Ole' Blue
Escorts shuts down US tractor unit-India Business-Business-The Times of India
This article (Nov 7, 2008) says that Escorts shut down Farmtrac, NA due to continuing weakness in the economy. If they didn't own it how did they shut it down?
I was actually looking for the article mentioning Escorts AgriMachinery that we found a while back the one that had an office in New York that turned out to be a pay phone in a restaurant near Radio City music Hall. I thought the newbys would enjoy that one!
Longtrman
Longtrman, RNF et al,
Yes, the article could have been run in the comics instead of the Times of India business section -- it was that ficticious.
Looks like I'll continue to accumulate adversaries in the new year, as the rebuttal below was sent to the TOA editor. Betchya a couple of those little blue yard ornaments that he/she sits on my recant in hopes of squelching it.
In that sense, TBN.com has been a source of salvation -- a medium for FNA retailers, customers and others share information without the suppression or filtering that can occur in mainstream news outlets.
***
Dear editor,
An accuracy recheck is in order for your Nov. 7 article "Escorts shuts down US tractor unit."
Although TNN staff writer Pankaj Doval would've been correct to attribute the global downturn as a contributor to US tractor firm Farmtrac North America, there are larger reasons for it's demise -- ones occurring long before the fuel cost crunch became an ominous factor in 2008.
According to court documents, the firm had failed to pay creditors beginning in 2006. Although the firm claimed record first-quarter profits that year, it amassed nearly $52 million in unpaid bills during an 18 month span ending mid-January 2008.
North Carolina State superior court assigned local attorney Jim Marrow as Receiver by late February. The facility was kept open with a minimally-staffed volunteer work crew through April. Marrow's communication attempts to Escorts were not returned for months and Marrow said that he nor any workers were appraised of the company's status.
"Their values are different," Marrow said of the slow Escorts response. "They operate at a different pace than businesses do here (in the U.S.)."
FNA executives with ties to Escorts and homeland India quickly vacated the Tarboro-based national headquarters and assembly facility. President Pranab Ghosal and marketing head Shenu Agarwal were unavailable for in-person interviews by Feb. 1.
Farmtrac front office personnel stated the pair had returned to the middle-east.
Escorts declined a U.S.-based July meeting between FNA retailers and financier Textron Financial in favor of a London, England venue. FNA dealers hoped to restore a pipeline of OEM tractor parts -- one that dried up due to Farmtrac company debt and Escorts abandonment of retailers. At the summer meeting, Escorts leaders admitted quelling "all of the bad press we've been getting" was a motivator for their attendance.
A single load of Escorts-promised parts arrived only three weeks ago at a U.S port.
--b
