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With a grand opening planned later this fall, Ag Tech Services has officially relocated its inventory and offices to a new Ritzville location. The store, now housed in the former Car Quest building on First Avenue, is operational and expected to have a grand opening in September or October of this year.
Ritzville Warehouse Company purchased the 6,000 square-foot building and three surrounding lots in June and renovations of the building began soon after.
Ritzville Warehouse manager John Anderson explained the facility had to be painted and carpeted indoors, while also having new windows, doors and roof installed before inventory could be moved to the store.
Ag Tech Services has operated out of a warehouse facility in the Moses Lake area for the past three and a half years.
The warehouse was in a low-traffic area, Anderson explained, and the decision to move the store to Ritzville is based around being better able to serve customers and provide more customer interaction through the store.
“Ritzville was chosen for the location,” store manager Steve Braun explained. “It’s closer to the customer base and we wanted to be within the local markets.”
The Ritzville store allows the company to be more centrally based in the typical coverage area of customers.
Ag Tech Services focuses on selling precision farming equipment and also sells Apache sprayer parts. Working in partnership with Odessa Trading Company (OTC), Apache sprayers will also be sold from the Ritzville location.
OTC has been an Apache dealer since January of this year, and recently received the “Top First-Year Dealer” award through Apache Sprayers (Equipment Technologies) company.
With the addition of the contract, Ag Tech Services will carry a full supply of Apache sprayer parts and products.
Ag Tech Services has been supplying agricultural global positioning systems (GPS) since 1998 and the company serves customers in Washington, Oregon and Idaho. The Trimble products sold through Ag Tech Services focuses on providing farmers with efficient equipment to assist the farmer with gathering information through technology.
All of the products offered through the store provide farmers with management information previously not available to them, Braun explained. The precision farming products are aimed at creating a way for farmers to control costs by being able to accurately track and manage information through the products, eventually lowering input costs and creating a more efficient farming operation for the customer.
Braun is currently operating out of the Ritzville location and manages the store while simultaneously monitoring and assisting the technicians. Braun began working for Odessa Trading Company in 2006 in the parts department before moving to outside part sales in 2010, and eventually transferred to the Ag Tech division.
Aside from Braun, the Ritzville facility also provides office space for office administrator Veronica Rodriquez and OTC’s machinery salesman, Rudy Plager. Previously, Plager operated out of office space at the Ritzville Warehouse office in Ritzville.
Braun explained the office is also planning to hire an individual to work in the parts department in the facility, but the position has not yet been filled. The store will remain primarily as a parts supply department, but Braun explained the hope to expand the lobby into a showroom in the future.
With Plager working out of the office, Case IH equipment will eventually be for sale in the lot surrounding the facility, but Anderson does not expect the equipment to be available immediately. Apache sprayers are for sale through the facility and one sprayer has already been moved to the Ritzville location.
OTC and Ag Tech Services are both divisions of Ritzville Warehouse Company, but Braun explained the divisions remain separate in order to continue to serve a specific customer base. While red tractors are going to be parked outside of the Ag Tech Services building, Braun said the company attempts to remain “brand neutral,” as the precision guidance products are compatible with any brand of equipment.
Ag Tech Services and OTC work hand-in-hand, Braun said, as the majority of equipment sold through OTC requires installation of precision farming products. The partnership between the two businesses strengthens the end product for the customer and also allows the farmer to receive the specific expertise of technicians.
Currently, three technicians work out of the Ritzville facility, while many other technicians work from their homes because of the expansive coverage area of Ag Tech Services. The Ritzville facility serves as a central location for all of the technicians while also remaining visible and accessible for customers.
“We have people in the industry that have been in precision farming for 10-plus years,” Braun said of Ag Tech Services employees. “We’ve got really good people who have good foresight.”
For more information about Ag Tech Services, contact the Ritzville facility at 659-0269. For a complete list of available products, visit the company’s website at http://agtechservices.com.
Braun can also be reached at the office phone or by email at [email protected].
The Ag Tech Services office is located at 1102 West First Avenue in Ritzville.
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