Several topics such as training, productive equipment and trends in landscape management occupied the thoughts of several top contractors, who gathered in March for a two-day roundtable sponsored by Lawn & Landscape magazine and Husqvarna Forest & Garden, Charlotte, N.C.
These industry leaders had a rare opportunity to interact directly with a manufacturer about the most significant equipment and industry concerns they have that are affecting the way they do business.
Our May and June issues carried summaries of some of the discussions. In this final article, participants sounded off about the use and effectiveness of string trimmers, making the decision to buy new equipment, ordering, storing and maintaining an inventory of spare parts for equipment and the needs of contractors of the future.
Here are more insightful comments from our roundtable participants:
The Trimmer Debate.
“String trimmers are the root of all evil. Hours are wasted out there with those, which also result in injuries and damage.” - Dale Elkins
“They’re time killers. We’re trying to find ways to put the trimmer away.” - Gary Kuykendall
“Properties are better designed so there are less places where we need a trimmer. But people are still battering plant material with the line trimmer.” - Wayne Richards
“They can be a valuable piece of equipment, but training is needed. Fatique can cause the head to bend one way or the other. Good coaching is needed for their proper use.” - Randy Ferrari
Equipment Buying Decisions.
“With so much personal preference in equipment buying, we’ve found that employees can destroy the productivity on a piece of equipment if they think there is something better and they want to use it.” - Bruce Wilson
“We don’t have to have the same manufacturer as long as we’re getting a good partnership with the people we deal with. However, we are trying to limit the number of people we deal with.” - Ferrari
“The relationships issue with a manufacturer or dealer is important to our buying decision.” - Kuykendall
“When we get the chance to field demo equipment for a season, we take advantage of that. It gives them feedback and adds to our inventories.” - Mike Guthrie
On Spare Parts.
“We use bar coding for ordering parts like nuts and bolts. Our mechanic decides what he wants, then electronically orders them and they get shipped automatically.” - Ed Laflamme
“Sometimes the pricing of spare parts seems out of line. It feels like we’re being gouged sometimes.” - Ferrari
“We have to have parts, but sometimes we feel like we’re being held over a barrel - like we’re being nickel and dimed to death.” - Kuykendall
“I brought in a fleet and equipment consultant who went over all our trucks and equipment. He told us to narrow the kinds of equipment we have and stock as many parts as we can because of the costs of ordering. We figured it’s cheaper to pay for the inventory than to order it. If we only have a select amount of pieces, especially if they’re interchangeable, we can keep backup parts.” - Laflamme
“I wonder how many of us in our industry have sat down with manufacturers and dealers to find out what their costs are, what’s driving those costs and what we can do to keep those parts less costly so they can pass the savings on to us.” - Richards
“Some manufacturers release a product before they have the parts line going, and they’re not even sure what is going to break down on the equipment. All of us like to try new equipment to be more competitive, but with an early product release we have to wait until the parts supply is going.” - Wilson
“Parts supplies determine who we buy from. I may not buy from a dealer because I know his parts service is horrendous.” - Guthrie
“The ideal parts service for us would be to have the parts at the dealer and get them the same day. We stock parts, but the one that breaks is the one we don’t have! Getting a part the next day is nice, but you’ll still lose production on the next day too because it is probably not going to get there before the crew goes out in the morning.” - Wilson
“We carry a parts inventory out of necessity, but we want dealers to carry a better inventory.” - Guthrie
“I’d like a system where we tell the manufacturer how many hours we’re on the equipment and they tell us what we need for maintenance. I won’t have to stock a lot, and they’ll tell me what I need so I’m not spending a lot of time figuring out what I need and what to do myself.” - Laflamme
“I would bet that all of us are willing to do things to reduce our payroll costs in the shop or in the field, and we’re always looking for the best system to improve the productivity of our people. I think the best possible system would be to have the manufacturer tell me what equipment parts to stock, and also give me the ability to sell it back to them if they’re wrong. I want a parts turnaround of 24 hours. I should have enough spare equipment to cover myself for a day.” - Roger Braswell
Contractors of the Future.
“In the future, equipment will be more important, maintenance will be more important, we’ll continue to increase productivity and reduce our costs, and we’ll increase our margins. The crew chief will emerge as a professional-level person with the mobility to go from contractor to contractor and the expertise to produce and manage more.” - Phil Christian
“Customers will be more willing to let us manage their properties with a sense of reducing costs. They’ll allow us to eliminate the things we don’t think need to be done for those properties. Those relationships will be all important.” - Laflamme
“Crew chiefs will be more self-directed team leaders, and the people in the crews will be more involved in the management of their tasks. They’ll have more financial information to manage those tasks more effectively.” - Richards
“Contractors will become more open book with customers, which allows both to share in the savings.” - Elkins
“Performance will continue to be the single biggest management problem. We’re going to have to become better recruiters.” - Braswell
“We have to ask ourselves, ‘What are our employees going to need to be like five years from now?’ We may be training employees just based on where we are or where we want to be today. The industry always focuses on closing that gap, but we need to be more visionary. We should be focusing on training for the future where we want them to be, and realize that this will take time.” - Wilson
The author is Editor of Lawn & Landscape magazine.