When our marketing team asked me to write about agricultural innovation, my mind immediately gravitated towards impressive machines like CASE IH's AF 11 combine, the Steiger 715, Early Riser Planters, and New Holland Construction's E90D Midi Excavator. But, let's be honest, that information is easily found on their respective websites, and what more could I add? So, I took a step back and asked myself: What does innovation look like within Bane-Welker?
After brainstorming with my team, we realized that our most significant innovation wasn't on a product spec sheet, but in our purpose: cultivating success for our customers, our employees, and our communities. We're not talking about global disruption, but a fundamental shift in how we operate.
It started with a bold, perhaps even audacious, statement in a meeting back in late 2021. I declared our ambition to become a billion-dollar company within ten years. That vision, though initially met with shock, became the cornerstone of our strategic planning. We recognized that to achieve this goal, we needed to strengthen our foundation, establish a clear path, and embrace a cultural shift that would ensure our long-term sustainability.
Building a Foundation for the Future
We embarked on this journey to define our core identity by refining our vision, mission, purpose, guiding principles, and strategic objectives. We understand that company culture – the "personality" influencing employees’ interactions with each other, customers, and their work – is crucial for longevity.
Our 58-year legacy of reliability demands evolution for 21st-century success. Change is never easy, and we anticipate some of our decisions will be met with skepticism, as a few already have. However, our commitment to growth means facing challenges head-on, confident they'll strengthen us. We’re solidifying our foundation by embedding our four guiding principles:
- Trust - professional relationships built on honesty and mutual respect
- Teamwork - fostering collaboration and shared successes
- Thrive - long-term success for customers, employees, and stakeholders
- Excellence - stiving to bring value that exceeds expectations.
Navigating the Perfect Storm
As we initiated this cultural transformation, the ag industry began to slow down – a true perfect storm! Undertaking a cultural shift is demanding enough, but doing so during an industry downturn is doubly so. However, we are committed, pressing forward with the same kind of grit and determination we see from our customers.
To strengthen our operations, we've implemented several new key policies and procedures focused on accountability and strategic decision-making. These include:
- Centralizing our used equipment evaluation process to ensure timely, market-driven pricing.
- Initiated used equipment wholesaling 12-18 months ahead of many other dealerships, a move that, while initially met with some resistance, ultimately proved beneficial.
- Centralizing parts ordering enabling us to leverage sales history and unit population data to better identify the correct parts inventory at the right time of year, avoiding repair delays for both customers and service departments.
- Made the difficult decision to eliminate in-house accounts receivable; thereby improving our cash flow and reducing risks.
Embracing Technology and Streamlining Operations
We’ve invested in new internal technology to empower our service technicians and sales teams. Despite initial hesitation, these tools are improving efficiency, workflows, and the employee/customer experience.
We also streamlined our vendor relationships. While this change has been challenging, our decision allows us to better allocate resources and strengthen our key partnerships within CNH Industrial. Think of it like managing seed varieties on a farm—too many, and things get complicated. By consolidating, we're building stronger relationships, minimizing inventory disruptions, and ultimately, securing better pricing and terms for our customers.
Facing the Downturn with Resilience
The recent ag downturn has presented significant challenges, impacting our team and customers. We’ve experienced increased team turnover, with some members pursuing opportunities aligned with their evolving career goals. Additionally, we made difficult, but necessary, personnel adjustments based on objective sales and performance metrics, adherence to cultural expectations, and restoring accountability.
Unfortunately, these internal changes, coupled with market pressures, impacted our customer service. We know there were times when responses were slow, communication was inconsistent, and frankly, some of you felt frustrated, and we sincerely apologize. We understand the impact these issues have had, and we're actively working on solutions. We’re implementing better training, streamlining our communications, and really focusing on getting back to the customer service you expect. We're committed to regaining your trust and providing the level of service you deserve.
Recognizing the need to further optimize our operations, we strategically reviewed our physical locations and consolidated our Eaton and Georgetown, OH, sites. We’ve retained our CNH Industrial sales and service agreements for the affected counties, ensuring continued support, and engaged with key customers to reaffirm our commitment. Eaton customers are now served by our Pendleton, IN, and Wilmington, OH, locations, while Georgetown customers are supported by Wilmington and Circleville, OH.
This journey has been challenging, and no doubt, will continue to be. But it has also been transformative. We're learning the importance of adaptability, accountability, resilience, and strategic foresight. Our innovation isn't just about the latest equipment; it's about building a sustainable company culture for future generations rooted in trust, teamwork, thrive, and excellence.
This marks both a continuation of our story and the start of a new chapter. We'll share updates as we innovate and grow.