SUPPLY CHAIN
Build a purchasing program that includes continuous investment in the older parts of a system as they lose efficacy, says Wahlgren.
“Leasing is back in vogue because it’s a way to get more machines out and traded back in to get the U.S. market running,” Paulman says.
Planning ahead
The most effective way for a farmer to get the parts they need is to do their best to make allowances for time in their planning, Paulman says.
Knowing what parts you should keep in stock begins with measurement and planning.
“You have to start earlier,” he says. “Your schedule has to be moved up. I’m not talking about a week. I’m talking about 30, 60 or 90 days.”
While the stress on the supply chain isn’t likely to let up soon, doing system evaluation and equipment maintenance right after the end of the season will be more popular among farmers this year, he says.
It’s important to keep in contact with suppliers and establish a conversation on parts that goes throughout the season, Harsch says. If a grower is looking to start keeping some parts on hand to mitigate supply delays, start by looking at your high-use parts. Whatever gets used inside one year, such as tires for pivots, should be kept available so you’re not left in need when a repair is necessary. Think about what parts you can get by without for a little bit, and which could cause heavier losses if they’re missing.
14 Irrigation TODAY | Summer 2022
“You don’t have to go overboard and stockpile the whole system,” Harsch says. “It’s just the parts that you’re going to be needing and don’t want to wait on.”
Building a purchasing program that includes continuous investment in the older parts of the system as they lose efficiency is a requirement, says Wahlgren. Without that in place, he’d just be waiting on a more catastrophic failure to force him to pay attention, which could be even more difficult now with the possibility of delays on parts.
That starts by making certain to actually measure inputs and creating an ongoing record of how fields are performing. “At the very least, write down your pressures that your pivots are running at from the beginning of the season, middle and end of the season year over year. That will show you where problems lie within,” says Wahlgren. “If there are issues out there, that would be where you should direct your investment. If you simply measure it, it would show you where to go.”
Kyle Brown and can be reached at
kylebrown@irrigation.org.
irrigationtoday.org
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