A Very Special Thank You!

The National Tractor Parts Dealer Association

Board of Directors - Members & Staff

Thank You!

A "Tip of the Hat" to all our sponsors that pitched in to help us with our Annual Meeting and Trade Show held in Mobile, Alabama!  We could not have done it without you. The image that  you see below was placed at all our meeting functions to make sure the attendees knew about your support of your association.

Cocktails - Early Arrival Party - Bluegill Restaurant

Allied Information Networks

Farmland Tractor Supply, Ltd.

Early Arrival Party - Entertainment

Steiner Tractor Parts, Inc.

Continental Breakfast - Friday

Fawcett Tractor Supply, Ltd.

Memo Corporation

Morning Break - Friday

Plastics Unlimited

Friday Lunch

Tractor House/AuctionTime.com

Schaefer Enterprises

Saturday Breakfast

All States Ag Parts, Inc.

Cocktail Reception - Saturday

Cook Tractor Parts, Inc.

Memo Corporation

Schaefer Enterprises

Dinner - Saturday

Abilene Machine, LLC

Allied Information Networks

Reliance Corporation

Entertainment

Steiner Tractor Parts, Inc.

 

What YOU Can Expect in Mobile!

Recently one of our speakers at our upcoming NTPDA Annual Conference and Trade Show appeared on the Insight on Business broadcast
talking about her presentation in Mobile. Karen McCullough was with us several years ago and we're grateful she is coming back to share some valuable lessons with our members. Click in and listen as she talks about branding, employees and customers. She'll also share with you exactly what you can expect in her two-part session called "Going Beyond the Brand". Join us in Mobile and take away some valuable lessons!

If you have not yet registered for our Mobile, Alabama Adventure here is a link to the registration page. Take some time and commit to working ON your business rather that working in it...you will see a difference. Join us in Mobile! 

 

NTPDA President Featured on The Business News Hour

While we were at our Summer Board Meeting in Minneapolis our NTPDA president, Scott Schelling was featured on Insight on Business the News Hour where he talked about the National Tractor Parts Dealer Association, the business of buying and selling tractor/agricultural parts, technology and the efforts the NTPDA goes to as we boost the value of membership. You can listen in by clicking on the player that was provided to us by the Business News Hour:

We had a great meeting and our plans for the Annual Meeting and Trade Show are being worked on every day. We look forward to seeing you in Alabama early next year. Watch this space, our Facebook Page and Twitter for more details.

Thank you for coming by! 

 

Natural Disasters, Oil Spills and Community Effort

Over the past month a number of our NTPDA members have had to deal with weather related disasters. In Iowa there has been a rash of flooding and then in Rock Valley there was a major oil spill.  Rock Valley is the home base of our President Scott Schelling. We sent an email to Scott to check up on him. We thought his answer mirrored so many of our members and their communities that we're sharing it with you:

"Sorry for the delay in responding.  I have been out for over a week for various reasons including sandbagging and flood relief.  We are getting back to normal, the river is back in its banks but we still seem to get rain every couple days so it doesn’t go down much.  We set an all time record back in 2014 when the river got to 22.7 feet over floodstage.  This year we topped out at 21.5.  We were more prepared this time and we knew where and what to do so things went a little smoother, but ultimately we still got our butts kicked by the river.  We were able to avoid the major property damage with the work we did and most people just had to empty their basements and pump water.(they still are pumping water)  We took some steps after 2014 to prevent that same event in the future, we built a permanent berm on the north end of town to keep the river out and bought a couple huge pumps to pump out our storm sewers.  When the river is in flood stage it is higher than our storm sewers and cant run away so we have to pump it out.  And that takes a HUGE pump to keep up when you keep getting rain and everyone is pumping water out of their basements.  We also made some changes to make the river flow away better so it don’t dam up as high.  All the steps we took helped, but we still can do more.  I’m sure we will have more ideas to help for future events. 

 

The oil spill was just 6-7 miles upriver from us and I understand it was the worst oil spill in the US in the last 5 years.  The last number I heard was 230K gallons spilled, and as of last Thurs, only about 100k of that was recovered.  We could see oil in the river and of course it puddled up along the banks in the quiet water.  You could smell oil all thru town on Thursday and Friday.  We had to shut down the city wells to try to keep oil from getting into them.  The DNR has been out and testing dirt in places as the river recedes to see how bad the contamination was.  They have cleared the soccer fields and ball fields to be played on, they say the contamination was minimal in those areas.  The cleanup crew that BNSF brought in was excellent, they went right to work with cleanup and repair and last Thurs the trains were running again down those tracks.  We will see how long before they are finished with oil cleanup, but they don’t stand around, those people are here to work. 

