The first Farm Equipment magazine (August/September 2004) under Lessiter Media’s ownership featured a cover story on Ohio-based American Equipment Services. Dealer-principal Ted Mallard is pictured at left.
I can’t believe it’s been 20 years since you wrote your 1st cover story on our business, AES, in Farm Equipment. I guess when I look, I have a few more gray hairs but I’m glad to be in an industry in which I thoroughly enjoy going to work every day and apparently that has helped the time fly by.
Teresa and I have now been joined by our two sons, Holt & Drake, in the business and I’m looking forward to another 20 years.
Biggest Industry Changes
In no certain order:
- Mergers and Acquisitions of manufactures and consolidation of dealerships.
- EPA Emissions regulations.
- Precision Farming GPS – GIS
- Autonomous Equipment
- Evolving new crop technology and more efficient equipment. A farmer used to feed 25 people and now feeds 155 people through increased yields and high-tech farming practices.
Changes in Our Business
- Technology is driving everything now, from the computers to the precision farming GPS, GIS
- We used to have mechanics to rebuild or recondition engines and transmissions. Now we just replace whole components and reprogram ECUs.
- I hope someday that those skills are not forgotten, and we still have people with agricultural work experience and common knowledge to continue. Sometimes we forget the basics.
Information Flow
We’ve come a long way from the actual paper magazines we all used to read old news – now to the digital copies we receive with up to the minute news and podcasts. We can read or listen to these at any free moment in the day and find them again with a few clicks on the keyboard instead of looking for the lost copies laid somewhere.
At AES we know we can rely on the information Farm Equipment provides us on industry news, whether it be on new products or technologies, consolidation and mergers, or successful dealer practices with shared metrics and useful benchmarks. The Agricultural Industry is a small group in a very large and fast world, and we definitely appreciate the integrity and knowledge of your publications. At AES we know what “doing a few things well “ means, so you and your team keep up the good work.
Check out other "A Look Back in Farm Equipment History" blogs
Industry commentary on “55 Years of Farm Equipment”
- The ‘5 Greatest Tech Advancements’ in My Career as a Dealer | Leo Johnson, Johnson Tractor
- The Impact of Consolidation & Technology on Agriculture Over Half a Century | Sam Christianson, Titan Machinery
- A Service Manager’s View on the Changing Times | Brent Bazin, Young's Equipment Inc.
- Reflections on Farm Equipment | George Russell, Machinery Advisors Consortium
- Farm Equipment Sales in the 1970s | Charlie Glass, FEMA Dealer Relations Commitee
- Digital Communications Changed the Course of OEMs Working With Dealers | Tom Taylor, retired farm equipment executive
- RDO Equipment’s Take on the Last 55 Years | Daryl Shelton, RDO Equipment
- Reflections from a North American, International & Company-Store Dealer Exec | Stacy Anthony, AgRevolution LLC
- A Lot of Change in Shortline Equipment | Hans Rasmussen, Summers Manufacturing
- Business Acumen, Technology Forever Changed Equipment Sales & Service | Brian R. Carpenter, Champlain Valley Equipment
- Not Your Grandfather’s Farm Equipment Dealership… | Josh Waggener, Hutson Inc
- Left Major OEM Career 55 Years Ago to Become Dealer-Principal | Paul Wallem, Retired International Harvester executive
- Titan Machinery Reflects on Significant Changes to Dealership Environment in 55 Years | David J. Meyer, Titan Machinery
- From 3 Stores Within 50 Miles to 25 Stores Across 8 States | Tom Rosztoczy, Stotz Equipment
- 45 Years of Observations on Ag Equipment Manufacturing & Distribution | Chuck Bellew, retired farm equipment executive
- Today’s Staff Has No Fear Approach to Risk, But It Still Exists | Jeff Morgan, H&R Agri-Power
- A Recent Retiree’s Perspective on Equipment Industry | Lars Paulsson, Laforge Systems
- 60 Years of Equipment Dealer Associations Consolidation Continues | Kim Rominger, NAEDA
- Vast Technology Changes Assisted Dealers’ Computerization | Ed Archambo, Basic Software Systems
- ‘I Didn’t Listen to My Uncle Roy’ | Jon Eis, Eis Implement Co.
- Farm Equipment Manufacturers and the Early 1980s Farm Crisis
- GMO, Autosteer Forever Changed Our Business | Tom Janson, Janson Equipment
- My 35 Years at RME, from Microfiche to Guidance | Jim Wood, Rocky Mountain Equipment
- Export Opportunities Changed Game for Canadian Shortline Manufacturer | Hal Carnago, Schulte Industries Ltd.
- 40 Years with Sunco, Hiniker, Ingersoll, Southern Marketing & Forges de Niaux | Larry Hansen, Forges de Niaux
- From Dreaming Farm Boy to Equipment Dealer | Tim Brannon, B&G Equipment
- Inaugural Cover Story Dealer, 20 Years Later | Ted Mallard, American Equipment Service Inc.
- Farm Equipment Tips the Hat to the Behind-the-Scenes Contribution of An Industry Exec | Patricia Collins, Equipment Manufacturers Distribution Association
