DeBoer’s Farm Equipment here held a triple header on Monday with Kubota.
That international company was at the DeBoer’s County Road 7 dealership with its Kubota Tour, which included of a travelling truck show along with a Kubota Excavation Rodeo, as well as a new equipment display.
Bill DeBoer said in an interview that the show is dropping in on various dealerships across Canada this year. It brings new equipment and challenges backhoe operators with a series of tests of their skills.
Those tests are not easy, even though DeBoer noted that all those taking the tests are very skilled at what they do.
For example, in one part of the event, a backhoe operator, driving a particular machine for the first time, had to pick up a pair of thin, nearly weightless PCV pipes off a pair of saw horses – in the wind. In another, drivers had to pick up a tire, dip into into one close area of fencing, and then set it inside a chalk circle, with the tire dangling from a lengthy chain.
“It’s to test their ability and for them to compete against each other,” DeBoer said, watching one driver go through the test.
The third event was to show off some of Kubota’s newest equipment. The show at DeBoer’s ran from 1 to 7pm, and the dealership was a flood of orange, Kubota’s colours.
Kubota National Marketing Manager John Gilliland offered tours of the state of the art truck that carries not only the new equipment, but a number of computer screens that show off parts of the company’s web site and offerings at the touch of a finger onto a screen.
Those computers are packed into case for protection during travel, and the result is the storage of the truck looks like a rock and roll road show. The music it offered, was, naturally, classic rock.
The truck balances itself automatically, so it is easy to set up, even on hilly terrain. Gilliland said the floor itself moves, and the new equipment, the tents, decorations and everything for the tour travels there.
The truck itself has two drivers and he said it will travel 48,000 kilometres this summer, having started on April 1 and with its first appearance in Vancouver, and then heading east. One of its stops was at the Fergus Truck Show on the weekend.
Gilliland said the team has done about 45 events so far, and it will reach 60 before the tour ends.
That will include dealer events like the one at DeBoer’s, and trade shows, too. Gilliland said driver Dan Gorrill has relations all over Canada and is enjoying seeing them all. The company flew him home to Lindsay once, and flew his wife to meet him once.
Gorrill is a farmer, and when he took time off for the harvest, Regional Sales Manager Rob Allison does the driving.
Gilliland said it used to take about 2.5 hours to set up the show or tear it down, but they have become so proficient it now takes about 90 minutes.
Kubota itself began in Japan 120 years ago as a cast company, and, “Yes, there was a Mr. Kubota.” The show in the truck also features company history and includes is many products.
Farm equipment is but a part of its production, but not all of its products are sold in Canada. It also makes vending machines and support products for subways.
Gilliland said he has known Bill DeBoer from 1955 when he started with Kubota Canada. He added “Bill’s a great guy. I knew his father [John]. He [Bill] was just a young fellow.”
Gilliland also noted that when it came to selling Kubota products, DeBoer’s was well ahead of the curve. It was importing and selling Kubota from the United States two or three years before Kubota Canada got operating.
Bill DeBoer said he remembers his father bringing those machines to Canada in 1972 or 1973.
