Worthington Ag Parts - President's Blog

July Promotion to our Valued Customers!

Worthington Ag Parts - Tractor Parts, Combine Parts, Implement Parts providers to customers all over the world for 44 years!  Parts - Expect More From Us!

It's almost July and as of today we "kick off" our annual July promotion!  We mail our promotional flyer to over 55,000 of our valuable customers that are classified as farmers.   Now through July 31st, 2008 we offer 15% on all orders over $500 provided you mention the promotion! 

We changed it up a little bit this year as well!  Instead of 15% off your order of $500 or more you can choose 180 Days Free on your Farm Plan account.  That means charge your purchase of $500 or more to your farm plan account and make no payments and incur no interest for 180 days!  You must be a a Farm Plan Preferred Agricultural account holder in good standing.  So you have the choice to chose 15% off OR 180 days financing interest free with farm plan but not both!  If you are not a farm plan account holder you can sign up at www.farmplan.com!

It's time to go through your combine and prepare it for harvest!  Buy the replacement parts you need and save 15% on your order of $500 or more!  Use the money saved to subsidize the rising fuel prices you'll incur during this year's harvest!  We have received our annual supply of after market new combine parts and are ready to service all of your combine parts needs!  On top of that we have purchased 412 combines in the last twelve months all for parts!  Buy field tested and proven used parts all with a one year warranty at a fraction of new!

I'm really fond of the theme of our mailer this year!  "Your Parts Specialists!"  Every photo of our parts specialists is real!  I know because I took them casually at each one of our stores.  It adds a personal touch to our advertising - real people solving real parts problems.  That is what Worthington Ag Parts has been doing for over 44 years.  We use the slogan mark "PARTS - Expect more from us" in our advertising.  I've had a few competitors and customers ask me "What do you mean by this?"  Well let me tell you - we want to exceed our customers expectations when they buy parts from Worthington Ag Parts.  They can expect a broader inventory of parts, a knowledge base second to no one in the industry and the assurance that we will stand behind your purchase once the parts are installed.  That is what "Expect More From Us" represents.  We strive to exceed your expectations!  It's that simple!   

You can also find a chance to win a nice prize download the flyer (Click Here) and look for it on the back page!  Please take advantage of our July promotion and save today!

Cheers,

Mike Winter

President 

Late Model Salvage Web Page

Tractor Parts, Combine Parts, Implement Parts providers to customers all over the world for 44 years!  Parts - Expect More From Us!

Just released "late model" salvage web Page!

Greetings everyone!  I'd like to inform you of our new page that we have released on our web site!  It is dedicated to late model salvage that we have acquired specifically to fill your parts needs!  It also specializes in utility tractors and skid steers. 

Worthington Ag Parts doesn't just focus on buying old used equipment for used parts.  Historically we focused on farm equipment 15 years or older but in the last two years we've expanded that offering to include any equipment we feel will service our customers needs! 

All of this equipment is also listed on our normal on-line salvage page but you can limit your search for late model equipment on this specialized page!  Check it out by clicking here!

Tomorrow I'll elaborate more on our July promotion!  You can read about it by downloading a PDF to read by clicking here!

That's all for today and I hope you are enjoying a nice weekend!

Cheers,

Mike Winter

President - Worthington Ag Parts

Ukraine Trip

Worthington Ag Parts - Tractor Parts, Combine Parts, Implement Parts providers to customers all over the world for 44 years!  Parts - Expect More From Us! 

Greetings - last week Colin Taylor, International Sales Manager and I were in the Ukraine visiting our business partners Agro Soyuz!  This is my second trip to the Ukraine and Colin's fourth.  It is a very interesting country with a booming economic climate.   There is large population of American and Western Europe business men and women in Kiev on any given day.  I have met people from the United States, Canada, Germany, Switzerland and Italy just to name a few all conducting business within the country. 

We landed in Kiev and drove with the Executive Director - Vladimir Skorik through the countryside to Dnepropetrovsk where their corporate headquarters are located.  Vladimir is the one in the center in the first photo!  Along the way we visited one of their regional distribution centers in Kiev and also one of their stores located half way through the trip.  I don't have the correct spelling of the city therefore I'm not even going to try and name it - pronouncing it is a challenge for me too!  The farm fields were full of hearty green crops a result of the fertile soil and favorable climate.  We saw a range of crops, including wheat, corn and rye.  I will say the highway infrastructure needs some work.  The road to Dnepropetrovsk was two lanes and we encountered a plethora of semi-trucks and trailers!  The thought of tourists dying on vacation came to mind via car accidents but we were in good hands with Vladimir and his trusty Subaru!

