SEPTEMBER ‘18 INSIGHT. Monthly Employee Newsletter.
THANK YOU TEAM! We just finished September business and posted strong sales well ahead of prior year. We continue to build the momentum we need to become stronger as an organization to better serve our customers. I am so proud of all of you for your “Get it Done” attitude through a very busy year. We started the year with momentum by bringing in new and used business right out of the blocks in January. Many of us were focused on bringing in the four NE Montana Farm Equipment Sales stores into C&B, which became official in March. Then came the Noteboom Implement project, which was our largest yet. We also launched our re-branding project which simplifies our name to our customers and focuses our team under one name. Lastly, we have reorganized the management structure of our organization above the store level to provide more support and focus to the departments of each store. I am so excited about all of these changes and how they will support additional growth during the balance of the year and into 2019. We have a lot to get accomplished before year-end with fall harvest and planting and support of our ranchers, consumers and golf and turf customers. We are heavy in new and used equipment inventory and need to find good homes for it. We need to end the year lean and mean. Parts and Service have done a great job in growing their business and need to keep that momentum going through fall and into 2019. I believe in you and thank you for all we have accomplished this year. Let me know what you need from me, please, to continue growing trust with our customers. Have a good and safe month.
Matt
KIDS AG SAFETY DAY C&B-Ida Grove recently took part in the annual Ag Safety Day for area 4th graders sponsored by Ida County Farm Bureau. Tom Gray, Regional Inventory Manager, and Bryon Hare, Sales, spoke to the kids about combine and farm equipment safety. They ran freshly cut corn stalks through the corn head to demonstrate the speed and destruction that comes with harvesting. They also reviewed the many dangers associated with combines: the many areas that the combine operator cannot see, hot engine compartments, crop and metal debris being ejected, dangers behind the safety shields, belts, chains and drives, heavy tires and parts that can injure or kill young people. The Ida Grove Sheriff’s Department, Fire Department and ambulance/hospital also participated, as will as Nutrien Ag Systems and an Ida Grove customer who spoke about horse and animal safety.
PRECISION AG
AGRONOMIC DECISION SUPPORT More than ever, our customers are seeking out ways to lower inputs and increase production in their operations, and when they make a decision related to our products it can involve a lot of dollars. Keep in mind that I am not just talking about trading equipment, but a simple change in the part that they purchase or a setting in a monitor can have a big impact on the customer’s operation. There is a need today to better understand agronomic industry trends and be prepared to share with our customers how our products can do what they are looking for. We are not creating map based prescriptions or selling fertilizer, but rather focusing on the agronomic value that our product offers and helping link the customer up with an ag service provider of their choice. I am pleased to introduce Josh Horstman (Agronomist, CCA). He came to us through the Noteboom organization and is currently a split employee with C & B Operations and CHS-Farmers Alliance in Mitchell, SD. He has a 4-year Agronomy degree from South Dakota State University and lives and farms near the Salem, SD area. Josh will be charged with providing all employees agronomic insights through C & B’s Insight newsletter and working closely with the agronomy crop success teams at John Deere to keep all of us up on industry trends and the benefits our equipment can provide. Jeff Buyck Director, Precision Ag
ACTIVE YIELD Today I’m going to talk about the “Active Yield” option for John Deere S series combines and how it’s an important option not only because it’s the latest and greatest calibration technology, but how it’s important agronomically, as well. Active Yield will lead to improved performance and uptime. It saves an average calibration time done manually by up to 90 minutes per calibration. It will auto calibrate when the load is between 2,000 and 6,600 pounds. The auto calibration will allow the operator more time to concentrate on running and monitoring the machine. Active Yield will also have greater field data accuracy due to the auto grain calibration. This will lead to making more accurate agronomic decisions such as precision Variable Rate Technology (VRT) applications with seed and fertilizer. Every field has variability and this will have better accuracy with measuring yield, test weight, or on moisture down to a specific area, grid, or zone in the field. This will help us support better agronomic decisions after harvest. Seed hybrid selection and your seed order, every year is an important agronomic decision. Having more accurate yield data can help us better decide which seed variety fits each field and its variability.
What is it that we don’t have much of in the fall, during harvest? Time, and nice sunny harvest days, right? This will help us optimize that critical time on those few “perfect” harvest days that we get every fall. It seems like soil freeze up comes quicker every fall. Saving that critical time with auto calibrations will give us more time for our other critical fall field work such as soil sampling, fall tillage, and strip-tilling.
