The Rural Voice, 1988-04, Page 81MACHINERY SPECIAL
a dealer have three alternatives: adver-
tise in your local paper, hire a person
away from another dealership, or get a
trained person from your local commu-
nity college. Of these alternatives,
number three has been the least used.
These are the exact same problems
that dealers are facing in Ontario, and it
is critical that dealers address them now.
The competition is already tough but it
can only get worse. If our Farm Equip-
ment Mechanics Course (at Fanshawe
College) is discontinued and we stop
training our own, then we will have to
compete head to head with the automo-
tive industry, the heavy duty mechanic,
the fork-lift mechanics,etc. — we are all
competing for fewer young people.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
I started with ORFEDA in 1980. We
had two part-time girls who really were
part-time. We worked from 9 to 5 with
a 1 1/2 hour lunch if nothing was press-
ing, and here we are today. At times we
have six girls working in the office, five
men in the Computer Division, and our
sales this year will be more than $2
million.
The 1987 board of directors has been
a challenge and a pleasure to work with.
It was again a year filled with a multi-
tude of meetings. ORFEDA president
(1987) Arnold Kerry joked at the area
meetings that when he was first asked to
join the ORFEDA board it was sug-
gested there might be four or five meet-
ings a year, but at times this past year it
sometimes seemed like four or five
meetings per week.
... Nowhere does it say that an asso-
ciation cannot be successful and with
that success have more money to fund
fights in other areas we normally could
not afford to enter. A perfect example is
our Computer Division, which has gen-
erated an enormous amount of financial
demands and rewards and allowed us to
staff with the proper people to service
our dealer members. Yet the bottom line
is that we have been able to continually
lower a dealer's cost to computerize,
particularly the ongoing cost of hard-
ware and software maintenance.
ORFEDA is continuing on a pro-
gram that keeps the dealer's concerns
and interests in the forefront of our agri-
cultural industry. Our dealer members
give it the strength and horsepower to
stay on the leading edge and keep our
membership strong against all odds.0
DUMP TRAILERS
2T Models
4T
5T
10T
Grain Sides
Round Bale
Racks
Van Eyl
Clifford 519-327-8045
You can get a
great deal at
DONA, .US N
FARM EQUIPMENT?:
LTD.
arming
ea
Mildmay
519-367-2672
Wheel Horse Power
Works For You.
MODEL
211-4
Shift
lever
on column
Unitized
steel frame
Non-skid
footrests
4 -speed
all gear
transaxle
Aero
headlights
Electric
key start
Quick disconnect 36" & 37"
mowing decks (optional)
Ng)
Cast-iron
front axle
11 -HP
Synchro-Balanced"
Briggs &
Stratton engine
Wheel Horse
CASSIDY
FARM MACHINERY
Since 1953
Teeswater 519-392-6402
APRIL 1988 79