Agro Soyuz has businesses pertaining to manufacturing, automotive, machinery and replacement parts, farming and dairy operations.    The photo to the left shows the main offices for the farming operation along with the dairy barn.  They raise dairy cows, Ostriches, and Swine.  We were able to visit their farm along with their manufacturing and parts distribution center plus many other Ag related business ventures.  They milk over 1800 head of cattle three times a day on their dairy operation, electronically monitoring each cow, down the the milliliter of milk produced.  While on location, we ran into a bus full of farmers from Germany touring the dairy operation.  They have an on-site training facility for educating the local farmers.

Agro Soyuz has over 100 distribution centers located throughout the Ukraine.  They provide replacement parts for automotive as well as agricultural equipment.  They also provide service to farm machinery with trained service technicians in the field to get their customers back up and running! 

They manufacture the air seeder shown in the photos at their main facility.  The manufacturing facility is very impressive at their corporate center, actually a better term is campus!  They are located on 74 acres in the city of Dnepropetrovsk.  You wonder what kind of problems they have clearing parts through customs, let's just say none.  The customs office rents their offices from Agro Soyuz on their campus!

No trip to the Ukraine is possible without a good translator.  Meet Helen our translator while in Dnepropetrovsk.  She was provided by Agro Soyuz and was instrumental in our negotiations and business dialog.  She works directly with Efgany our contact for machinery, also shown!  We are grateful for their services and hospitality during our trip throughout their lovely country.  The one thing I have learned on my world wide travels is people in Agricultural whether it's in the U.S., Canada, Australia, South Africa, or the Ukraine are good people and that's what make this industry special!  Our friends at Agro Soyuz are no different!

Cheers,

Mike Winter

President - Worthington Ag Parts

Discount Used Tractor Parts - South Africa

Worthington Ag Parts - Tractor Parts, Combine Parts, Implement Parts providers to customers all over the world for 44 years!  Parts - Expect More From Us!

I'd like to introduce a special customer of ours Discount Used Tractor Parts of South Africa!  Worthington Ag Parts has been selling parts to them for over a decade!  Discount is truly a family business, the three brothers Evan, Ilan and Steven Rubin, their father Colin and uncle Les all have a hand in running the business!  They are located in the city of Delmas!  I visited their operations in 2005 and took the photo shown above of Evan, Ilan, Colin and Steven!  It was truly a unique experience to see their operations, while the culture is different the parts are the same! 

On Monday of this week at our Export Division in Sioux Falls, SD we had a strategic planning meeting with our good friends and customers!    The photo to the left show the six of us from left to right is Colin Taylor - International Sales Manager, myself, Steven Rubin, Randy Mittlestadt - Director of Operations, Carl Vande Weerd - Farm Show Manager, and Evan Rubin.      

The highlight of the day was when Evan asked to use the phone to call home to South Africa.  Our phone system requires that the user dial 9 to access an outside line and to call internationally in the United States you must dial the "011" prefix!  Well Evan dialed the 9 missed the zero and followed it up with 11 -- well we all know what happens when you dial "911"!!!  Well the sheriff's department were calling back within seconds and they demanded they come out and make sure everything was okay!  They were at the front door within five minutes, insuring everything was okay!  As you can see from the photo the handcuffs were almost used on Evan!  I think it was the first time the officers had met someone from South Africa!

It was a productive meeting and we look forward to expanding our relationship! We value their customer loyalty but more importantly we appreciate their friendship!  Thanks for taking the time to visit the Export Division and safe travels on your journey to our Sikeston, Missouri location!

That's all for today!

Cheers,

Mike Winter

Still Here!

Worthington Ag Parts - Tractor Parts, Combine Parts, Implement Parts providers to customers all over the world for 44 years!  Parts - Expect More From Us!

I've been waiting along time to dedicate the time to write my blog and let everyone know I'm still here!  Today I was motivated not only by the fact that I had the time and it's way over due but also by the fact there is a little rumor going around the industry.  The rumor is that I quit as President of Worthington Ag Parts.  Wow, that's an amazing rumor, I guess when you are the industry leader the competition will try anything to get a piece of your business!

I'd like to set the record straight, I am still the President of Worthington Ag Parts, and Director of Neil's Parts, a job for which I'm grateful for!  I have a great team of employees in three countries, United States, Canada and Australia.  I work for an owner that invests and believes in the business and we have the best customers in the world!  Our customers are honest people working hard to make a living and if they tell you I'll pay you in two months when the crops come in, you can take that to the bank! 

