Based in Birr, Co Offaly, Tom Shaw Farm Machinery Ltd has built a reputation for excellence in both sales and service over the past 32 years. Irish Tractor & Agri caught up with company Sales Manager Mark Graham recently to learn more.
Business has been good lately at Tom Shaw Farm Machinery Ltd and the plan down in Dromoyle is to keep things that way right through to 2021.
Established by Tom Shaw in 1988, the company today employs 12 full-time staff and is renowned for its excellent service all throughout the Faithful County and outside of its borders.
Having become a limited company in 1995, the past few decades have seen business expand rapidly for Tom Shaw Farm Machinery Ltd and it is now one of the largest agricultural machinery retailers in the midlands area.
TSFM are now main dealers for renowned brands such as Same & Deutz-Fahr Tractors, Krone & McHale forage and grass equipment HiSpec Slurry equipment, Amazone Fertiliser and tillage equipment, Quicke, Rossmore & Prodig front attachments along with various other agencies such as Fransgard, Guttler, Blaney, Conor, Yes, APV, Zuideberg, and many more agencies in the midlands.
They are the sole importers for both French manufactured Belair Self-loading wagons and Jeantil Dung Spreaders, and are also a member of the Farm Tractor and Machinery Trade Association.
Mark Graham has been the company’s Sales Manager for eight years now and filled Irish Tractor & Agri in on the details.
“Deutz-Fahr Tractors have been on board with us since 2011 and SAME is there since the 1990s,” Mark outlined.
“Business has been good recently considering everything that has gone on with the Coronavirus. We would find that sales are down a bit but we would’ve expected that anyway.
“We did have a very good start to the year with parts and when we opened back up after the lockdown business continued on fairly well.
“Our busy season here has always been the grass season and I would say the most popular machine that we have here is the McHale Fusion.”
Having built up a reputation for excellence in both sales and service, Tom Shaw Farm Machinery is now renowned amongst the farming community the length and breadth of the country.
Tom himself has always used the philosophy of ensuring customer satisfaction and this has seen a large increase in the amount of repeat business that they gain from customers.
From humble beginnings in Dromoyle, the business has blossomed over the years to the points where it is now main dealers for the likes of SAME, Deutz-Fahr, Krone, Blaney, McHale, HiSpec, Bredal, Conor, Quicke, Rossmore, Guttler, Fransgard and many more agencies in the midlands.
The company’s Sales Manager outlined that they pride themselves on the service that they provide for their customers.
“We stock a wide range of farm machinery and farm handling equipment and we would be main dealers for all the leading brands,” said Mark.
“Our back up service is something that we are continuously trying to improve and I think our customers are pleased with that.”
The stores at Tom Shaw Farm Machinery Ltd are managed by Peter Dolan and staff and carry an extensive range of parts for a wide range of farm machinery etc.
They stock a wide range of miscellaneous parts such as bearings, hydraulic fittings, filters, oil, tanker fittings, hoses and PTO parts, we are stockists of Sparex and Fastparts Spare parts providers.
Also in stock are a large range of tools, lights and beacons and various farm related equipment along with a wide range of merchandise including overalls, jackets and coats. Delivery of parts can be arranged throughout Ireland.
Sales are managed by both Tom and Mark, while the company’s workshop consists of a team of full-time fitters managed by Austin Shaw.
In order to keep up to date with the ever more technically advanced machinery on the market to date, the workshop has a full range of special tools for diagnostic and repair of all the machines they sell, including fully kitted service vehicles.
The staff, as well as Tom himself, attend all relevant service courses both in Ireland and overseas on a regular basis to keep up to date with all current models and developments.
Accounts and administration are managed by Siobhan Doyle and they have recently updated their software to allow them to keep up with developments in this area.
Tom Shaw Farm Machinery endeavours to better its reputation for selling only the best machinery, new and second hand. When dealing with them you can be sure of the best personal attention which the company is renowned for.
“To be fair to Tom, he has always prided himself on good service and good back up,” Mark pointed out.
“You try and have as much as the basics as you can there when it comes to parts and it goes a long way with customers.
“You’d always be trying to retain your customers around the area and a lot of customers travel to us as well.
“We’re right on the Galway border here and you’d have some lads saying that we’re in the sticks out here, but we still cover a lot of counties when it comes to our customers.”
Looking towards the months ahead, Mark hopes that the company will continue to attract new customers and keep the old ones satisfied.
“We’ll be hoping to stabilise a little bit,” he said. “These are very uncertain times right now between the Coronavirus and Brexit coming at the end of the year, but hopefully we can move forward.”
The Tom Shaw Farm Machinery Ltd team would like to thank their customers for their business over the years and hope that the relationship continues for some years to come.
Tom Shaw Farm Machinery Ltd
Dromoyle,
Birr,
Co. Offaly
Tel: 00353 (0)57 9131147
Fax: 00353 (0)57 9131913
Sales contact numbers:
Tom Shaw 0872535417
Mark Graham 0879551264
Conor Treacy 0879221165
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCx5p0zR
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Tom-Shaw-Farm-Machinery-LTD-135876169921401/
First published in Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 9 No 1, January/February 2021
