Photo provided by BOB-CAT
(Schiller Grounds Care, Inc.)
The landscape market
follows the housing
market closely. Now that
we are seeing some
construction being done,
I think we're going to see
the landscape market
come back.
— Rob Gilles
marketing manager
Bobcat
Photo provided by Toro
Photo provided by TurfEx
Photo provided by Ditch Witch
The latest equipment trend is all
about productivity. More than ever, landscape and lawn care professionals are
willing to pay a little extra for equipment, as long as they can prove a strong
return on investment. To address this
trend, we've been developing products in
our SnowEx and TurfEx lines that help
our customers save on material, labor and
maintenance costs. Dependability is another key factor, since downtime in this
industry can be very costly.
— James Truan, vice president of sales and
marketing for SnowEx and TurfEx products
1.Value. The professional customer is
looking for performance, service life and
ROI. All are important criteria that help
add to the bottom line in a very competitive market. Margins are typically tight
because of competition. Downtime is not
acceptable, and this type of customer is
usually willing to pay for the extra quality, performance and ROI that is inherently expected.
2. Ergonomics. We're talking about a
market segment that expects the product
to utilize the latest ergonomic design innovations. Most handheld equipment is
subject to long periods of usage, and
whatever can be done from a design
viewpoint to make use of sound ergonomic design principles is important
to maximize productivity and minimize
workers' compensation issues.
AUGUST 2013
21
