NORTHAM'S CLAAS Harvest Centre is growing, with a new machinery workshop almost completed and new staff members joining the team to help meet increasing demand.
A big new shed has been built in front of the centre's existing service shed on Yilgarn Avenue, effectively tripling the undercover area which will be devoted to pre-delivery servicing of new CLAAS machines and repairs and servicing of customer's machines.
Service manager Morné Stain said over the next two months - the relatively "quite time" for the workshop while farmers were busy with this season's harvest - the Northam Harvest Centre's technicians would help fit out the new workshop by building their own work stations between each bay.
"That way, we get the work stations that we want to suit the layout of this workshop and stronger work benches than we can buy at any store," Mr Stain said.
"We will be able to get at least three big machines - Lexions (combine harvesters), Axions or Xerions (CLAAS's biggest tractors ranging from 153-340kW) or (Scorpion) telehandlers - in here at any one time to work on them.
"By January we should have it fitted out and in operation," he said.
"It will mean a much shorter turnaround time, we should be able to get machines out to customers much quicker than we can do that now."
The CLAAS Harvest Centre Northam has also recently added a new staff lunch room and amenities to make way for an expanded spare parts area and the increased stock inventory it now carries.
"We've increased our parts inventory by 50 per cent, particularly for the big tractors, harvesters, telehandlers and hay machinery which is a big part of our business here," said CLAAS Harvest Centre Northam sales representative Melvyn Parnell.
"Although we are the newest of the harvest centres (there are also CLAAS Harvest Centres at Esperance, Geraldton and Katanning, plus partner dealers at Corrigin, Harvey, Margaret River and Manjimup), we now carry more spare parts for some machines than the other branches," Mr Parnell said.
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Having transferred from the Katanning branch some two years ago, Mr Parnell has been operating as the sole sales representative at Northam, however a second salesman, Tristan Job, has recently joined the team which is headed by branch manager Mike Thipps.
Mr Parnell will continue servicing the Central Wheatbelt area south of Great Eastern Highway and Mr Job will service the area north of the highway.
As well, parts interpreter Nina Hendren has recently returned from maternity leave to again assist parts manager Travis Bell.
"As a family-owned German manufacturer, the CLAAS brand has been well accepted and its machines compete very well on world-wide markets," Mr Parnell said.
"You will see more of them throughout the Wheatbelt.
"We recently held a Lexion school at the Muresk Institute to teach owners and operators about the machines and we had 23 people attending."
He said one of the reasons CLAAS machines were growing in popularity in Western Australia was the fact the company considered WA an important market and welcomed feedback from local farmers.
"When the Lexion was about to be launched the second and third pre-production machines off the line came here, to Frankland River, that's how important they consider our market," Mr Parnell said.