The last few months has been crazy, budgets, auditors, foreign subsidiary system integration, year-end with two new controllers and exponential sales growth!  We have survived and I hope to blog more often than in the last four months!  I have a lot of news to share!  Rest assured I'm not going anywhere because I have no intentions of letting my team down, the owner or our valued customers!  All I can say as I approach my 18 year anniversary with Worthington Ag Parts is watch out competition - I'm not going anywhere!

Cheers,

Mike Winter

Neil's Parts - Corporate Office

Neil's Parts - Australia's Largest New, Used and Rebuilt Tractor, Header, Cotton Picker and Implement Parts Specialists!  Worthington Ag Parts - Tractor Parts, Combine Parts, Implement Parts to customers for 43 Years!  Parts - Expect More From Us!

Neil's Parts corporate offices are located in Toowoomba, Queensland, just down the road from the branch.  The new offices were opened in July after being relocated from the Dubbo branch.  It's the first time the corporate office has been located out of the confines of a branch. 

This will be the hub for our existing and future branches.  It is their base to rely on for support and it will enable to open a few more branches in the coming years!  Too often the rationale is a corporate office is "overhead" to the organization or an "ivory tower".  In fact sometimes they are if nothing is moving forward or opportunities are wasted away.  With the integration of our U.S. Company Worthington Ag Parts and our Australia Company Neil's Parts platforms we will be one company for the world - one team.  Allowing us to provide exceptional customer service on both sides of the globe!

I'd like you to meet the corporate office team of Neil's Parts.

This is the newly appointed General Manager of Neil's Parts - Jason Atkins.  Jason has been with the company for 13 plus years.  It was nice to fill the recent vacancy from within the organization.  It demonstrates our philosophy to provide opportunities to passionate, knowledgeable and loyal employees wanting to move up within our team!  Jason started in the yard, moved to parts specialist, store manager and his recent position has been Director of Operations for the last three years!  Good Luck Jason we'll support you every step of the way! If you would like to congratulate Jason with an email click here!

Michael "Newbs" Newbury - Financial Controller.  Michael joined the team in April of this year.  He has been a real stable addition to the organization.  He has accepted the challenge of grasping the old accounting system along with the new accounting platform as of January 1st, 2008!  Newbs provides the resources to handle the future expansion planned for Neil's Parts and a solid financial background to maintain the integrity of our financial numbers for our auditors.

Robert Dean - Graphic Design.  Bobby joined the team in September 2003.  He designs all of the advertising for Neil's Parts, ads, catalogs, office stationary everything!  The last two years he has also been designing most of our ads for the United States as well.  Bobby doesn't just do the advertising you can find him helping in the accounting department, designing access databases, website development and any other administrative tasks that need to be done!

Leanne Sawley - Asst. Accountant.  Leanne joined the team in September of this year.  She recently has moved to Australia from Canada with her Australian husband!  She helps Newbs with the accounting, payroll, and all office tasks.  She is more than just an accountant, she is also the office manager who keeps these guys in line!  She will be working instrumental with all the bookkeepers on the new system, reviewing their daily work and posting their batches!  Welcome to the team Leanne, we are glad to have you on board.

Craig Hall - Inventory Procurement Manager.  Craig has been with Neil's Parts since July of 1994.  He has recently moved to Toowoomba - corporate office from the Corowa branch.  He is in charge of purchasing after-market new parts and re-manufactured parts.  He has a big job to do on the new platform as all counter requests for parts will go through him for purchasing.  He is also instrumental on working on international seasonal shipments of containers full of replacement parts.  Craig has spent the last three weeks away from his family who have not relocated from Corowa.  That's a long time to be away from your immediate family - THANKS for your efforts!

Here is a look at the team in the conference room.  Jamie Neldon (Accounting Systems Manager) and Michael Chorzempa (Financial Controller) both from the U.S. are providing training to Leanne, Newbs and Sharon on Microsoft Dynamics our accounting platform.  This is in preparation for it's roll out in January.  Tomorrow Greg Clemens our Manager of Information systems is going to provide training on their new counter selling systems, which not only provides them with the real time inventory but also the availability of parts from their U.S. sister company as well.

That's all for today and thanks for reading my blog!

Cheers,

Mike Winter

 

 

Australia - Toowoomba Store

Neil's Parts - Australia's Largest New, Used and Rebuilt Tractor, Header, Cotton Picker and Implement Parts Specialists!

