Dealer Tips: 3 Things to Consider When Making Your Next Equipment Investment for 2019

As a grower, what do you think about when purchasing farm machinery? With expensive input costs, and lower commodity prices, there is a lot to consider when buying equipment. Here at Butler Machinery Company, we understand the struggles that come with the expense of purchasing equipment, and with shorter growing seasons and more to manage on the farm, it’s more crucial than ever to carefully consider your business investments. With this in mind, here are 3 ways technology and customer service can help you make the best choices for your operation:

1. Data Benchmarking

Data can provide valuable information when buying equipment. Having the ability to use the machine data, and tie it into our customers’ operations, has opened our eyes to a new purchase experience. At Butler, we are using telemetry solutions, such as AgCommand to provide customers with more information before their buying decisions. For example, data can show a customer their expected efficiencies on machinery purchases from a field demonstration standpoint. A customer can have a competitive combine, and can compare historical data from their current machine against data from the field demonstration, in turn providing insight of expected machine efficiency after purchase. Data gives us the ability to provide the best customer service experience and tools to make our customer’s operations more efficient.

2. Communicating Between Mixed Fleets

Every machinery dealership knows that the chances of a customer having an entire fleet of their branded equipment is pretty slim. In some cases, they may not sell everything that the customer may need to complete their operation. However, it is critical for our customers to be able to communicate with other branded equipment, and be able to communicate successfully. As an AGCO dealer, our technology solutions align with the Fuse open approach. This means making the transfer of machine and agronomic data as seamless as possible, either through AGCO’s own solutions, through connections to 3rd party partners, or a mix of both. We’ve reached a point with technology that customers really can choose the equipment that best suits their operations and don’t have to be “stuck” with just one color. If you’re interested in purchasing a Challenger® 1000 or a RoGator® C-Series, options such as Reichhardt’s ® GREEN FIT, AGCO Agro Link, AGCO Task Doc, and NEXT Wayline Converter Tool, have made it possible for us to work with competitors’ technology. For example, we have the capabilities to use a customer’s existing John Deere technology, and apply that to our equipment, making their purchase seamless. Now customers do not need to worry about having their machines “not talking” to one another and as dealers, it’s great that we can provide solutions that meet the customers’ needs for their operation. Customers should discuss these options with their dealer as part of the buying decision.

3. Support

With every machinery purchase, come questions. The equipment is new to the grower/operator and we are often asked, “How do I use the equipment, and most importantly, how do I use the technology?” Having someone from the dealership show you the “ins and outs” of the equipment before and after the sale, is key to maximizing the value of the equipment purchase. Having someone you can call with questions is even more critical. With shorter planting and harvest windows, down time is very expensive. We pride ourselves on support. We have after-hours parts and service support, along with a group of Product/Technology Support Specialists, and a Call Center, to assist customers with questions. We are also using telematics to quickly resolve, and in some cases prevent, machine issues.

2018 was a great year filled with learning opportunities and I’m excited to see where 2019 takes us in the farming industry. Today’s machines are more than iron; they’re data centers on wheels. At Butler, we are ready to partner with customers to take advantage of everything these machines can offer, from connecting each customer’s unique fleet, to taking advantage of data to minimize downtime and improve efficiency.

To learn more about Butler Machinery’s involvement with ag technology, please visit https://www.butlermachinery.com/technology/ag-technology/.

To learn more about AGCO’s open approach to smart farming, please visit FuseSmartFarming.com.

Written By: Jason Weaver, Ag Technology Supervisor of Butler Machinery Company. Connect with Butler Machinery Company on Twitter @Butlermachinery and on Facebook.