Expo makes huge hit With move to fall.
Published in: Outdoor Power Equipment
Date: 12/1/2003
By: Noe, Steve
While the New York Yankees and Florida Marlins were playing in the World Series, another fall classic was taking place in Louisville, where Louisville Slugger baseball bats are made.
Surveys showed that if the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute (OPEI) moved its International Lawn, Garden & Power Equipment Exposition from the hot, humid and hectic summer to the cooler, more pleasant and slower fall, exhibitors and attendees would come. Well, OPEI moved its 20th annual show to Saturday, Oct. 18, through Monday, Oct. 20. The weather cooperated with mostly sunny skies and temps in the 70s. And as was the case in the movie “Field of Dreams” they came.
The show attracted about 500 exhibitors, including 176 new exhibitors and nearly 20 more exhibitors than last year. By the close of the show, 20,122 buying attendees registered, with dealers and distributors making their presence felt; 6,223 dealers and 1,707 distributors registered, resulting in 19- and 17-percent increases in those respective registrant categories over EXPO 2002.
Other registrant categories and their comparisons with 2002:8,551 total retailers (6-percent increase); 8,313 lawn and landscape pros (20-percent increase); 974 general contractors (34-percent increase); 547 merchandisers/buyers (36-percent increase); and 265 rental dealers (12-percent decrease).
Shindaiwa Inc. returned to the show as an exhibitor and certainly had no regrets. “Saturday was the best opening day of any EXPO I’ve ever seen. It was just unbelievable,” said Mike Nichols, director of marketing for Shindaiwa. “The second day was outstanding as well. We’ll definitely be back next year. In fact, we’re hoping to have a larger booth.”
Nichols’ sentiments were echoed by many exhibitors, including Chuck Craw, president of Crary Bear Cat, at his company’s press conference Saturday. “I thought yesterday was one of the best days that we’ve had in the 16 years that we’ve been here,” Crary said.
One exhibitor said he did more business by noon on the first day of this year’s show than he did on all three days of last year’s show, but he requested anonymity because he didn’t want his competitors to find out about his success.
“The change of the date has been really well-received,” OPEI Chairman Jim Wier said at the conclusion of the show’s first day. “It’s cooler outside, and it’s a better time of year for the dealers.” In addition to moving the show to the fall, OPEI made another subtle, but brilliant change. Instead of holding its two-day Dealer University offsite and prior to EXPO, OPEI moved the second annual event onsite to the Kentucky Exposition Center and overlapped it with the first day of the show. As a result, dealer attendance nearly doubled to 112.
“With the Dealer University, we hit a grand slam home run this year, and we hope to hit another grand-slam home run next year,” said Bill Harley, president and CEO of OPEI.
OK, no more baseball references–I promise. After sifting through my notebook and boxful of media kits, I bring you the following EXPO news, arranged alphabetically by company name:
ARI enhances software
ARI officially launched and demonstrated an optional Shopping Cart feature for WebsiteSmart, the Milwaukee-based company’s template-based, Website-creation software.
The Shopping Cart functionality will ‘allow dealers to set up an online store inventory, set pricing, and accept orders–24 hours a day, seven days a week. With the addition of the Shopping Cart feature, WebsiteSmart now offers dealers a complete package that includes Internet hosting services, e-mail, professional design templates, promotional capabilities, whole goods’ listings, installation and support, and 24×7 online ordering. The package also includes support for news events, sales and specials, photo galleries and an exclusive direct marketing manager.
“Since WebsiteSmart was launched at EXPO 2001, our belief that dealers would recognize the value that ARI products provided them in the past and respond enthusiastically to our Website-creation solution has proven to be correct,” said Brian E. Dearing, chairman and CEO of ARI. “We are confident that dealers will respond as enthusiastically to the addition of a Shopping Cart and that dealers’ customers will appreciate the ease and convenience of online ordering from a dealership’s virtual sales desk and parts counter.”
ARI also announced an agreement with Ariens Company. For more information, read the following item.
Ariens celebrates past with EYE on future
Ariens Company celebrated its 70-year anniversary with several major announcements, including the introduction of the Gravely EYE-Q Productivity System and two Internet-based programs.
The EYE-Q Productivity System is an easy-to-use component that communicates with an electronic data system to do everything from assessing equipment maintenance needs to analyzing time management. Designed and manufactured in partnership with designers of on- and off-road embedded systems for military and commercial vehicles, it will come standard on all 100- and 200-Series Gravely riding mowers.
