XtraBlatt Issue 02-2020
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INTERVIEW<br />
LANDBAUTECHNIK-BUNDESVERBAND<br />
PERFORMANCE<br />
PROVIDERS<br />
Farm machinery dealerships represent<br />
the key interface between<br />
manufacturer and end customers.<br />
Why interactions at this point are<br />
not always stress-free, and what<br />
solutions to improve the situation<br />
might look like, is discussed here<br />
in an interview with Ulf Kopplin,<br />
president of the LandBauTechnik-<br />
Bundesverband (National<br />
Agricultural Machinery and<br />
Equipment Dealers and<br />
Repairers Association).<br />
<strong>XtraBlatt</strong>: Herr Kopplin, machinery which has become<br />
increasingly complex over the years ensures that the importance<br />
of the supplying, servicing and repairing dealership<br />
increases. Isn’t this development actually a very welcome<br />
50 51<br />
one?<br />
Ulf Kopplin: You’re correct in the assumption that highly<br />
qualified personnel are needed more than ever in dealership<br />
workshops to ensure reliable servicing of machinery that can<br />
include the very latest technological developments. This gives<br />
our member companies a central and growing importance in<br />
the relationship between manufacturers and end customers.<br />
However, there are definitely no grounds here for unrestrained<br />
jubilation. The investment needed to support this level of<br />
performance, and to encourage further the appropriate<br />
technical development, is gigantic. For instance, the cost<br />
item ‘vocational education and training’ alone represents<br />
tens of thousands of euros each year for every dealership,<br />
even when simply considering calculated training costs and<br />
related downtime through the days when the trainees are<br />
not at their workplaces. On top of this comes the required<br />
workshop equipment, joining another cost block that’s just as<br />
serious: the area of guarantee costs. All this is hardly possible<br />
any longer at the rates commonly charged. The dealerships<br />
are the performance providers of the branch. Their input must<br />
be justly rewarded!<br />
In particular, the<br />
so-called internal<br />
workshop hours<br />
drive costs upwards<br />
substantially for many<br />
dealerships.<br />
Assistance<br />
hours 5.3%<br />
<strong>XtraBlatt</strong>: Aren’t you complaining here from an already<br />
excellent position? After all, standard rates of 90 €/h for<br />
a skilled mechanic with a master certificate, or 65 €/h for<br />
one who has completed all basic training, cannot be called<br />
chickenfeed – at least from the point of view of the bill-paying<br />
customer. And not every dealership workshop provides<br />
highest standards in work quality and performance.<br />
Kopplin: As far as hourly rates are concerned, those charged<br />
by our farm machinery dealerships remain well below those<br />
of other technical sectors, e.g. for road going vehicles, or IT.<br />
And do not forget that the standard of knowledge and qualifications<br />
represented in a farm and construction machinery<br />
mechatronics engineer compared with colleagues in the<br />
other areas just mentioned is – in all modesty – substantially<br />
greater. I am absolutely convinced of that. In practice, there<br />
may well be differences in quality. But the future-oriented<br />
companies are all in a very good position in this context.<br />
And what I do not like is the current tendency, at least in<br />
some customer circles, to expect us as service providers to<br />
consider reducing our bills. What we charge now represents<br />
income that’s crucial for our businesses. That the economic<br />
situation in farming and therefore in agricultural contracting<br />
too, may be unfavourable is not an acceptable reason. Just<br />
think about it: Would you make a similar demand of your<br />
Distribution of workshop hours 2019<br />
Paid-for time in workshops<br />
in agricultural machinery dealerships 2019<br />
Absent<br />
24.0%<br />
Internal<br />
hours 33.8%<br />
External<br />
hours 36.9%<br />
Internal time in workshops<br />
in agricultural machinery dealerships 2019<br />
Rest<br />
22.4%<br />
Depot/delivery/<br />
demonstrations<br />
etc 14.9%<br />
New machinery<br />
28.5%<br />
Used<br />
machinery<br />
Guarantee/ 10.9%<br />
goodwill 23.3%