Back in the Field in Just 48 Hours

A Brandt customer began his inaugural maize harvest of the season with his brand new 8000 Series Self-Propelled Forage Harvester one Sunday morning in Whangarei, New Zealand. However, the farmer's harvest came to an abrupt stop as the harvester hit a massive tree stump. The damage to the harvester was catastrophic, putting the customer out of commission at a crucial stage of the season.

Our customers depend on their machines for their livelihood. Downtime is not an option, especially during harvest when time is of the utmost importance.

Knowing that for every minute of downtime, he was losing potential earnings, the customer called Brandt for support. The team in Whangarei jumped into action and within just 48 hours had the forage harvester up and running, but this was no easy feat.

Foreman Kelvin Roberts and Field Technicians Jeff Cole and Aaron Ramsay immediately traveled to the customer's field to assess the damage and determine a solution to get the machine back in action.

Parts Lead Dustin Hojnocki got to work quickly, sourcing a new rotor at a parts warehouse, a distant four hours away. Dustin and Service Manager Shane Bennet drove out that Sunday night at 10 pm to retrieve the part from the warehouse.

The two arrived back at the customer's field with the crated motor, at 3 am Monday morning, only to discover essential hardware was missing. Dustin called Branch Manager Tim Gammage, who jumped into his truck and made a second journey to the parts warehouse to retrieve the missing hardware. Tim managed to make it back to the field at 11 am Monday where Jeff and Aaron repaired the unit.

Thanks to the swift action and decisions made by the Whangarei team, the customer was back to harvest, just two days after the disastrous incident.

The store is at the core of our business, where our employees are empowered to make decisions that have a meaningful impact on our customers, their businesses and their livelihood.

Our team in Whangarei demonstrated the value and extent of customer care and support at Brandt. By stepping up in the face of uncertainty and quickly repairing an essential piece of equipment at a critical time, we gained a loyal customer who now promotes the Brandt team, day in and day out.

This isn’t the first time employees have stepped up for customers. Read more stories.