 

The silver lining of it all is the way the communities come together to fight back against the water and how they come out to help others that are in need.  We again had several thousand volunteers from the surrounding towns come to us and help, and they still are coming to help people they don’t even know with cleanup.  This is the reason I love to live here, we don’t just throw up our hands and cry about it and quit, we show up any time of day, and help out people we might not know, and we stand shoulder to shoulder in chest deep water throwing sandbags all night, and we pick each other up when things seem like they are hopeless.  It is a beautiful thing to witness, and it keeps you going even after no sleep, or when your muscles don’t want to go anymore.  I love my town!!"

Scott Schelling - Rock Valley Tractor Parts

Right to Repair and NTPDA

Right to Repair Update - By Kenny Roelofsen

First, I want to thank NTPDA and its members for giving me the opportunity to talk with you all at this year’s show in Corpus Christi. Personally I think a lot of good came from all of us discussing the problem at hand. I am especially looking forward to putting a team together with NTPDA and all its members to ‘combat’ this issue and get something done!

With that being said, while we were discussing the issue at hand the WEDA (Western Equipment Dealers Association) sent out a Legislative Update indicating that they had got the Right to Repair bill amended in Washington State to exempt all Ag Equipment from the bill. In other words even if Washington state passes the bill it would do nothing for agricultural equipment. This, in part, was achieved by WEDA lobbying efforts and testimonial.

“Moving forward, we anticipate our advocacy efforts in Washington will set a precedent for other states to follow,” said John Schmeiser, CEO WEDA. This is what we need to be careful of. Groups like WEDA and others will try and sneak in and get the bills changed without us knowing so. Another reason why we need to act fast and get our own team of lobbyist to help combat groups like WEDA.

For more information please contact Kenny at 785-655-9455 Ext 103

Bio

Kenny Roelofsen is the Digital Marketing Associate at Abilene Machine he has been employed since 2013. Before Abilene Machine Kenny attended college at the University of Kansas where he majored in Political Science with a minor in Business Marketing. Kenny also serves on the Abilene Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, Economic Development Corporation of Dickinson County Board of Directors

Thank You Members!

The National Tractor Parts Dealer Association is coming up next month in Corpus Christi. (If you have not yet registered here is that link.) It promises to be
warmer there and we've got a great line up of business education and "down-time" for all of us to enjoy. 

Each year we ask our membership if they might be willing to help NTPDA with sponsorship of our various events and each year we get to say "Thank YOU!" to a great group of members who step up to help their association. Here's an updated list of those sponsors, click through to visit them...and yep we truly appreciate the help!

 

 

 

Cocktails - Early Arrival Party – Wednesday

 All States Ag Parts
Allied Information Networks
Steiner Tractor Parts, Inc.

Reception – Early Arrival Party – Wednesday

 Reliance Power Parts
Abilene Machine, Inc.

Entertainment – Early Arrival Party – Wednesday

Memo Corporation

Refreshments during Displayer Setup – Thursday

 Plastics Unlimited

Continental Breakfast – Thursday

 Memo Corporation

Morning Break – Thursday

Fawcett Tractor Supply

Lunch – Thursday

 Allied Information Networks

Hy-Capacity, Inc.

Memo Corporation

Cocktail Reception – Thursday

 All States Ag Parts

Allied Information Networks

Memo Corporation

Welcome Reception – Thursday

 Schaefer Enterprises

Breakfast Trade Show Area – Friday

 Hy-Capacity, Inc.
Memo Corporation
TractorHouse/AuctionTime.com

Refreshments during Trade Show Hours – Friday

 Steiner Tractor Parts, Inc.

Cocktails– Friday

 All States Ag Parts
Memo Corporation

Dinner – Friday

 Allied Information Networks

Entertainment – Friday

 Steiner Tractor Parts, Inc.

 

A Month Away!

It's hard to believe that in just a month we'll be gathering for the National Tractor Parts Dealer Association Annual Trade Show and Conference! With all the holiday cheer and excitement it's sometimes easy to forget about the middle of January...  We get it. If you have not yet registered and made plans to join us in Corpus Christi now is the time to make that happen. Here is a link to our registration page complete with the schedule of events and our top of the line speakers.

