[AT] best parts service

[Grant Brians]

Larry, you are right to a large degree. If a business were to start today,
they could not even think about a large parts stock because their banker
would pull financing faster than a bullet flies. Yet, having a parts stock
is critical to any successful business. The key is to build a stock in such
a way as to keep customers happy as often as possible.
     The John Deere dealer in Salinas, CA which is the closest to us had an
excellent stock up until the owners decided they would be interested in
selling to RDO (the mega, mega dealer company based in North Dakota.) Then
they started running the stocks down about 8 years ago and everything became
special order. The New Holland dealer closed the location near us and
retained the others and last year was their biggest sales and profit year in
the 40 years in business. They have had a policy of keeping the bare minimum
in stock for years on all but tillage and tune up parts. Those items are the
biggest profit contributors for them except for tractor sales! Interestingly
they have increased stocking a bit over the last year... could there be a
relationship between profits and stocked parts? Yup.
     My experience with AGCO parts has been mixed. Few things are in stock,
but most Massey Ferguson parts seem readily available. On the other hand the
other brands are either get it from far away or Europe or Japan.... And that
is on the things they have not obseleted.
     I will also state that my experience is colored by the reality that I
am using more and more less antique farm machinery as my operation has
expanded. I use a mixture of equipment from the 1930's to 2010. Tractors
range from 1937 to 2008 (bought last year as a lease return). Implement
parts range from easy to get (Strathmore, 1965 on StanHay planters and
International Harvester) to virtually unobtainable (the Allis-Chalmers plows
I just got). Implements parts in general are a major problem right now as so
many have been scrapped in the last 5 years. Prices are rising fast on used
implements as so many are so expensive if available new. The plows I just
bought cannot be bought new at all as no one makes a rollover 4 bottom very
heavy three-point plow any more. John Deere dropped their rollover line
completely and their Frontier line is only small ones. Wilcox makes 250hp
and up models here in California which is little help to the small to
mid-size operations. Interestingly the Allis Chalmers AC600 tool carrier
with rippers (usually 3 shank 32" to 36" have consistently held their value
here in California even as the new rippers get bigger (most are 5, 7 or 11
shank now matched to the big Challengers and 4 wheel drives.)
     Back to parts stocking for a last comment. When I worked in the
Semi-conductor and Computer industries. The companies that held good parts
stocks consistently had better profit margins and happier customers than
those who did not. When I was a marketing Engineer for Embedded
Microprocessors, a frequent question and often determining factor in whether
the company got the sale was how long will it be available after last
production and what where the last purchase policies.... The newest
technology often lost to the longest available in the future....
           Grant Brians
           Hollister,California vegetable, fruit and nuts farmer.

-----Original Message-----
From: at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com
[mailto:at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com]On Behalf Of Larry Goss
Sent: Monday, October 03, 2011 4:55 AM
To: Antique tractor email discussion group
Subject: Re: [AT] best parts service


LOL!  "The days of good parts service everywhere are numbered."  I disagree,
Eddie.  The days areen't numbered -- they're gone!  That fat inventoory of
spare parts to fit all those tractors and pieces of equipment can represent
over a milliion dollars.  Businesses just can't be run that way any more.

Larry



----- Original Message -----
From: "Eddie" <edchainsaw at aol.com>
To: at at lists.antique-tractor.com
Sent: Sunday, October 2, 2011 9:22:06 PM
Subject: Re: [AT] best parts service


We deal with all kinds and brands and find the parts from a dealership
actually at our case IH dealer..for antique tractors... the JD dealers can
get almost anything with a wait......our NewHolland / Allis. Dealer was
great himself but agco as a hole has been and to me continues their effort
to eliminate all stocked parts...

Agco here has fired the 50yr dealer who still had AC parts that Agco had
stopped produceing..  the gave the dealership to a dealer who stocks No
parts ALL parts are ordered....  yes all parts even for new machines.

The days of good parts service everywhere are numbered.

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