big M II sold - one in Waimate and one in Hawkes Bay
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  • The first Big X Forage Harvester sold - WairarapaRabe taken on by Rau group, maintaining the success and stability of this manufacturer of top quality equipment.
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  • The introduction of Einbock has proven a tremendous success with excellent sales to date.
 
Dealer - Stevenson & Taylor

From Humble Beginnings… 

Tradition is good for communities and particularly rural communities. For two men, Peter Taylor and the late Bill Stevenson, their general engineering business has become a tradition – the tradition of servicing the Hawkes Bay. 

Started in 1951 in a blacksmith shop (pictured below) formerly owned by Norm Tate
in Waipukurau they started out fixing machinery of any description.

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No job was too big or small - from earth moving machinery to chainsaws. The efficient service offered by the workshop saw the company begin to expand and in 1955 larger premises over the road on Russell Street were purchased to cope with an increased work load. 

New complex under construction 

The company has continued to grow and in 2005 a bold decision was made to open their first branch in Hastings. This move however was also made in conjunction with a commitment to sell their existing premises and build a new complex. The new complex (pictured below) , currently under construction is conveniently situated on the outskirts of Waipukurau and is due for completion in early 2007. Over the years the diverse nature of the business saw the creation of five separate divisions. The engineering division being the business the company was founded on is at the forefront.
 
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Dealership

In 1958 the company became a dealer for International Harvester and that set the platform for the second division being the tractor workshop. 1958 also saw the acquisition of the Homelite chainsaw franchise, and later in 1980 Stevenson and Taylor became agents for Mowtown and their allied equipment creating a requirement to form a small motors division. The obvious need to sell the tractors and related equipment meant that a sales division was required and finally but very importantly, the four divisions need a dynamic parts department to back them all. 


The people

In 1961 Bill Stevenson’s son Brian joined the company - now the current managing director. Brian started in the engineering division and takes pride in the fact that up until very recently still used to work alongside his men in the workshop. In 1967 Bill Donnithorne joined the company and is the current general manager. Bill is the front line man, being sales oriented. 2003 saw Brian’s son Brett join the company taking on the position as workshop manager. Brett trained as a vehicle mechanic with emphasis on electrical/electronics. Stevenson and Taylor have a compliment of 30 staff and take pride in the fact that they have a good number of long serving members. The key says Brian is training, and a hands on management approach.


Stevenson and Taylor & TFM

In 1984 Stevenson and Taylor became a dealer for Tulloch Farm Machines and in August 2005 made a further commitment and became a Stocking Dealer. Although this meant a further financial commitment to Tulloch Farm Machines, both Brian and Bill saw the obvious advantages. We are pleased to say that the commitment has paid off with a major increase in sales volume coming from Stevenson and Taylor which also included the sale of the first Big M II in the Hawkes Bay to Middle Hills Contractors.

 
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Stevenson & Taylor’s 30+ staff

 
Christmas message

The loyalty of contractors, dealers and farmers together with commitment from our staff has again enabled Tulloch Farm Machines to achieve record sales.

Loyalty from confidence : The innovative design features, and robust construction of our equipment range coupled with efficient after sales service/training and efficient parts back up have given customers the confidence we strive for. 

We would like to thank all our customers for their continued loyal support and wish them a pleasant, productive summer and a prosperous 2007. 
 
Jamie Hansen - Service Team

Jamie joined our service team on 1st August 2005 tasked with repairs to tractors and equipment as well as assembly of new imported machines for distribution to dealers.

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Jamie was born in Masterton and schooled at Wairarapa College. After leaving school in 1996 Jamie joined the Royal New Zealand Air Force as an aircraft refueller. In 2000 Jamie was transferred to East Timor where he served under a UN peace keeping force for 6 months, then returned to New Zealand.

During   his free time Jamie does a bit of surfing and jet skiing but more recently he has found a new interest in rebuilding cars having recently refurbished a Mazda RX2 . As part of our policy of ensuring staff are up to date with all servicing aspects of the equipment we import, Jamie has recently completed a training course on the Krone Big Pack baler conducted at the headquarters of Kubota Australia in Melbourne, who are the Krone distributor for Australia.

 
Website

New Website Launched

Technology moves on and we must keep pace. The Tulloch web site, although functional, was a bit outdated and needed a rework. A fair amount of discussion, sketching and theorising went on, and finally a layout and design was established. 

