December 20th 2021
We started working closely with Brandt around 12 years ago when we expanded into the forestry industry. Some of the equipment we acquired from a contractor happened to be John Deere harvesting equipment from Brandt which initiated the start of our relationship. Our company is very much a relationship-based organization. We try to work with our partner suppliers in the same way we hope our partner customers will work with us. These are not one-way relationships. We are just as concerned about our loyalty to our supplier partners and the brands they represent. With Brandt we are continuously growing our relationship and adding new equipment aggressively as we expand our forestry operations.
We have built our business on strong partnerships and the relationship we have with Brandt is well aligned with our needs and values. Price is one consideration in any partnership, but it’s not necessarily the most important factor. We place a great deal of value in the quality of products and down time on equipment.
Probably the most important consideration is what your partners can do for you when you have problems and things go very bad. Because of our strong relationships, we find that suppliers we work with really step up and dig deep to find a solution for us. That can mean a replacement machine or getting a technician out to a remote site immediately.
Brandt has always been there for us, it’s peace of mind knowing your supplier has your back when things don’t go quite right. So many companies have moved to unresponsive telephone answering services, but when you have equipment that has to keep working it’s good to know that when we dial the number for a Brandt rep someone always answers!
“Downtime is probably the biggest challenge in the forestry industry” says Quinn McKone, Sales Manager at Brandt Kamloops. “John Deere spends more money on forestry equipment innovation to make it more productive for customers than any other forestry equipment manufactures in the world”.
One of many value-added features that is important to us is “JD Link”. No matter where you are in the bush this new technology is keeping track of the how many hours you have on your machine, the mechanical performance, and critical fluid levels. This technology communicates directly with Brandt as well as our operations team and can alert us if there are any problems with the equipment that require immediate attention. This can save us costly repairs and downtime by a simple alert we see on our Smart Phones.
At Munden LOTS innovation is part of our DNA and is how we design our operations and systems for maximum efficiency and profitability. We need to stay on the leading edge of innovation and technology, and therefore aligning ourselves with partners like John Deere and Brandt, allow us to continue to reduce waste and improve efficiency in our forestry operations.
We are guided by LEAN methodology and it’s so important to work with a dealer and OEM that is thinking ahead an bringing forward opportunities for a company like ours to not only stay competitive but to be at the leading edge in our industry.
It’s been a very interesting year for us as we’ve transitioned and partnered with LOTS Group out of Sweden. This transition is continuing as we move forward to form LOTS Canada. While all this is going on in the background you sometimes wonder what the reaction is going to be from your suppliers.
I’m happy to say that Brandt has really embraced this transformation. In fact, Brandt made a huge deal in welcoming our Swedish partners with a first-class tour of Brandt’s new Kamloops facility as part of a delivery of our new 953 John Deere buncher.
The new buncher was polished and shined and all 85,000 pounds of it was “walked” into the Brandt showroom with special rubber pads protecting the steel tracks from damaging the showrooms tile floors! Brandt knows how important new equipment is for our operation, and they pulled out all the stops in making this a special event for us and our LOTS partners.
Brandt’s team has had the opportunity to get to know our family over the past 12 years and it’s wonderful to see how Brandt is really making an effort to get to know our Swedish LOTS family, and the elements of our expanding transportation business.
Supply chain issues are causing problems for every business, every sector, and in virtually anything that you’re trying to acquire and it’s no different for heavy equipment. More than ever, it is important to have a deep solid relationship with a supplier where you are in constant contact with.
Brandt understands our trade cycles and turnover rates on equipment. Brandt’s team has an inside understanding of our current and future grow needs. We rely on them to manage their supply chain to make sure we’re kept informed about lead times on equipment and parts and when we need to start thinking about replacing aging equipment.
Size does matter! When you are reliant on John Deere parts it makes sense to partner with the largest John Deere dealer to be part of “your team”. Brandt makes managing the supply chain look easy, but we know how much work is being done behind the scenes, and we really appreciate the increased level of communication from their team since the start of the pandemic.
Grown from the seeds of an entrepreneurial spirit over 85 years ago, Brandt has a long history of providing powerful value to customers through a solid commitment to strong core values; Quality, Innovation, Commitment and Customer Focus.
Brandt is a growing, dynamic, and diverse group of companies headquartered in Regina, Saskatchewan. Brandt employs more than 3400 people across Canada and the US and services markets in over 20 countries and six continents. Brandt is the largest privately owned company in Saskatchewan and a Platinum Member of the Canada’s 50 Best Managed Companies program.
With 56 locations across Canada, Brandt is the world’s largest privately held John Deere dealership. Brandt’s Kamloops location is a massive custom-built facility that is a “one stop shop” for anything you might need including a finance department, equipment department, GPS department, parts department, and service department all under one roof. Learn more about Brandt: https://www.brandt.ca/
The Munden family have provided transportation services to the forest industry for three generations beginning in 1966, in Savona, BC. During the past two decades their business expanded to include third party commercial vehicle maintenance and a forestry division.
Innovation, efficiency, and safety have been at the core of the Munden business values. As they continued to implement technology into their trucking fleet, and streamline the processes for transporting forest products to mills, the opportunity to partner with LOTS Group from Sweden became a natural fit.
In the spring of 2021, the Munden family took a positive step in securing a new legacy for future Munden generations through the merger with LOTS Group. With a continued financial interest in LOTS Canada, the Munden family, management team, and employees have transitioned their successful forestry transport business into a sustainable globally aware company that prides itself in making sure drivers have a good working environment.
Under the leadership of third generation Greg Munden, LOTS Canada is quickly expanding their footprint in the Western Canadian transportation industry to include mining, agriculture, and heavy intermodal transport with a laser focus on supplying industry leading transport services by blending the latest technologies with a Lean approach. LOTS Group is a fully owned subsidiary of Scania, providing future-proof sustainable transport solutions. Learn more: https://www.lotsgroup.com/
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