Come to Corpus Christi, where we hope it will be much warmer, and hang out, have some fun and learn how to become a better business owner/manager/employee. (A nudge to our Canadian Members...think...warm!)

Coming up a THANK YOU to so many who have decided to help NTPDA with sponsorship. We figure a little recognition is in order...right?

See you in Corpus Christi...remember, just a month away.

Yikes!

You Should Be Very Afraid!

It is Halloween and the spooks are out...no really! But if you are fearful of ghosts that is nothing compared to missing the National Tractor Parts Dealer Annual Meeting and Trade Show. Missing that adventure should really send shivers down your spine!

We'll be headed south to Corpus Christi, Texas in January and there is no time like the present to make plans to attend. We've got some frightfully dynamic events in store including our great headquarters hotel the Omni Corpus Christi. Check it out by clicking on our special page...go ahead and the price won't scare you away!

In addition to a great location we've got a boiling cauldron of great information to help you better run and manage your business! 

• Richard Flint on Embracing Change - Folks are often scared by change but it's coming any way. Richard will offer up "Six Steps to Embracing Change" in our first session on 18 January.
• Crystal Washington on Advanced Digital Marketing - She's baaack! Crystal was with us last year and you enjoyed her so much she is back for a second round of training. This time she will be helping you better understand the best methods of using digital (think computers and smart phones) marketing. She will also be presenting on 18 January.
• Got the Right People? - Richard Flint joins us for an afternoon session that same day and talks to us about hiring smart and retaining well. We all know how difficult it is to find the RIGHT person for the job. Richard will help take the horror out of the effort.
• Got Skills? - Then on the 19th Richard is back with "Mastering the Five Skills for Effective Leadership". What skills are necessary to be able to get people to their most productive level? He'll have the answers!

Don't miss out on this fantastic training...it ain't at all scary!

One other thing:  "Knock, knock" (Who's there?) "Booo!" (Booo who?) "Don't cry it's Halloween!"

Thanks for reading...see you in Corpus Christi! 

 

 

 

Old Tractors & Old Folks

Go to any country or state fair and walk among the old tractors that are displayed often as FFA projects and you'll no doubt see man and women nearly as old as the iron on display. What is the draw to that old tractor? Is it the memory of life on a farm, long ago replaced by technology or is it that we see ourselves in those old tractors. Perhaps we've got a little rust here and there and our hair is sort of like the faded paint and maybe our joints get "froze up" if we sit too long. 

Those are some of the thoughts in this article (The Last Windrow - Shared traits with a little Ford tractor) we found in the PineandLakes Echo Journal written by John Wetrosky. It's about an old Ford 8N tractor...who doesn't remember and love those little machines?

But, with a little "spit and polish" some exercise and a better diet we can begin our own, personal, restoration project. Maybe that's part of the reason we've got hope in the future.

If you've got a story about your restored, or hope to restore, tractor let us know!  Replay to this post and let's talk...it's always fun meeting others who enjoy the hobby.

Thanks for coming by for a brief look at what the National Tractor Parts Dealer Association does...and is. Hope your Spring is off to a great start!

 

It's More Than a Tractor...

Every so often we run into a heartwarming story about a tractor. That's what happened this morning as we were searching for some news about tractor parts. It was a great restoration story out of Lawrence Township, Ohio. If you want to read...here you go.

Now to some folks who have lived all their lives in the city that might not click. However, for those of us who have spent time on the farm...we get it. Who among us doesn't remember their first tractor? Mine was a Farmall Model H. Every time I see one my mind races back some 40 years and I can smell the gas, oil and grease. It's like that for so many of us.

So, why write a piece that talks about memories and old tractors? Because we are the people who have helped countless restorations come to life. Sure, you can look out at your salvage area and you see rusted equipment lying there waiting for the weeds. But, look again. If you concentrate you can see a field of opportunity. Of course you'll sell some parts to people you've never met. You'll sell parts to farmers who come to you to get through another season. But, you'll also sell parts to folks who are bringing back a memory.

We'd like to hear your stories. We know that you've got 'em. Hook us up with a recent (or maybe not so recent) restoration project that your company helped with. We'd like to take some time and tell the story. Send me 50 words on your story and some contact names. We'll get it done.

You see, it's more than just parts...

Thanks for being a member of the National Tractor Parts Dealer Association...it matters.