THE COMBINED POWER: JOHN DEERE AND THE WIRTGEN GROUP THE WIRTGEN GROUP OFFICIALLY BECAME PART OF JOHN DEERE’S CONSTRUCTION AND FORESTRY DIVISION IN 2017. FOUR YEARS ON, ROADS & INFRASTRUCTURE LOOKS AT WHAT THE MERGER MEANS FOR WIRTGEN’S EXISTING AND NEW CUSTOMERS IN AUSTRALIA.
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ecember 2017 marked a new chapter in the Wirtgen Group’s growth journey as the company officially become part of John Deere’s Construction and Forestry (C&F) division and former managing partners Jürgen Wirtgen and Stefan Wirtgen handed over the operative management of the Wirtgen Group to the new Chief Executive, Domenic G. Ruccolo. Nearly four years later, Wirtgen Australia Managing Director Stuart Torpy says the acquisition has helped the Wirtgen Group continue to deliver class leading equipment – but the real benefits are yet to come. Long cherished by civil contractors and construction companies in Australia for its reliable range of Wirtgen, Vögele, Hamm and Kleemann brand machinery, Wirtgen Australia maintains its pre-existing sales and services structure, but with potential for a broader Australia- and New Zealand-wide presence through the John Deere dealership network. In May 2019, John Deere Australia appointed two new dealers for its C&F business – AFGRI Equipment in Western Australia and RDO Equipment in all other states and territories.
John Patten, Director of Patten Pavement Services, regards himself as one of the first people in Australia to have sat behind a Wirtgen profiler. 38
ROADS SEPTEMBER 2021
Both businesses already held dealerships for John Deere’s Agriculture and Turf (A&T) side of the business and as such, had strong existing customer relationships. A WORLD OF OPPORTUNITIES Torpy says the merger has opened new doors to Wirtgen’s existing and new customers. “John Deere’s purchase of the Wirtgen Group unlocks many opportunities for the expanded group, which in the future will leverage existing customer relationships to streamline a range of areas such as equipment finance, servicing and parts,” he says. “With the local presence that John Deere’s C&F dealers offer, it costs less for customers now to access parts or services for both John Deere and Wirtgen-owned brands.” From a sales perspective, Torpy says contractors often like to mix-and-match Wirtgen and John Deere equipment to purchase a complete set for their specific applications. “For example, collectively we can offer Hamm rollers with John Deere graders, or Kleemann crushers with John Deere loaders
and excavators. And they’re just a few of many potential examples.” And while the Wirtgen Group did not previously own an in-house finance product, with John Deere’s finance arm – John Deere Financial, the group can now provide some financing options on the Wirtgen Group equipment, while also liaising internally with John Deere Financial to work out the best finance solutions for customers. “Ultimately, customers will be able to have one provider of finance [John Deere Financial], the closest possible access to parts and service technicians,” Torpy says. WHAT IT MEANS FOR PATTEN PAVEMENT SERVICES John Patten regards himself as one of the first people in Australia to have sat behind a Wirtgen profiler. “I feel like a dinosaur,” he jokes, recalling how he has worked with every generation of the Wirtgen profiler launched in Australia, seeing the machines’ evolution over time. “It was around 1987 or 1988 and I was working as supervisor with Blacktop
