The new Waipara Junction branch, located at the intersection of State Highway One and the Hanmer Springs turn-off houses the CLAAS Harvest Centre, Carrfields Irrigation and the Husqvarna Equipment dealership along with an Allied Fuel service.
Matt Keen, general manager, CLAAS Harvest Centre in Ashburton, says the company had been looking for a suitable site for a few years to support its customers and local farmers in the North Canterbury region.
“Our customer base in North Canterbury is growing and we are committed to providing an integrated sales, service and support model,’’ Keen says.
The hosting for the evening was conducted by Matt Keen and speeches were made by Carrfields Managing Director Craig Carr and Landpower CEO – Richard Wilson, who spoke about the group’s growth strategy and also thanked everyone that has been working around the clock to get the doors open to customers.
“We have an excellent team on board to support the local agricultural community and providing this service is just one step we are taking to building a positive and mutually beneficial relationship in the region, says Keen.
The CLAAS Harvest Centre will provide parts, service and sales and the business will look to develop agricultural parts support via suppliers that work within the local farming community.
As part of Carrfields Irrigation’s growth roadmap, the business will provide design and sales, service support and parts to North Canterbury.
The Husqvarna Equipment dealership will be featured in the new showroom and provide general on-site sales and service. Allied Petroleum will also have a self-service fuel facility on-site.
Keen says the business is happy to work with the local community and farmers to “try and help as best we can.”
“We are doing our best to get the stock and products right but there might be things that people want and we can help,’’ he says.
“Our investment to further expand our machinery and irrigation presence in North Canterbury is an essential part of our growth plans for these businesses,’’ Carrfields Managing Director, Craig Carr says.
“We have a strong footprint in the wider Canterbury region and are committed to improving our service offering to our North Canterbury clients.’’
The team working out of Waipara Junction all live locally and include customer service manager Matt Petrie (Rangiora) who manages the Templeton, Waipara and West Coast regions, sales person Richard Sidey (Cheviot), Dave Tocker (Leithfield) workshop foreman, Roger McKenzie, (Kaiapoi), Husqvarna parts and sales specialist and Rex Winks, (Rangiora) sales and design for Carrfields Irrigation.