Takeuchi’s first production facility outside Asia, located in Moore, S.C., produced its 10,000th compact track loader just two short years after it opened in September, 2022.
Takeuchi’s Moore employees signed the interior engine cover of the 10,000th compact track loader, making it a unique purchase. The milestone machine, a TL12R2 model, was then shipped to Takeuchi dealer, Bennet Equipment & Supply, and sold to Scott Childress of SEC Construction in Greenville, S.C.
“Our employees are very proud to have produced so many machines in a relatively short period of time,” said Ralph Wabnitz, director of factory operations for Takeuchi-US. “This achievement also means a lot to this region. Takeuchi has become a major employer in Spartanburg County, and we’re intent on being good corporate citizens who give back to the community as much as we can. It seems appropriate that this 10,000th machine will stay in this area where it was built with so much pride.”
The company said reaching this goal required many on-site support and encouragement from Takeuchi’s headquarters in Nagano, Japan.
“We constantly pushed forward, trying to get better and more efficient each month,” Wabnitz said. “I give a lot of credit to our employees. Every month, we asked them to do better, to do more. And we’ve achieved every goal management presented us with, from manpower to production quality to safety.”
The company says they’ve been constantly growing the Moore facility and its staff, allowing for the increase of units produced each month and a new compact track loader model coming in the near future, according to the company.
“We started out with just 11 employees,” Wabnitz said. “Now, we’re up to 146. We kept ramping up every month. The labor market in South Carolina is extremely challenging, with an unemployment rate of just three percent, making it difficult to find the right employees with the ideal skillsets and attitudes. But we’ve assembled a great team, and they’ve made incredible strides over the past two years.”
Volvo selects Dealer of the Year and Uptime Dealer of the Year recipients
After hundreds of dealers and customers stopped by its North American headquarters for a successful Volvo Days earlier this month, Volvo Construction Equipment named two dealers as its Dealer of the Year and Uptime Dealer of the Year for 2023.
Great West Equipment, a full-service dealership with 11 locations across British Columbia and Yukon in Canada, was awarded the OEM’s Dealer of the Year. The award celebrates the dealership that exemplifies the Volvo brand and values and demonstrates consistently high performance in all areas, including customer uptime, service offerings and share performance over time.
“Great West does business with purpose, and their strong customer base is evidence of that,” said Scott Young, head of Region North America, Volvo CE. “They are dedicated to building relationships and understanding their customers’ needs so they can deliver the best solutions possible.”
Volvo said Great West Equipment‘s team, filled by several people working efficiently in key roles, achieved significant year-over-year growth in multiple equipment types and in market share while also building up their knowledge and inventory of electric machines and the relevant support equipment and tools.
“We are so grateful to be recognized,” said Colin Matejka, president at Great West. “Our team has put a lot of thought and time into ensuring our customers are satisfied with the level and type of service we provide. We are always looking to strengthen our relationships with our clientele and proud to see our team recognized for their ingenuity and dedication to the communities we serve.”
Another dealer earned an award from Volvo: this one focused on keeping customers up and running. The 2023 Uptime Dealer of the Year is Strongco, a wholly owned subsidiary of Nors, S.A. that has 25 locations in the Alberta, Ontario and Quebec provinces of Canada.
“Strongco serves a large territory and has tough competition, so their ability to differentiate themselves with excellent service is what makes them successful,” said Young. “They put great thought and care into building strong regional teams to be able to support customers better and faster.”
The Uptime Dealer of the Year award recognizes the North American dealership that exhibits Volvo’s commitment to being the No. 1 uptime provider in the construction industry by demonstrating its Service Commitment pledge to provide customers unrivaled service and support.
In 2022 and 2023, Strongco restructured their product support staff and processes, added a vice president of after sales and developed regional performance centers, demonstrating exceptional focus on customer support, according to Volvo. These changes, along with branch improvements, better enable the service team to respond quickly to customer needs.
Weller Brothers Landscape Professionals wins gold award from NALP
Weller Brothers Landscape Professionals, a Sioux Falls, S.D.-based landscaping team, received a gold award from the National Association of Landscape Professionals‘ (NALP) Awards of Excellence program. The project, Midwest Masterpiece and More, was designed by senior landscape designer Chad Kasten and installed by landscape foreman Nolan Meier and crew.