Josh Horstman Certified Crop Advisor
PRECISION AG SUPPORT AT LAKE AREA TECH “Education is the foundation upon which we build our future” – Christine Gregoire As we continue to source employees from tech schools and colleges across the country, there is a need for those students to have exposure to John Deere Precision Ag products. The challenge has been many of these programs are looking for complete donations or purchase the units and in a year or two it has become old technology. Two weeks ago, we delivered a C & B display stand to Lake Area Tech in Watertown South Dakota with precision ag equipment that will be rented to the school when they are in session. This allows for the dealership to resell this equipment at a discount and for the school to have current technology on the stand at all times. If you have schools that could benefit from a program like this, please let me know!
C&B SEPTEMBER INSIGHT.
GOLF & TURF
SENIOR PGA TOUR IN SIOUX FALLS On September 17th through the 23rd, the Senior PGA came to Sioux Falls South Dakota. The Sanford International Presented by Cambria is the first ever PGA TOUR Champions event to be contested in South Dakota. The event was played at Minnehaha Country Club and featured a $1.8 million purse. The event was open to pro players over the age of 50 and drew big names such as Bernhard Langer, Fred Couples, Vijay Singh, Thom Lehman and John Daly. Even legends such as Andy North and Jack Nicklaus played the event, drawing quite a crowd. C & B was present at the event with John Deere Golf equipment and food for the grounds maintenance crew. Over 50 volunteers, mainly superintendents that we sell to, came in to help the Minnehaha Country Club keep the grounds up for the event. Chad Rembold, Golf Sales Pro for C & B, received many compliments for our participation in the event. He put in many hours hauling equipment, having parts on hand in case something went down, and even helped with a few tasks one afternoon . Much of the grounds work was done during the night due to the tournament being played all day. The great part for C & B and the community of Sioux Falls is the PGA plans to come back and hold this event every year through 2022.
In September, John Deere Waterloo employees gathered to discuss their strategy between now and 2022. Among many things, they discussed how Precision Ag is a large factor to their future success that all stake holders in their business were interested in. During the meeting, they invited a large customer from Kentucky and Precision Ag Manager Jeff Buyck in to offer thoughts on the impact Precision Ag has had for our customers and the dealership and where we felt our needs were over the upcoming years related to tractors. Many examples from the dealership were shared along with many enhancement requests from our customer base.
C&B SEPTEMBER INSIGHT.
SHERIDAN
MOMENTUM! Having a morning huddle at our store every morning is one of the things I have implemented coming out of the Summit meetings last year. Having this short huddle every morning at 8 AM has really developed into a positive function in the Sheridan store. When we first started this event we basically just had the service manager tell everybody what each tech was doing for the day. Our parts manager told us what was going in in the parts department. I would give a short summary of what the sales department did the day prior, then give a motivational phrase of some sort.
It has developed over time that all the team members at our store look forward to not only to have some input on store activities, but I have watched our team become more closely knit together. It gives us a chance to discuss struggles that one of the departments may be having so we can address it appropriately. It also gives us a chance to share successes that we had the day prior. Recently I have been talking about momentum. I gave my definition and vision of what that meant for our store. I asked each team member to think about their definition of what momentum meant to them and give two suggestions of how we create momentum. The best one I got so far is “team work makes our dream work�. To sum it all up I would say a morning huddle has unified our team in Sheridan and it has definitely built a stronger sense of a team mentality. One morning a customer walked in and realized what we were doing and waited to talk to our service manager. On his way out the door he stopped and visited me. He apologized for interrupting, and then told me it was encouraging to see that we took the time to meet in the mornings and start the day on a positive note. We will continue to have our morning huddle and build our team mentality, and momentum! Andy Ward Store Manager, Sheridan
SEPTEMBER
CALENDAR CUSTOMERS
Stone Lake Farms Trimont, MN
Hoarty Farms Wessington, SD
Tim Karst Fairview, MT
C&B SEPTEMBER INSIGHT.