“It’s a brand-new technology that we think will revolutionize the landscape industry,” said Dan Ariens, president of Ariens Company. To further assist dealers with using technology as a sales tool, Ariens also unveiled two Internet-based programs: The Ariens Website Dealer Program and Parts Radar.
The Ariens Website Dealer Program allows Ariens’ dealers to develop a customized Web site that features all of their products, including non-Ariens’ products. Based in Brillion, Wis., Ariens partnered with buildmyownsite.com of Green Bay, Wis., to create the Web program exclusively for Ariens’ dealers.
Parts Radar is an online parts look-up service that will provide dealers and consumers with access to electronic parts catalogs from the Ariens’ and Gravely intranet sites for free. Ariens signed an agreement with ARI to license its EMPARTweb parts catalog to provide the foundation for Parts Radar. Under the agreement, ARI hosts EMPAR.Tweb and provides an interface to Ariens’ Parts Radar service.
As if that wasn’t enough news, Ariens Company also introduced four mowers: Ariens’ LM21 walk-behind mower; Ariens’ Zoom XL zero turn mower, available in 52- or 60-inch cutting widths; Gravely 34Z zero-turn mower; and Gravely PRO 21 SCH (see page 30).
Learn more about Ariens Company at https://www.ariens.com, Gravely at http: //www.gravely.com, and the Gravely EYE-Q Productivity System at https://www.gravelyeye-q.com.
Auburn Consolidated enters zero-turn market
Following a long history of manufacturing products for several well-known original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), including Kubota Corporation, Honda, John Deere, Case New Holland and AGCO Corporation, Auburn Consolidated Industries (ACI), Inc. entered the crowded commercial zero-turn mower field with the introduction of the EverRide Warrior.
“Years of experience in building these OEM products have gone into the design and engineering of the EverRide Warrior so that each and every part of this mower is as good or better than the best mowers out there,” said ACI General Manager Brian Loynachan.
The EverRide Warrior’s most unique feature is its EverFlow Tunnel Deck, which is the industry’s deepest at 8 inches on the left side and 5 1/2 inches on the right side. It also boasts the industry’s largest discharge area at 149 square inches, and the mower shoots out grass in an 8-foot pattern. A 1 1/2-inch blade overlap also eliminates streaking.
“The tunnel deck comes from a deck design that we’ve used for tractors for New Holland and Kubota,” said Ray Van Voorhis, sales manager for ACI. “Huge volumes of grass can be moved with it, and the cutting height can be adjusted from 1 to 6 inches.”
For more information, visit ACI’s Web site at https://www.EverRideMowers.com.
Bad Boy, Caterpillar form partnership
When Bad Boy Inc. shipped some of its gas-powered mowers to Europe, they were well-received, according to Robert Foster, co-founder of the Batesville, Ark.-based company.
“The one thing they wanted, though, was a diesel engine,” said Foster, who–along with Chuck Caldwell–began building mowers out of his garage six years ago. “With gasoline so expensive in Europe, a diesel engine really cuts down on their operating costs.”
To make a long story short, Bad Boy responded by introducing a mower powered by the Caterpillar 301 IC diesel engine. With 26.1 bhp. (19.5 kW) at 3,000 rpm, 67 ft.-lbs, of torque at 2,100 rpm, and the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) Tier II certification, the 3011C met or exceeded Bad Boy’s basic performance requirements. Service and parts availability, as well as name recognition were satisfied, too.
“You see ‘Caterpillar,’ and you think ‘quality,’ ” said Foster. “Caterpillar is the best name in the industry.”
Crary Bear Cat on prowl again
Established in 1979, Crary Bear Cat entered the lawn and garden business by buying a walk-behind snow blower in 1988. During that same year, the West Fargo, N.D.-based company also exhibited at EXPO for the first time and made an important observation.
“When we came to the show in 1988, we saw a lot of people making walk-behind snow throwers, but not a lot of people making chipper/shredders,” said Chuck Crary, president of Crary Bear Cat. “So we began making chipper/shredders in 1989. Now, we’re the largest manufacturer of consumer and commercial chipper/shredders with 28 models.”
Crary Bear Cat expanded its broad product selection at this year’s show with the introduction of 4 chippers, including two 4- and two 6-inch models. The 6-inch towable chippers are available with a Bear Cat 74624 24-hp. Honda OHV twin-cylinder gas engine or a 74628 Kubota 28-hp. 3-cylinder diesel liquid-cooled engine. Designed and affordably priced for homeowners, the 4-inch towable chippers are available in highway-and yard-towable models with 13-hp. Honda and 12-hp. Briggs & Stratton engines, respectively.
