—AC Supplement to Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 24,1984 220 Farmers Equipment and Supply gets fresh start Robert Fletcher gave Airville Farm Equipment a new lease on life when he and a group of far mers bought the failing company and renamed it Farmers Equip ment and Supply, Inc. Fletcher was working as general manager of Airville Equipment when the Allis Chalmers dealer ran into financial difficulties. Hughes Bros. Into 15th The A-C dealership of Hughes Bros., Westminster, Md., was originally founded as the part nership of brothers Howard and Harry (Bud) Hughes on February 1,1970. It was the death of Howard 1970, doubled its space in 1979 move to new building (above). T tried for a year to pull it out of its financial bind,” Fletcher ex plained. But the financial situation did not improve and Airville Farm Equipment closed its doors on June 30,1983. Before long Fletcher had pur suaded a group of farmers to be his partners in buying the business, Year with A-C Hughes, during that same year, that led to the firm’s incorporation in 1973. The company’s original corporate officers, Harry Hughes, Henry L. Rosenberger, and Charlie Young, are all currently active in company affairs. The and on October 3 Farmers Equipment and Supply, Inc reopened with Fletcher acting as general manager. While Fletcher says the business lost a few customers while it was closed, he and his staff are working to bring them back Richard Ruff, the man who originally started the farm firm’s co-founder, Harry Hughes, manages the sales department, with Parts Manager Henry Rosenberger. Service Manager Francis Lowe, and General Manager Charlie Young, making up the rest of the management team. The company began 1979 by moving from its Green Street location in Westminster to new and r Years of GLEANER combine progress is depicted above. From left are: the Model C GLEANER combine of 1959; the Model R GLEANER combine of 1951; the pull-type Model E GLEANER combine of 1947, and one of the original self- propelled GLEANER combines. equipment business in Airville in with Fletcher are: Ray Warner, 1962 is one of the stockholders and sales; Francine Lewis, parts; and sits on the board, Fletcher said. George Snodgrass, service. Some of the employees working ALLIS* CHALMERS TRACTORS larger facilities Windsor Road. Doubling the firm’s original floor space, the move permits Hughes Bros.’ eight employees to serve their customers more efficiently with a full range of A-C parts, service, and sales. A proud farmer shows off one of the first Baldwin GLEANER combines, recently restored by Allis-Chalmers. The combine was self-propelled by a tractor in the center. Five machines were built in 1924 and the following year, 200 were sold. In 1929, the first corn head was built by the Baldwin brothers and demonstrated in Nebraska. ‘Next-day’ Parts Guarantee for AC RENO, Nevada Allis- Chalmers has introduced a new “Peace-of-Mind” Next Day Parts Guarantee, according to Michael W. Moorefield, manager, Parts Marketing. “We’ve always been a leader in prompt parts delivery, but we’ve introduced this program to provide farmers with more peace of mind," he said. “The nationwide parts system, anchored to our expanded parts headquarters in Batavia, Illinois, means even better service. If, by chance, the local dealer Continuing its 14 year tradition of quality A-C service, Hughes Bros, was 1982 Circle of Honor winner, a regional award, presented to the Allis-Chalmers dealer logging the greatest dollar increase, on a percentage basis, in implement sales over the previous year. New 1201 does not have the part needed to keep the eligible machine m operating condition, one quick phone call means the part will be shipped by the end of the next working day. “We guarantee it. Farmers will be reimbursed for the part if it isn’t shipped then,” he said. “The Next Day Parts Guarantee applies to all parts used on new combines, corn heads, grain heads, 6060, 6080 and 8000 series tractors, as well as four-wheel series tractors purchased in 1984."
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