Engcon like many companies was affected when Covid-19 struck with full force in the spring. As well as impacting sales, Engcon was forced to cancel and pack up early at this year’s largest construction trade show CONEXPO, Las Vegas. Engcon is known for its good financial management and immediately acted with a package of measures, that included cost savings, budget adjustments, and prioritizing efforts to streamline processes and working practices. However, this summer’s sales figures were better than expected, which meant ramping up production to meet the increase in customer orders.

”For us, it is of the utmost importance to run the company in a serious and long-term way. In uncertain times, we do what we can to minimize the effects if it should be a worst-case scenario,”

says Krister Blomgren, CEO of Engcon Holding, and continues:

“But it turned out pretty soon that despite the pandemic, many excavator operators around the world continued their work with maintenance of railways, highways, forestry, and building structures. We know that our products contribute to socially beneficial activities and these priorities around the world have therefore of course been favorable for us as a company. This is a strong contributing factor to our positive sales figures”.

In total, Engcon Group sales dropped by approximately 14 percent from January to July 2020, compared with the same period last year, while sales increased by 18 percent in the non-Nordic markets.

“What you have to remember is that it is the other markets that are growing at a higher rate right now, meanwhile sales remain sluggish in our normally stronger markets here in the Nordic region”.

However, Engcon has seen greater caution around larger investments, but at the same time can see that many excavator operators barely have time available for all their assignments right now. Those who can afford it are thus making the smart move to invest in an economic downturn in order to prepare for the upturn.

”Investing in a tiltrotator makes digging considerably more efficient, which means the extra capacity to catch up with more jobs in hectic times. It is wise to equip the business, regardless of whether you are a local excavation company or a large global corporation,”

says Krister Blomgren.

Engcon has a number of activities prioritized to further develop the business and come out stronger on the other side of the pandemic.

“For example, we have just chosen a supplier for a new business system, as part of a decision we made over a year ago. Our strategy is to streamline our processes and make smart investments to become even better. This summer’s sales have been good, and we are cautiously optimistic, even though we have not heard the latest about Covid-19 yet,”

Krister Blomgren concludes.

The markets where sales rose significantly during the year were North America (the USA and Canada), Denmark, the United Kingdom, and Australia.

The post Engcon pushes strong summer sales appeared first on North America FarmQuip Magazine.

“It was quite easy to undo the netting and let the bales roll down the hill, but with cattle you get a lot of wastage,” Peter says. “They like to lay on it, trample it and spoil it.” Peter estimates that he was wasting around 30% of each bale. “That’s like buying 100 bales of hay and then sticking a match to 30 of them.”

Peter used the Hustler Chainless X5000 (TX205) trailed bale feeder. It gave him the capability of handling large square bales in addition to the round bales he produces himself, and he could take four bales out at a time, instead of just three. He also likes the fact, that the Hustler bale feeder takes the bale right down to the core, even a very tightly wrapped bale gets broken up nicely.

“I purchased the Hustler and within the week I started feeding out adjacent to where I was rolling them down the hill. The difference between having hay or no hay left was phenomenal. So from a costing and efficiency perspective, I was a long way in front using the Hustler.”

For Peter it was an easy decision to make the purchase: “Hustler Equipment is extremely solid and robust – very reliable.” The quality build and few moving parts mean a lifelong investment and easy maintenance. 

Peter also runs a farm machinery dealership, with Hustler bale feeders among his offerings. He takes his Hustler Chainless X5000 (TX205) out for demonstrations and has never had a machine not doing the job.

Peter thinks selling and using Hustler Equipment is a benefit. He is using the product daily and therefore knows exactly what it is capable of. “We’ve done demos with the Hustler on our property and as soon as I’ve done a demo using my machine, it’s been an instant sale.”

Source: Hustler Equipment

The post Beef farmer invests in a Hustler bale feeder appeared first on North America FarmQuip Magazine.

This is an opportunity for customers, dealers,  and both K-Line Ag and CNHI teams: It permits to expand the reach of K-Line Ag products, while the emphasis by CNH Industrial on agricultural technology and product innovations can only benefit the further development of K-Line Ag’s current product line-up.

The staff of K-Line will remain involved in the day to day management of the business, supported by the Larsen family. The manufacturing of K-Line Ag products will remain in Grafton, North Dakota (and Cowra NSW, Australia), with plans to ramp up production and increase the number of units produced each month.

K-Line Ag products will continue to be sold under the K-Line Ag name in Australia and New Zealand through the existing network of Case IH, New Holland and selected independent dealers. In North America, the products will be branded as Case IH for Case IH dealers, while the current K-Line Ag branding will remain the same for all non-Case IH dealers within the US market.

Source: Case IH 

The post CNH Industrial acquires K-Line Ag appeared first on North America FarmQuip Magazine.