For more information, log on to Crary Bear Cat’s Web site at https://www.bearcatproducts.com.
EDN debuts e-commerce product
Electronic Distribution Networks, Inc. (EDN), a Web-based business-to-business software communications provider, officially introduced Trade Xpress. This Internet-based application enables suppliers to log on to a Web application to receive, process, and manage electronic purchase orders sent by authorized customers.
Trade Xpress allows suppliers to receive orders from buyers via two means: 1) a Web site designed by EDN; and 2) EDN-enabled (integrated) business management systems. Once an order is placed, suppliers simply visit the Trade Xpress log-on page to download purchase orders in a standardized, easy-to-view format.
“Trade Xpress really caters to the small- and medium-size suppliers that have not yet invested in an expensive and complex back-end enterprise software system to manage important business functions such as procurement,” said Carlos Nerey, director of technology at EDN. “Using Trade Xpress, suppliers simply head to an area on the Web to grab purchase orders placed with them by customers. Trade Xpress is an out-of-the-box solution that enables the ‘smaller guys’ to take part in cutting-edge e-commerce, helping mitigate the costly reception of phoned and faxed purchase orders.”
Learn more about EDN at https://www.EDNconnect.com.
Ferris continues to innovate
The folks at Ferris Industries are at it again.
Having invented the industry’s first electric deck lift on its very first mower in 1986, the first hydrostatically driven walk-behind mower in 1987, and the first independent suspension system (IS) for a riding mower in 1998, the Munnsville, N.Y.-based company continued its innovative ways with the introduction of the HydroCut (see page 26). Available in 32- or 36-inch cutting widths, the HydroCut is the landscape industry’s only compact commercial walk-behind mower with hydrostatic drive.
“The HydroCut walk-behind is a tool we believe will be on every landscaper’s trailer,” said Bill Shea, vice president of sales and marketing for Ferris Industries. “When you combine its narrow width with hydrostatic drive and easy-to-use Integrated Comfort Controls, the HydroCut is easily the top-performing compact walk-behind in the commercial mowing industry.”
Ferris introduced 61- and 72-inch rear-discharge deck options for the Ferris IS 5000Z and switched engines on its compact 1000Z mowers from Kawasaki to Kohler. It also expanded the 1000Z line with the addition of the 1000ZK27/61, featuring a 27-hp. Kohler engine and 61-inch deck.
To find out more about Ferris Industries, log on to https://www.ferrisindustries.com.
Honda makes mower history
On EXPO eve, Honda Power Equipment appropriately chose a historic site, Louisville’s Speed Art Museum, to unveil a history-making mower line. The all-new Honda HKX mowers feature the Versamow System that enables an industry first–simultaneous distribution of grass clippings to both the bag and ground.
The HRX mowers will be available nationwide through Honda Power Equipment dealers and Home Depot in early 2004 without a price increase over the outgoing HRB models.
“The HRX is the culmination of years of research by Honda R&D, and nobody else in the industry is doing anything like it,” said Wade Terry, vice president of Honda Power Equipment. “Versamow will fundamentally change the way people mow their lawns.”
Honda also introduced its GS series of engines for premium residential and light-duty commercial markets and an electric-start option to its GC series premium residential engines.
For more information, visit Honda’s Web site at https://www.honda.com.
Husqvarna chooses to be Purple Cow
Husqvarna Forest & Garden Company began its EXPO press conference by distributing complimentary copies of a book called “Purple Cow.”
Written by Seth Godin, the book is about transforming your business by being remarkable–like a purple cow. In the book’s foreward, Godin writes: “Every day, consumers come face-to-face with a lot of boring stuff–a lot of brown cows–but you can bet they won’t forget a Purple Cow.”
Godin also writes “You’re either a Purple Cow or you’re not. You’re either remarkable or invisible. Make your choice.”
Husqvarna has chosen to be a Purple Cow with its Total Source Solution.
“We’re still the only company that can completely outfit a landscape trailer,” said Husqvarna President Dave Zerfoss. “Most dealers spend 30 to 40 percent of their time working with vendors; they can only make money through sales and service.
