Brian, first of all, let me say welcome to TBN. It's good to know RK has a voice here again!
Also, my tractor is great, but I know my biggest concern (that I think a lot of others share) is the service aspect of RK Tractors. A lot of us have noticed the lack of appropriate service facilities and properly trained service techs available. Can you go into any detail regarding what, if anything, is being done to meet the customers needs with this apparent "weak link" in the system? Thanks.
I want to say "welcome Brian" as well - it's great to have the official voice of RK Tractors back! Like Snymat68, I love love LOVE my RK tractor but also am concerned about servicing of the tractor for large scale problems - specifically ones where they might have to split it (not that it's gonna be necessary, but it was on my NH). On the RK55HC, you'd need a gantry crane to remove the cab and a floor lift or two at a minimum. The back area at the Front Royal store does not looked equipped to handle it (at least not as of a couple months ago). I'd agree that addressing this concern would put us current owners more at ease and you'd sell more RK tractors to those "undecideds" poking around on these forums. It's fine if RK and TYM can build a tractor that will never break - EVER! - but that's not a reality.
First, take me as the "unofficial official" voice of RK. No one here knows I'm doing this. Likely no one would care, but I just did it because I couldn't stand seeing people have issues that we're getting resolved and us not providing outrageous customer service. This brand is too important to me personally to let it get damaged by misinformation or speculation. The RK Tractor Guy account is still active, but we're currently sorting who's going to be in charge of that account. We have an entire team surrounding RK Tractors, so the departure of Doug, while it has caused a ripple, will not overturn the boat. Everyone up to our owners, board, and CEO is fully invested in RK Tractors. We're a multi-billion dollar, family-owned company that is debt-free, and RK Tractors uses enough cash to swing the entire company's bottom line. We don't rely on one person alone for
anything.
Ask the RK Tractor Guy on our website is currently being handled by our service team.
So, let's talk about service. Service has historically been amazing at some stores, ok at some stores, but only adequate or less at some stores. That is the harsh reality. His goal and his vision is to make our shops work exactly the same across the entire company. If you ever have a problem with a store not responding, with something that isn't getting taken care of, a complaint or a comment about service, email me. We'd love to hear it.
As I noted earlier, we sold Foton/Jinma tractors over a decade ago. I worked in the stores when those tractors we being sold. We sold a bunch of them and they were a product and a price. We didn't have a service team or really any kind of plan to service the tractors. When we started up tractors this time we knew it had to be different. From the beginning we knew how important service was going to be to our customers.
We've stumbled a few times when it came to service. We've fallen short of not only our customers' expectations, but also our own expectations. But we've kept trying, kept getting better, and kept working. We're better now than we were last year, and next year we'll be better than we are now. Not because we're wishing for it, but because we are taking specific steps every day to get parts in faster, make the work more efficient, make communication faster and more streamlined, etc.
Rural King has made a heavy investment into service over the past couple of years. We currently have 9 mobile service trucks, and we're adding 5 more to service the western side of our business. These are A-level mechanics that have the knowledge and equipment to service a large number of concerns in the field. If they can't fix something in the field, we can transport the tractor back to the local store to work on it in a shop. For basic repair, the store shop mechanics may not even contact a mobile mechanic, but would be able to fix the problem there at the store.
Before we turn on tractors at a store, we do a physical survey to ensure the store is equipped to handle tractors. This is stuff like doors are large enough, lights are bright enough, proper equipment to do the job so no one gets hurt, enough space to work on tractors, etc. All the stuff that goes into setting up a shop. Any parts of the survey that are found lacking are fixed before that store has the first tractor roll off the truck. If you're in a store, you can absolutely ask to see the shop. We'd be happy to show you.
Any of our stores, tractors or not. If you get told no or have a concern with what you've seen, email me immediately. We'll fix it.
We carry over $1.5 million worth of parts in our Waverly, Ohio Tractor Assembly Center. These parts are able to be shipped on our own fleet of trucks that run to every store 4-7 times per week. We've seen other tractor manufacturers stumble over parts and lack thereof and we refused to let that happen. In fact, we are making an additional investment of $500,000 this year, to bring our total parts to $2 million by 2020. We will still have a few parts that will have to be aired over from Korea, but they are the exception, not the rule. We have around 10 years worth of filters in our service centers. If you ever are in a store and they don't have the filters you need, email me directly. It means I've probably missed something and didn't get the stores replenished. As my leader reminds me weekly, we have filters.
To the point about splitting a case. If we have a tractor that needs a case split or something very big, like an engine replaced, we'd send the tractor to our Full Service Centers at either Waverly, OH in the north, or Williston, FL in the south. This is where our top mechanics have the space and large equipment like gantry cranes and large jacks that can lift tractors and pull them apart.
I hope this has helped put some facts to some of the rumors and helped everyone understand Rural King and RK Tractors' position within the company. Please, email me or comment here if you have any other comments or concerns. We exist to provide solutions to our customers.