Greetings from "the land down under" - rainy Australia!  That's correct rainy!  It has rained every day at some point during the day which is awesome for a country with severe drought conditions!  The trip down was uneventful which is just the way I like it.  The flight from Los Angeles to Brisbane was only 13 and 1/2 hours!  The total trip from the time we left our homes in Minnesota until we arrived in Toowoomba was almost 30 hours!    We've been here since Friday but things are "crazy" and I just haven't had a chance to collect my thoughts to blog! 

Neil's Parts of Toowoomba yard is shown in the picture to the left.  They are located in the state of Queensland about two hours from Brisbane!  The store is just down the road from our Australia corporate headquarters, where we are located for ten days!  It is the largest yard of the four, located on machinery road!  It's very well organized.  Tim Allan the manager made us breakfast at the yard on Monday morning.  It was great, I think he learned how to cook from his lovely wife who is a professional chef!

This is John Walk a parts specialist at the Toowoomba store.  John has been selling parts since March of this year and has been a great addition to the team.  He also plays rugby with some of the guys from the yard.  I've seen his legs rugby short and he should wear pants with those bird legs.  In all seriousness, he can get you the part you need if your tractor or combine ("header" as they call it in Australia) is broke down. 

Meet Craig Tebbutt - parts specialist Toowoomba.  Craig has been on the team at Toowoomba since September 2000.  This is Craig's second go round with the company.  You can count on Craig to be there everyday to provide you the parts that you need!  Craig has an easy going nature, nothing is too much trouble for him per his old manager Jason Atkins.  If you look real close at the photo you will see a "dash" of a figure rushing past Craig.  This is Nikolas Fitzgerald known "Nick Fitz".   He works so fast you can't even catch him on the digital camera.  I think his new nickname should be "Dash"!  Well maybe he doesn't work that fast but I thought the picture was really neat!

Sharon Greenbury is the new bookkeeper at the Toowoomba branch.  She was just hired to handle the bookkeeping duties that are changing because of our new system integration with the United States.  That's the primary reason for our trip.  Neil's Parts will be running on our platform January 1st - one world - one company - one team!

There are many more valued employees at the Toowoomba store that we didn't have time to get pictures of.  That's doesn't mean we think any less of them, we just ran out of time.  More tomorrow on the corporate office staff.  That's all for today from the land down under!

Cheers,

Mike Winter 

Thanksgiving!

Worthington Ag Parts - Tractor Parts, Combine Parts, Implement Parts providers to customers all over the world for 43 years!  Parts - Expect More From Us!

Everyone has something to be thankful for!  I'm sure most of you know what that is.  Today I'm going to tell you a few things I'm thankful for.  In the business world I'm thankful for the opportunity afforded to me by John "Hap" Fauth our owner to let me be the leader of Worthington Ag Parts.  Yesterday I was with the company for 18 years!  I'm also thankful for the team we have assembled at Worthington Ag Parts / Neil's Parts and the effort they put in everyday to make us the number one used agricultural parts supplier in the world!

From a personal stand point I'm thankful for the the three people that are most important in my life!  My wife and two daughters shown in this picture!  They are the main reason I do what I do!  Life would sure be empty without them.  I'm thankful for the good friends that I have in the business and personally.  You know who you are!  I can think of many more personal reasons that I am thankful for but I won't bore you!

Worthington Ag Parts is closed for the long weekend Thursday through Sunday!  I hope our employees and our valued customers have a safe and relaxing holiday weekend with their families!

Thanks for reading my blog and Happy Thanksgiving!

Cheers,

Mike Winter

President - Worthington Ag Parts

Inventory Trip Day 12 - Worthington, MN - Home

Worthington Ag Parts - Tractor Parts, Combine Parts, Implement Parts providers to customers all over the world for 43 Years!  PARTS - Expect More from us!

Good morning!  This is the day we've been looking for since we started - THE LAST DAY!  We were in the lobby of the Americ Inn bright an early this morning.  The standing units, inside inventory were completed by 5 PM last evening, leaving only the outside parts inventory appraisal this morning.  The inventory team are exhausted and they should be.  They have done a great job! The trip has gone 12 days, covered 8 states and ten locations! 

During this time the crew has appraised all of our used inventory.  You ask how many standing units?  Well here are the numbers:

Used Combines - 2,177

Used Tractors - 1,157

Used Grain Heads, Planters, Foragers and Balers - 367

Used Cotton Pickers - 121

These figures do not include our location in Canada or our four stores in Australia (Neil's Parts)!  Don't forget all of the bins full of used parts that were valued.  We have over 30,000 part numbers set up in our system that track used parts as well.  Each of these are shown in our on-line catalog with the prefix (WU-)!  There is no question we provide the broadest used inventory for salvage parts in the industry.