“As a Total Source Solution, we’re putting more money in our dealers’ pockets. Our dealers are selling more product, making more money, and having more fun. This year, we’re taking some of our dealers to Cancun and Bermuda.”
Husqvarna was the largest EXPO exhibitor with its 7,150-net-square-foot Husqvarna Pavilion, and it needed nearly every square inch of booth space to display all of its new products. It expanded its iZ intermediate zero-turn mower series with three new models: iZ6123 (61-inch deck and electric-start 23-hp. Kawasaki “KAI”V-Twin engine); iZ4217 (42-inch deck and electric-start 17-hp. Kawasaki “KAI” V-Twin engine) and iZ4817 (48-inch deck and electric-start 17-hp. Kawasaki “KAI”V-Twin engine). It also debuted its largest aerator, the TA48, which has a 48-inch aerating width.
On the hand-held side, it unveiled three new brushcutters (343R, 345Rx and 345Fx); three chain saws (334T, 336 and 338XPT); the 125BT backpack blower; the 123 series of consumer string trimmers; the Trio-Balance harness system; and the T35 Professional Tap Advance trimmer head.
In addition, Husqvarna enhanced the features on its LT lawn tractor series while lowering the prices of each model to be more competitive with Sears, Home Depot, John Deem and MTD. “There’s no other dealer line that starts at $1,199 with an 18.5-hp. engine,” said Zerfoss.
For more information, visit https://www.usa.husqvarna.com.
Interlube makes triumphant return
After not exhibiting at EXPO for the past few years, Interlube International Inc. returned to the show and created quite a stir at its booth and in the aisles of the Kentucky Exposition Center with its Chemical Rebuild match-and-win sticker contest.
Interlube placed numbered Chemical Rebuild stickers on 3,250 visitor show badges. If a participant found the person with the identically numbered sticker and brought that person back to Interlube’s booth, both people won Opti products. One guy completely caught me off-guard by stopping me on the show floor to ask, “What’s your number?” Initially, I thought the guy wanted my phone number, so I gave him a puzzled look. When he repeated the question and pointed to the numbered sticker on my badge, my face instantly turned from pale to red, and I had a good laugh.
By show’s end, more than 400 people found their match and won, resulting in Interlube giving away $80,000 of Opti products during the three-day show.
“We took a short break from EXPO, but the new fall show dates and our new Chemical Rebuild product introduction brought us back,” said Interlube President Jeff Kent. “While everyone wanted a Chemical Rebuild sticker, it’s amazing how many people also reported their own Chemical Rebuild success stories. The product has only been in the market for a few months, and it’s already establishing remarkable performance credentials.”
For more information about Chemical Rebuild, promoted as a product offering “New Life for Older Engines,” visit Interlube’s Web site at https://www.opti2-4.com.
Kohler Engines makes courageous moves
Kohler Engines introduced the Courage engine line, expanded its Aegis engine line, and rolled out its first fleet of mobile trailers for training dealers and distributors about the company’s electronic fuel injection (EFI) engines and the latest utility engine technologies.
Available in 15-, 16-, 17-, 18-, 19- and 20-hp. models, the Courage line offers the largest displacement and most powerful output of any single-cylinder engine currently available on the market, he industry’s previous most powerful single-cylinder engine was 18 hp. Production for the Courage line began in August 2003.
Kohler Engines expanded its Aegis liquid-cooled engine line with two new horizontal-shaft models: the LH750 27-hp. and the LH760 29-hp. with EFI. Both models will not go into production until 2004.
The mobile training trailers will be made available for Kohler Engines’ central distributors nationwide to train Kohler dealers who service EFI engines used in commercial lawn equipment and other commercial applications. The training trailers are brought to the service technicians, who receive hands-on training on EFI vocabulary, basic functions and diagnostics. Each trailer contains an EFI engine and diagnostic software to provide opportunities for customized training and live demonstrations.
“Since EFI is still fairly new to the utility engine market, we wanted to do what we could to minimize the mystery of servicing EFI engines and deliver this information in a consistent fashion,” said Darrel Husa, manager-field sales for Kohler Engines. “Those who have a better understanding of how EFI works can enhance their diagnostic capabilities and return the equipment to the field sooner.”
For further information, visit https://www.KohlerEngines.com.
NGK ignites spark with Commercial Series
NGK Spark Plugs introduced its Commercial Series of replacement spark plugs for lawn mowers, pressure washers, snow blowers and other small engine lawn and garden equipment.
