OLDS — A local agricultural dealer is having difficulty obtaining parts for customers.
However, Rocky Mountain Equipment service sales manager Gordon Leask is not sure whether the pandemic – or just an overall lack of parts – is the problem.
The company, located just off Highway 2 near Olds, sells New Holland agricultural equipment.
“We’ve been running into more back orders from the parent company in the last few months,” Leask said during an interview.
“We tried ordering a part here in December, that would be mid-December. We were told that it wouldn’t be available ‘till the 7th of February,” he said.
Leask said a couple of years ago, a part ordered in mid-December from the U.S., like the one he referred to, would arrive at the dealership within four days.
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Leask was asked how customers are reacting to the backlog.
“All you can do is tell them that it’s either back-ordered or not available or whatever and then they have to deal with whatever they’re dealing with, you know,” he said.
“I haven’t had really a lot of – how would I say – really upset customers. But it just seems like that’s the way it’s going, nowadays. It just seems like we – it’s a crapshoot on how fast you’re going to get the parts to show up.”
Leask was asked if he attributes the backlog of parts to supply chain issues created by – or exacerbated by – the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I'm not a hundred per cent sure what the reasoning behind it is, to be truthful,” he said. “It just seems like a lot of parts are either not being manufactured or not enough parts supply available and it’s just a case of no parts.
“I’m not so sure it’s being caused by the COVID situation or not. It’s just that parts have become more – how would I say – unavailable than what they used to be.”