OCTOBER BIRTHDAYS
ACCIDENT FREE DAYS (as of September 15)
Paul Cimpl Josh Horst
3 3
Rick Anderson Willie Bentz
12 12
Travis Zimmerman Brandon Lasar
23 24
Ann Wold
3
Sydnee Harwood
12
Dave Petersen
24
Headquarters
3301 Luverne
4
Tom Braun
4
Peggy Stoll
12
Chip Senf
24
Gettysburg
122
Edgerton
1053
Christopher Plamp
4
Steve Torkelson
12
Deb Sierck
24
Mike Sholty
4
Bill VanderVorst
12
Joella Dirette
25
Selby
40
Pipestone
185
Adam Eversman
5
Paul Rigo
13
Dave Marone
25
Miller
408
Worthington
173
BJ Olson
5
Kobe Saiz
13
Tim Uher
26
Roscoe
138
Tracy
4
Cory Schulz
5
Dudley Stookey
13
David Vogl
26
Billings
64
Slayton
10
Bruce Johnson
6
Mark Cihak
14
Tim Madsen
27
Larry Klinkner
6
Adam Dirksen
14
Taylor Morgan
27
Miles City
204
Freeman
273
Scott Lupkes
6
David Newman
14
Jennifer Nielsen
27
Glendive
514
Wagner
235
Brandy Tracy
6
John Vermillion
14
Alvin Rezac
27
Glasgow
115
Yankton
386
Jake VanDyke
6
Nolan Blom
15
Robert Hauger
28
Brent Winter
6
Jim Braaten
15
Cody Lubben
28
Circle
5
Mitchell
262
Justin Noteboom
7
Frank Pearson
15
Trent Sessions
28
Culbertson
194
Chamberlain
26
Eduardo Palacios
7
Chris Schenkel
15
Bryan Bork
29
Plentywood
194
Corsica
26
Andrew Schmidt
7
Seth Shively
15
Kevin Bumsted
29
Sheridan
236
Parkston
26
Logan Jorgensen
8
Ruby Gilson
17
Ben Carda
29
Brady Burns
9
Dan Haynie
17
Gary Ellingson
29
Powell
80
Platte
26
Randy Lokre
9
Lucas Schmidt
17
Lowayne Goosen
29
Idaho Falls
4
Spencer
26
Paul Sanders
9
Keith Vockrodt
17
Scott Heard
29
Rexburg
128
Lake Park
26
Luke Bamberg
10
Kyle Blom
18
Dale Holgard
29
Matt Dellman
10
Kevin Malsom
18
Todd Klepper
29
Blackfoot
116
Sibley
26
Jack Hoke
10
Mary Burman
19
Gene Melichar
29
St. James
150
Ida Grove
26
Shane Royston
10
Lance Sweet
20
Jaden Weber
29
Jackson
66
Storm Lake
26
Jonatan Sanchez
10
Miles Lammers
21
Chuck Bolin
30
Truman
9
Brandon Elgersma
11
Kyle Kittleson
22
Diane Hemer
30
Ramiro Gonzalez
11
Scott Knapton
22
Jeffrey Pehl
30
Dennis Jackson
11
Michael Lenertz
22
Marshall Eddy
31
Darin Nehlich
11
Trevor Davis
23
HAPPY RETIREMENT Miles City said goodbye to Jim Forman after 45 years with a potluck dinner on September 21. Jim filled several roles over the years, including Parts Manager and Store Manager, and he will be missed!
Congrats, Jim!
WELCOME
NEW EMPLOYEES Bradley Stelter
Jackie Ward Andy Valdovinos
Service
Admin
Tracy, MN
Slayton, MN
Amber Mikkelson
Tyler Moser
Wholegoods
Anna Nagel
RAM
RSM
Idaho
MN-East
Doug Hampton
Torrey McClure
Service
Gettysburg, SD
Blackfoot, ID
Bradyn Kinghorn
Jon Riskus
Service Manager
RAM
Idaho Falls, ID
SD-North
Robin Kolpin
Service
Idaho Falls, ID
Service Truman, MN RSM Iowa
Myles Snedeker
SAME FACE, NEW ROLE Congratulations on your new position! Service
Idaho Falls, ID
Demi Maher
NEW ARRIVAL Aaron Tyson Torgerson was born August 29th to Aaron & Brittany Torgerson. He weighed 8 lbs, 6 oz and was 20.5 inches long. Aaron is the store manager in Blackfoot, ID.
Parts
Glendive, MT
Congratulations!