The Commercial Series is designed to create greater spark and increased heat transfer. The pure silicate insulator ensures proper heat transference, and the spark plugs are triple gasket sealed, virtually eliminating the possibility of combustion gas leakage. To ward off corrosion, the plugs are double-dipped in a special coating.
“NGK provides original equipment spark plugs among more industries, to more manufacturers and in more countries than any other spark plug company in the world,” said NGK General Manager Rich Sullivan. “With the introduction of our new Commercial Series line, we are pulling our experience, technology, design and engineering experience to offer the lawn and garden market a new spark plug option. These new plugs offer NGK’s high quality, superior construction and longer plug life at 25 percent less than our competitors.”
To learn more about NGK and its Commercial Series, visit https://www.ngksparkplugs.com.
Simplicity reinforces commitment to dealers
As president and CEO of Simplicity Manufacturing, Inc., Jim Wier simply” stated, Iris job is to set his company apart from the other companies in the industry. And by patenting the phrase “The Dealer Line” and plastering it all over his booth, he made no secret about how he plans to succeed.
In its ongoing efforts to provide dealers with every conceivable advantage over big box stores, Simplicity and its subsidiary Snapper Products Inc. rolled out several new products, including a full arsenal of consumer and commercial zero-turn mowers.
“A segment that is difficult for big boxes to sell is zero turns, so we gave our dealers mine new zero turns,” said Harold Redman, vice president of sales, marketing and product development for Simplicity. “We have a full range of zero turns for consumer and commercial cutters.”
Simplicity introduced a commercial-quality consumer zero-turn mower with independent suspension, along with the four-wheel-drive Legacy XL subcompact garden tractor, the 18-hp. Broadmoor lawn tractor, large-frame two-stage walk behind snowthrowers, a leaf blower and a lawn vacuum. Snapper unveiled the FastCut and Scrambler commercial-quality riding mowers for homeowners, the FastBack mid-mount zero-turn mower with joystick control and the Snapper Pro 32-inch hydrostatic commercial walk-behind mower.
Two other Simplicity subsidiaries, Ferris Industries and Giant-Vac, also displayed new products.As previously mentioned, Ferris debuted the HydroCut, while Giant-Vac showcased three new debris vacuums, including one commercial and two residential units.
Find out more about Simplicity at https://www.simplicitymfg.com, Snapper at https://www.snapper.com, and Giant-Vac at https://www.giant-vac.com.
Stens on the move
As Stens President Peter Ariens stepped to the podium to begin his press conference, he breathed a sigh of relief, smiled, and said, “We’ve been very busy the last 12 months.”
That may be the biggest understatement of the year.
The Jasper, Ind.-based company is moving its distribution center facility across town to a new location, which will also become its headquarters once a 13,000-square-foot office addition is completed by January 2004.
Stens also introduced its first-ever four-color catalog and will be releasing the first-ever Spanish edition of its annual catalog in January 2004. The 2004 catalog features more than 300 new parts.
To learn more about Stens, visit its Web site at https://www.stens.com.
Venture Products continues fast track
Venture Products Inc. announced a new warranty program, new hires and new products.
The Orrville, Ohio-based company’s new V Plus Limited Warranty covers Ventrac tractors and attachments–sold after Sept. 1, 2003–for three years of residential use and two years of commercial use. This represents one-year extensions for both residential and commercial customers over the previous warranty periods. To back the new limited warranty, Ventrac has implemented the V Plus “Certified Dealer” program. All Ventrac dealers must meet and maintain factory service standards by becoming a “V Plus Certified Dealer.”
To better support and develop the Ventrac dealer base, the company hired the following four individuals: Al Bloomingburg, central regional sales manager; Rod Bandiera, northeastern regional manager; Mike Kinney; Ohio regional manager; and Royce Boyles, midwest regional sales manager. Unlike many equipment company salespeople, Ventrac regional sales managers are paid based on what the dealer sells and not on what a dealer buys.
“At Ventrac, we don’t sign up dealers; we adopt family members,” said Lloyd Shankel, national sales manager. “It may sound corny; but that’s the way we are. We look tot long-term relationships.”
Venture Products also showcased several new tractor attachments, including the AERA-vator EA600 with a 60-inch working width: the ED200 Edger with optional blower; the Spreader 220 with a 220-pound load capacity for seed, salt, sand, fertilizer and pen mulch; and the 52-inch-wide, 2-stage KX520 Snow Thrower.
For more information, visit https://www.ventrac.com.
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