I'm writing this blog early today in anticipation of the drive home.  All of us should be on the road home by 11 AM today.  I had a chance to stop in and visit my mother here in Worthington yesterday, she is 80 years old.  My mother still lives in the same house I grew up in, yes that's right I'm originally from Worthington, MN.  The smell of homemade cinnamon rolls was floating about the house, freshly removed from the oven.  I didn't need one but of course who turns down their mother's cooking?  It was a nice treat towards the end of a long trip. I even stole one for Nick Moeller our Watertown, SD store manager who is part of the crew.  Nick has a "BIG" sweet tooth and always enjoys his sweets!

We have survived another inventory trip and before you know it we'll be back at this in 2008 for my 18th in a row!  Thanks for reading my blog!

Cheers,

Mike Winter

Inventory Trip Day 11 - Worthington, MN

Worthington Ag Parts - Tractor Parts, Combine Parts, Implement Parts providers to customers all over the world for 43 Years!  PARTS - Expect More from us!

Hello from windy Worthington, MN!  The wind is blowing so strong here the wind turbines are glowing red instead of their usual white!  Okay maybe I'm exaggerating but it's really strong here today!  The temperature is 37 degrees today and the wind is blow between 25 and 35 miles per hour.  We made it to Worthington around 4:30 PM yesterday.  The crew wasted no time and headed into the parts bins for an hour, then fatigue set in and we wrapped it up for the night.  They were very quiet this morning departing the hotel, a result of the long day ahead of them evaluating the large amount of standing combines, tractors and grain heads in the yard.  You can see from the above photo the large amount of used inventory in the yard.

You can see from the photo that our sales area is a little different in Worthington!  The parts specialists are in desks.  There are usually seven parts specialists serving the customers full time at this location.  They also have a nice display of parts in the lobby.  This store has a steady stream of walk in customers all day long.  This location has been in business for over 43 years the the name Worthington Ag Parts!  This store is all about the people similar to most of our other locations so here are a few of the team!

This is Laurie Hokeness our office manager she's been on the team 26 years!  She started in July of 1981!  Laurie use to work out of the corporate office when it was in Worthington.  She handled all of the payroll, personnel and inter company accounting.  She is now the office manager at the Worthington store. 

Meet Shelly Bird - bookkeeper Worthington store!  Shelly has been with Worthington Ag Parts since June of 2004!  She is a big Tony Stewart fan even though he didn't do so well this year!  She has a bunch of his stuff posted on her office wall.  Both of these girls carry a big stick like Libby does in Audubon.  If the guys don't do their paperwork right look out.  If you don't believe me just look at the sign they have posted in their office! 

Here is our counter staff, and their hire dates.  It doesn't matter if you need tractor parts, combine parts or implement parts they have the inventory and knowledge to provide a solution to you problem!

Dan Poss - Parts Specialist!  Dan can sell parts, buy inventory, mechanic in the shop and even haul salvage in the company truck!  Dan has been with Worthington Ag Parts since October 1988!

Arnie Ihrke - Parts Specialist!  Arnie has been on the team since April of 1981.  You can count on Arnie to be at the phones everyday!

Dale Martin - Parts Specialist!  Dale has been on the team since October 2000.  Dale is always good for a laugh, if you have time email Dale and ask him his story about the West Nile Virus!  If he can't remember that one I'm sure he has another joke for you! 

Rick Cobb - Parts Specialist!  Rick has been on the team since November of 2006 - he is the rookie!  Rick is excellent on greeting the customer on the phone and is catching on quick to the variety of parts we offer to the customer.  Rick also became a Grandpa recently congratulations!

Matt Helmers - Assistant Manager, Parts Specialist and Buyer!  Matt has been on the team since September 2004.  Matt not only sells parts but he also purchases quite a bit of our salvage for the Worthington location and a host of others.  If you can't find Matt at work you might find him hunting!  I think someone else shoots those big deer he has his picture taken with.

Dennis Bucholz - Manager - Worthington Division!  Dennis is the leader of the team here in Worthington.  He has been employed with the company since July of 1987.  Dennis became the manager of the facility in January of this year.  It's a big job to run our largest store and year one is the hardest but Dennis has risen to the challenge!

That's a few of our 26 employees here at the Worthington store!  I will have more tomorrow, that's it for today!

Thanks,

Mike Winter