Tractor sales start to show a marginal change

Tractor sales for August of this year were up on previous years, according to the latest Central Statistics Office licensing figures issued last week.

The figures show that 228 new tractors were licensed in August, which is a 14% increase over the August 2003 figures. The overall year to date figures are not as positive and using 2002 are a more accurate comparison, the figures show a slight 3% reduction in the January to August period.

That is a relatively small change, according to FTMTA President Simon Cross, who said that business in the farm machinery so far this year was holding up well and dealers are looking forward to continuing good business this harvest.

New Holland upgrades parts centres

New Holland has moved its spare parts distribution centre to a central European warehouse dedicated exclusively to New Holland, in Le Plessis, outside Paris. It will have a surface area of 42,000 sq m and will guarantee the availability of New Holland parts to the whole of Europe. Depots in Italy, Germany, the UK and Spain will ensure that the European market is completely serviced.

New Holland says Le Plessis is an important investment which will enable the company to guarantee efficient, rapid distribution of parts and that once the difficult transition period has been passed while the warehouses are transferred. Irish dealers and farmers are supplied spare parts from a new supply depot at Daventry, Northamptonshire, England. The move to the new depot involved the transfer of the business from the previous UK parts depot at Thurrock, Essex (which closed last summer), to a purpose-built distribution area strategically located two miles north-west of Daventry, close to the motorway network. The new depot uses the latest shipment and delivery systems and processes to meet customer requirements. Daventry picks, packs and despatches the same-day 'emergency order' requests from dealers and offers a collection service within one hour of order placement. Items that are requested for stock are sourced from the European parts centre at Le-Plessis, France, which is also able to dispatch for next-morning delivery for 'emergency order' requests. "'Daventry carries a larger number of items to meet the needs of the UK and Irish customers on an emergency basis, which allows us to continue to set the standard in parts supply,'' explains Chris Brown, UK aftersales marketing manager.