BTB 51: Southern Hemisphere Dealer Forum
Published on: Monday 25th November 2019
In late September, Tigercat hosted an inaugural Southern Hemisphere dealer forum to discuss issues and opportunities for improved customer service and plan for future product development. With a rapidly changing industry and economic background, and ongoing advancements in the way harvesting professionals are using technology, this information exchange was deemed critical. The four-day forum was a success on all fronts.
The event was centrally located in South Africa for participating dealer principals and upper management from Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay and southern Africa. The dealer representatives commented favourably. Peter Dudson, CEO of ELF Group which in turn owns AB Equipment in New Zealand stated, “We found the updates from the Tigercat team both useful and inspiring. There are a lot of very exciting things on the drawing board.”
WE FOUND THE UPDATES FROM THE TIGERCAT TEAM BOTH USEFUL AND INSPRING. THERE ARE A LOT OF VERY INTERESTING THINGS ON THE DRAWING BOARD.
– Peter Dudson, CEO of ELF Group
Attending Tigercat personnel included CEO, Ken MacDonald, president, Grant Somerville, southern hemisphere sales manager, Gary Olsen, along with vice presidents of finance, engineering and manufacturing. Management staff representing parts, service and marketing, and key international factory representatives rounded out the group. Grant Somerville commented, “I personally found all of the presentations to be valuable, and I thank our dealers for sharing meaningful details of how their businesses operate and the challenges they face.”
Gary Olsen and Ken MacDonald present a special award to David Hazell, owner and CEO of Onetrak in recognition of the 500th machine sold in Australia.
500 Machines in Australia
While the topics and discussion during the forum were at times quite heavy, the Tigercat team also took pains to inject some lightness into the event. One such instance was Gary Olsen’s presentation of a special award to David Hazell, owner and CEO of Onetrak in recognition of the 500th machine sold in Australia.
Lex McLean, owner of the previous Tigercat dealer, Forest Centre, began this effort way back in 1998. Onetrak, with David at the helm, began the transition into a countrywide Tigercat dealer in 2011. He greatly enhanced the Tigercat dealer footprint in Australia, along with the machine population.
The unusual format of the award came about from an interesting and somewhat extended conversation that David had with Canadian Border Security officials during his first visit to the Tigercat factories eight years ago. We’ll leave it at that.
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