Norwood celebrates opening of national training centre in Palmerston North with a tractor pull competition.
To calls of "lean into it", "free beers" and "a bit of pace", Norwood staff celebrated the opening of its new national training centre in Roslyn by pulling a tractor.
Five teams of four pulled the Case IH Farmall 60B tractor the width of the new Tremaine Ave training centre.
First was Lightweight Baby in 23 seconds and second was Working Your Assets Off in 25 seconds.
Megan Jefferies shows how it's done - with a smile on her face.
Megan Jefferies was the only woman in Joe's Army, which came in third in a time of 28 seconds. When asked by a colleague after she completed the tractor pull when she started training, Jefferies replied, "yesterday".
The customer service team leader said her job is bringing tractors into the country, getting them built and sent around the country.
"I haven't pulled one before but there's a first for everything."
The all-women team might have had some extra horsepower in the form of male colleagues towards the end of their pull, but at least none of their team fell over, unlike two men in the composite team who had a go after the official event.
Other activities at the staff engagement day last Friday included biosecurity training on protecting the country's borders, using a farm simulator to experience driving machinery and learning more about 75 years of agriculture technology.
Norwood was founded in Palmerston North in 1948 by Sir Walter Norwood and sells agriculture and construction machinery.
Professional lead after sales Craig Kelland says Norwood has always provided training for staff but can now improve the volume and delivery of building product and industry knowledge for its 400-plus employees.
The former Norwood Manawatū premises have been repurposed into the national training centre, which is next door to the national support office. There are two classrooms and a large open space, which can be used for customer events such as product launches.
It will also be a training facility for staff of independent dealer network.
Professional lead after sales Craig Kelland with the New Holland CR8.80 Twin Rotor combine.
On display at the open day was a New Holland CR8.80 Twin Rotor combine that retails for $740,000. It takes seeds off crops such as wheat, barley and maize.
Also on display was a precision seed planter - its rate per hectare and seed spacing is set using an iPad.
