NORWOOD REALIGNS FOR 2023 AND BEYOND

FURTHER TO the dealership agreement between CNH Industrial and Norwood ending on 12 January 2023, Norwood has announced that it will close four of its locations, reduce the size of one dealership and lose 36 staff in a realignment of its retail network and business strategy.

Prior to this announcement Norwood had a network of 25 sites and employed 470 staff nationwide.

“We needed to revisit our business strategy when our dealer agreement with CNH ended earlier this year,” says Tim Myers, Norwood chief executive officer.

“We’ve had to look critically at our network size to make sure it reflects our current situation, and there is no doubt we’ve made some hard decisions.”

Sites at Dargaville, Stratford, Westport, and Cromwell will close, and customers will be transitioned to the nearest alternative Norwood dealership. Meanwhile, Norwood Masterton will scale down and become a spoke of the Manawatū hub, with a team of five staff and support from Norwood Manawatū, then eventually move to a smaller location.

Sites set to close were selected on criteria that included the company’s ability to service customers either remotely or from the nearest alternative dealership.

Dargaville customers will be serviced by Norwood Whangārei, Stratford customers will be transitioned to Norwood Hawera. Westport customers will be serviced by Norwood Greymouth-Dobson, and Cromwell customers by Norwood Mosgiel. Customers whose sites are closing are a priority, with affected customers being contacted with details of changes to their dealership.

“We know that field service is key for many of our customers – that will not change. We are confident we can continue to provide best-in-class ser- vice to transitioning customers and we have the confidence of our supply partners as well,” says Myers.

Any concerned customers are being encouraged to have a discussion with the dealership manager, who will be aiming to get in touch with them over the coming weeks.

Many staff across Norwood’s network will be affected, with a decrease of 28 roles in dealerships and eight at the National Support Office. These reductions have occurred in the sales, service, warehouse and logistics, procurement, people and capability, and finance teams due to fewer retail sites and less need for support from the

National Support Office.

“We want to be clear that this reduction in roles is entirely due to Norwood’s changed situation and not through the fault of the people who have been affected.

“Our priority is to support staff through this process, so people who are leaving do so with their mana intact,” says Tim.

Moving forwards, Norwood continues to sell and supply a range of agricultural, horticultural, and construction equipment from brands that include Kubota, Breviglieri, Horsch, KUHN, Pichon, Väderstad, and Vredo. –

Mark Daniel