AgRev Brings Service to the Farm

The goal of ag machinery dealer AgRevolution is an ambitious one, according to the company's leader: to disrupt traditional farm machinery sales and service.

"It is an industry controlled by two (John Deere, Case IH), dominated by one (Deere) for almost 180 years," said Stacy Anthony, CEO of AgRevolution, based in Evansville, Indiana. "If you're going to be a third angle of choice, if we were going to come in here and disrupt the industry, we had to do something different. We have to revolutionize how business is done."

Known by insiders as AgRev, AgRevolution is a wholly owned subsidiary of AGCO Corp. It is a dealership selling and servicing AGCO brands such as Fendt and Massey Ferguson. Its roots reach back to January 2021 with six operations in Kentucky and southern Indiana. Today, 13 retail centers are located across Indiana, Kentucky, Southern Illinois and Ohio.

AgRev is a business test bed too, focused on pushing service work out from large service centers to the customer at his farm. In place of brick-and-mortar buildings are parts-only stores or, at the pointy end of the service-and-repair spear, service trucks.

"We went out and talked to farmers, and we asked them, 'How do you want to do business, and what should the next generation dealer look like?'" Anthony said. "They spoke loud and clear. 'We want to do business on our farm.' So, we swiveled and adopted an on-farm mindset in everything we do. The farmer looks at (AgRev) and says, 'Maybe I don't need a dealership every 20 miles because I've got parts here and service right here.'"

Self-deploying from their homes, AgRev technicians deliver repairs and warranted service by way of 40 service trucks, each costing about $250,000. The cab is a mobile office, digitally capable of clocking in on work orders. In back is a capable resource for service -- cranes, welders, compressors, chests of tools and electronics. Tech and truck are equipped to resolve 80% to 85% of service issues in the field.

"We're covering space with (mobile service) trucks instead of building service centers," Anthony said. "It's not a phone call or walk-in relationship, it's an on-farm relationship, an on-demand relationship. We add value (for the customer) with in-field service."

In support of its on-farm services, AgRev earlier this year started a new service -- same-day parts delivery. In-stock parts arrive on the farm in two, four or six hours, delivered by an independent service.

"The notion is this: When its planting time, when its spraying time, when harvest needs to be done, every minute is critical," said AGCO's Chairman, President and CEO Eric Hansotia. "If a machine needs a part, we need to get that part to the farmer fast."

There is one person in the truck, operating in some ways as a tech with his own business. He is responsible for the revenue and expenses on that truck.

"Think about it," Anthony said. "Let's say it's a combine (needing service). He doesn't have to load that Class A combine onto transport, in some states with a heavy haul expert and two escorts, and export that combine to the dealership. (Then) unload it, repair it and, on return, repeat all those (transporting) steps. That is expensive. That farmer likes to see us working on his combine on his farm; that $700,000 combine never leaves his farm."

Measuring the business benefit of stores versus service trucks, Anthony said the real benefit goes to the farmer.

"There is not necessarily a cost savings to the dealership, but there is efficiency realized to the farmer. We have optimized the speed to repair by enabling our service techs to be closer to the place where farmers want to transact business."

AgRev even encourages its techs to offer services for other equipment brands while on a service call. It's a "service the farm" idea rather than service AGCO brands only.

"We're not providing one solution," Anthony said. "We are trying to provide many solutions to the farmer. Working on other brands is an everyday event."

Ziegler Ag Equipment is another AGCO dealer with an on-farm appeal. Ziegler was founded in 1914. A heavy construction and mining equipment business, it added a Fendt dealership in 2019. The company has operations in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Missouri.

Since Ziegler's beginning, it too has intentionally pushed its repair and servicing resources out to the farm to minimize downtime.

"It started out as a necessity since driving or hauling steel track machines into a store for repairs wasn't always practical or economical," said Matt Solem, vice president of Ziegler Ag Equipment. "We're not completely done with brick and mortar. But our mission as an organization is to maximize our customers' uptime, and what better way to do it than to bring (our service) to them. It's all about speed and convenience of service for our customers."

Ziegler runs more than 90 mobile service trucks for its agricultural customers.

Ziegler also operates an overnight parts shuttle delivering parts to their 30-plus locations and 105 conveniently placed drop boxes. The goal is to complete the nightly deliveries by 5 a.m. so their customers and their resident field technicians have what they need to get the machines up and running as quickly as possible. Ziegler's parts shuttle runs over 7,000 miles every night and even connects to AGCO's parts distribution center in Batavia, Illinois.

"Our goal is to never be more than 30-40 minutes away from our customers and to deliver all parts needed to complete the job in less than 24 hours," Solem said.

AGCO believes its "meet the customer where he is" model is efficient and good for business. "Our farmers tell us they love doing business the way they want to do (business)," said Hansotia. "Our dealers love it because it's a more flexible, asset-light model. We love it because it's a differentiated approach."

John Rahiya, director, customer connected distribution at AGCO, describes the approach this way: "We don't want to be one size fits all, focus only on the megastore. This is decomposition of the store into multiple and efficient touch points. Not the same as going down a traditional retail focus. It helps us get there faster by more smaller stores and remote technicians."

AgRev's business has grown 400% over three years.

"We started this dealership with a totally different mindset and that is on-farm focused," Anthony said. "I'd say 90% of our business is done on the farm or in the field."

Dan Miller can be reached at dan.miller@dtn.com

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