AFGRI Equipment has a big global footprint, with 1250 people working in 40 branches that are spread across five countries and the company plans to expand that footprint in the future, particularly in Western Australia.
At the grand opening of its new South Guildford premises recently, AFGRI Equipment Australia board chairman Patrick Roux laid down the company's road map that will see another three more locations open in WA in the next 24 months.
The first of those will be in Albany next year with negotiations ongoing for the other two locations.
A key part of the company's future its investment in staff - and in particular young staff, with Mr Roux saying more than 75 per cent of their staff were under the age of 40 years and "most of them are below the age of 30".
AFGRI Equipment apprentice academy has 65 trainees under its belt and every year they are going to add another 20 to the system.
He said the academy was something he developed in South Africa 10 years ago and was confident it would pay dividends in WA.
"I believe if we get the youngsters from an area we can retain them in that area, so that we don't take Perth guys, train them and they all levitate back to Perth," Mr Roux said.
"Hopefully they stay where we train them and youngsters, with technology coming in, are early adopters - we want to equip them to be able to adapt to that new technology."
Mr Roux said they would also be on a mission to find 50 new technicians, to go with the 62 technicians they currently have.
He said AFGRI was the biggest John Deere dealer in the southern hemisphere and it had a proud alignment with the brand since 1962.
That is backed up by the management team that collectively has more than 200 years of experience in the equipment space.
At the end of the day, Mr Roux said how well the company performed was down to what he referred to as 'people of excellence'.
He said for AFGRI to be a successful business, it had to have staff who were as good as the products they sold
"We do represent the pre-eminent brands in the world," he said.
Mr Roux said to do justice to the brands it was important for staff to fully commit and it was their job to take the technology to the market so it worked.
"We are that conductor from the battery to the globe to make it shine," Mr Roux said.
"If we don't do that and if is broken, there is no use for the equipment.
"We are probably not the best sales team in the world but I can promise you that we are the best after-sales team in the world."
The new South Guildford facility not only houses the full suite of John Deere agriculture products, but now also the construction, forestry, golf and turf industries.
Before last week's opening, management were shown messages on customer feedback.
"It's just the tips of the ears of the hippo," Mr Roux said of their approach being the best in aftersales.
"There is a lot hidden under the ground - you haven't seen it - we are going to move this to the next level."
Mr Roux said it was important to reinvest in the company's future here in WA, saying "seeing is believing".
"If you touch that facility, it makes people believe in it and we believe in Western Australia and we believe in the future of agriculture and construction in Western Australia, so we need to show our customers that we are going to create a better experience for them by reinvesting," he said.
"We have never taken a cent out of WA - we have reinvested everything in WA and we are going to continue to reinvest so that our customers get a better and better experience.
"It's staff, it's infrastructure, it's tooling, its technology, it's a lot of development that we need to fund and we are glad to do it."