Ben McShane is one of New Zealand’s best John Deere parts technicians.
A father’s passion for parts and customer support has landed him a finalist for the 2022 John Deere Technician of the Year Award.
Ben McShane, a parts technician for Cambridge John Deere Dealership AGrowQuip, will join two other finalists from the South Island in Brisbane next month.
The trip, courtesy of John Deere, will offer the technicians parts and systems related training, prior to a winner being announced on August 6.
As a parts technician, McShane helps customers with parts related inquiries and often travels to their farms to do so.
McShane’s manager Hemi George, and customer John Austin, nominated him for the award.
“When we are on, we are 24/7, it doesn’t stop and we don’t sleep, Ben has a big area to cover, and he does that very very well,” said George.
He said that McShane often works 50-hour weeks, but drastically exceeds those hours during the industry’s busy September to April period.
He said that the customer support offered by AGrowQuip is what sets them apart from their competitors, and that McShane shares that belief.
“It is what we do, it is who we are, it is great to have people like Ben come through and have that same desire to improve and have such a strong customer focus,” said George.
“There is a lot of competition in what we do, the thing that makes a difference is how we support our customers on the parts and services side of things.”
McShane, 24, had little knowledge of the agriculture sector prior to working for AGrowQuip.
“I was young, floating around, and didn’t know what to do,” he said.
“I thought I’d try it out, and five years later I am still going.”
He started off as a storeman, helping with general tasks around the dealership and worked his way up to technician position.
His favourite model of tractor the John Deere 9700 self-propelled Harvester. He shares his love of tractors with his 16-month-old son Leo, who often plays with the toy models that his work sells.
McShane said in addition to the training provided and the trip to Australia, the winning parts technician will receive a $5000 prize. And if he wins, he plans to use the money for a trip with Leo and his partner Devon.