The award-winning backyard project is a testament to Weller Brothers’ experience in landscape design, according to the company. The once-empty, sloped area was transformed into a multi-level oasis featuring large natural stone retaining walls, a custom-lit pool, artificial turf areas, an outdoor kitchen, extensive softscapes and more. Weller Brothers completed the project in two phases over two years.
This is the second time Weller Brothers has won a national Award of Excellence with the first one being a bronze award given to the Rochester, Minn., team in 2023.
“It’s an honor to receive the gold award from NALP,” says Cole Weller, Weller Brothers CEO and president. “This project exemplifies our purpose in action – creating outdoor spaces for life’s best moments.
Chad Kasten, senior landscape designer, did an excellent job meeting the clients’ needs and giving them a beautiful backyard to make memories with family and friends. Our operations team, including landscape operations manager Tyler Nelson and foreman Nolan Meier, executed the job wonderfully. They are just a few of the many team members it takes to bring a project like this to life. It’s a proud moment for the whole Weller Brothers team.”
Each year, the National Association Landscape Professionals Awards of Excellence recognizes exceptional commercial and residential lawn care and landscape installation, maintenance and design projects from across the U.S. This year, 246 awards were given to companies for outstanding work.
All-America Selections revives the International Plant Trialing Conference
All-America Selections (AAS), a North American plant trialing program, will bring back the International Plant Trialing Conference in 2025.
After a decade-long hiatus, the educational event will provide updated information for plant trialers of all levels, according to the company. The conference will be held from Oct. 13-15, 2025, at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Bloomington, Minn, located a few minutes from the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
Monday, Oct. 13 is set to be the arrival day with registration pickup and the Opening Reception, and Oct. 14-15 will be two full days of educational sessions.
Conference highlights include:
- Two days of educational sessions covering a wide range of topics, including ornamentals, edibles, plant trialing techniques and industry trends.
- General sessions and breakout sessions tailored to both experienced and new plant trialers.
- Expert panel discussions featuring diverse perspectives and insights.
- Networking opportunities with industry professionals.
Registration and hotel booking will open on Nov. 1, 2024, and sponsorship opportunities are available on AAS’ sponsorship page on its website.
The plant trialing event got its beginnings in 2011 in the U.K. and was followed up in 2013 with an event at Longwood Gardens. The last event was held in 2015 in conjunction with the FarWest show in Portland, Ore.
All-America Selections is a non-profit organization dedicated to evaluating new garden varieties for their performance in home gardens across North America, according to the company.
Kubota acquires Bloomfield Robotics
Kubota Corporation’s North American subsidiary acquired Bloomfield Robotics, a Pittsburgh-based company that provides a service designed to monitor the health and performance of specialty crops — one plant at a time — using advanced imaging and artificial intelligence to growers across seven countries and three continents.
“We are excited to announce the acquisition of Bloomfield Robotics, a natural evolution of our successful partnership through Kubota’s support of open innovation,” stated M. Brett McMickell, chief technology officer for Kubota North America. “Combining AI-driven technology with our legacy quality products will enable Kubota to solve real issues facing agriculture. This acquisition is a key milestone for Kubota’s strategic vision to provide comprehensive smart agriculture solutions.”
Bloomfield’s cameras are the foundation for a new Software as a Service (SaaS) that provides plant-level health and performance assessments for growers of grapes (e.g., wine, table and juice), blueberries and other specialty crops. Bloomfield’s purpose-built cameras are easily mounted on tractors and other vehicles common to farming and allow for the capture of detailed plant-level, geo-located images of the entire farm. These images can then be translated into various crop data including color, maturity and size of the fruit using Bloomfield’s AI. The result is new insights into harvest timing and yield, which enables meaningful operational efficiencies, better timed harvests, reduced labor costs and increased asset utilization.
“The Bloomfield vision from our founding was to provide continuous plant-level knowledge to every specialty crop farmer around the world. This acquisition brings that vision forward at a scale and speed we could not have imagined. Fortunately, we’ve been working closely together for over two years, so we have a running start at achieving this vision. We’re truly excited for what’s to come,” said Mark DeSantis, President and CEO of Bloomfield Robotics.
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