The new site was launched in April 2006 and we are delighted that it is technology that works well, is user friendly and is not too slow for the customers still on dial up. One of the main criteria in the design was to ensure that it was not too slow to surf our site on dial up.


Download product brochures

The new site has a menu featuring all our products available with a downloadable product brochure for each product in PDF format. Before you download the brochure you can see how big the file is so that if you are on dial up, you can choose not to download it. 

There are also photos of the machines in work – now mostly local New Zealand shots which I am sure some of you will recognise, so go on in and have a look. The site also has a photo gallery which is updated on a regular basis. Our web site is there to compliment our 0800 number. i.e. with only our web address www.tulloch.co.nz and 0800 88 55 624 you should be able to get service parts or product information - no need to go Yellow Pages, Google etc. on any of our products from Krone, Rabe, Einbock, Fransgard, Supreme, Pronovost and Gehl.

Happy surfing!
 
New storage and MAF facility

Increased sales volumes and the need to place orders on overseas suppliers well in advance of the season meant that some new equipment would be left out in the yard uncovered prior to dispatch to the dealers. 

A decision was taken to build a storage facility. Construction commenced in June of 2006 and despite problems with rain, was finally completed 5 months later. The new building has sufficient area to offer space for bulk parts and some used equipment. In addition, the outside area has a container pad designed specifically for receiving container trucks for efficient offloading, inspection by our MAF approved staff and extraction of the equipment. The facility will not only offer covered storage, but will help streamline our planning, ordering, assembly and delivery process to our valued clients throughout New Zealand.
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Krone News

Markets, facts & figures from Krone-Group 2006

Press Release Spelle, 7th of November 2006 - With a total turnover of 978 Million Euro (consolidated) for all   sectors within Bernard Krone Holding GmbH & Co. KG the Krone-Group recorded the most successful   financial year (01.08.2005 - 31.07.2006) in its 100-year history. The Krone group reported further growth on an impressive scale, with its agricultural machinery operation reporting a 19.5% increase in sales, the commercial trailer plant a 14,6% increase and the agricultural trade and services company   a 5% increase in net sales. Almost 60 percent of the total turnover was generated in sales areas outside Germany

A number of independent surveys that were conducted this year confirm the dynamic development of   Krone’s agricultural machinery and commercial trailer operations and they reveal that both companies are among the fastest growing companies worldwide. Their outstanding growth rates are even more impressive since they were not achieved through acquisitions but through productivity enhancing measures and expanded sales activities. Krone with its three independent business areas is one of the most successful companies in the German state of Lower Saxony. In the fiscal year 2005/2006 Krone employed an average of 1,825 people. Compared with 1,764 employees in the previous year, this figure represents an increase of 3,5 %. The majority of the Krone employees provide service in manufacturing followed by the areas of   Sales and research and development.   


Facts and figures KRONE Agricultural Machinery operation

Agricultural Machinery sales increased by 19.5% to 265 million Euros in the financial year 2005/2006. 62.8% of these sales were generated outside Germany and current figures demonstrate even further growth. Within Germany Krone increased its agricultural machinery sales by 28% in an overall growing market for haytools and selfpropelled forage harvesters.


Outlook

The company anticipates further growth in global agricultural machinery sales for 2006/2007 even though raw material prices are increasing and Krone may face bottlenecks in the supply of raw materials. The outlook for the European market is positive and we expect an increase in sales in France and the UK. After a very successful seasonal year 2005/2006, the company awaits a strong overall market situation. 


Bio-energy & renewable resources

A growing interest in bio-energy and renewable resources suggests positive effects for the central European market. There great demand for new machinery continues in Eastern Europe while North American markets will continue to be stable and sound for Krone products in 2007. For the financial year 2006/2007 the agricultural machinery plant expects a turnover of 285 Million Euro.
 
More VarioPack deliveries
 
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Another load of New Zealand’s No. 1 round balers on the way to new owners.

Note the tandem axle. 

Krone is still the only round baler manufacturer that has a standard option for tandem axle. The issue of price is always contentious but consider this - there are no reports of a customer reverting to a single axle from tandem. 

The increased stability on hills is a huge safety feature for your staff and equipment. The baler travels smoother in the paddock and on road so the resultant stress on the machine is   reduced considerably. It can be observed that the baler will bounce around less than the tractor towing it and even tractors with suspension. 

A further benefit from the tandem axle is that the pick-up is not as susceptible to smashing into the ground when a wheel drops into a hole so there are some savings in repair costs.