Masons Kings Technology Journey

cropped van photo

We explore the technological journey that Masons Kings has taken and how it has developed into the Integrated Technologies department we see today.

 

The Team

 

Our journey began in 2001 when John Deere introduced the original GreenStar display and receiver. Realising the importance and opportunities from technology in farming, John Deere launched their Agricultural Management solutions (AMS) department.

Masons Kings partnered with John Deere from the very beginning, bringing on board 6 key customers, who become early adopters of the technology. These partnerships with customers who shared an aligned view on the growth of these technologies was key to our early success.  The first AMS development from John Deere was parallel tracking. This allowed farmers to operate on straight tracks and soon became apparent that this early advancement in technology had both financial and efficiency benefits for the customer. Since the early beginning John Deere have continued to improve and adapt their technology. This Parallel Tracking technology has now vastly developed and today is used on a daily basis by farmers in the form of AutoTrac.

Peter Watts of Lyneham Farms

 “AutoTrac has been one of the major improvements on our farm in the last 20 years, and has had a significant effect on our farming operation. Bringing yield mapping from the combine to the farm office has proven to be a great resource, allowing us to make year on year comparisons of varieties.

In more recent years we fully adopted the technology of John Deere section control, allowing us to apply exactly the right amount of product on different areas of our fields. This gives us huge benefit in maximising the crop and making sure we can conform to the current legislations. The team at Masons Kings have really helped us introduce this farming technology into our business and achieve the full benefits of the investments in technology. They are truly a trusted partner to our business”.

Over the past 20 years John Deere have increased their technology solutions available which all aim to: increase machinery performance, increase uptime, reduce operating costs and maximise profits.

 

Timeline

 

FarmSight (2018)

As demand from customers and technological developments increased, Masons Kings knew it was time to implement a dedicated support team which we named FarmSight. Heading up the team was our general manager Peter Endacott alongside Clayton Brimblecombe, Sarah Brimblecombe and two other dedicated members of staff with many years of experience.

The teams capabilities and technology had grown and they were now working with more customers than ever. They now had the ability to use real-time machine and field data and the provision of seamless connectivity between machines, operators, manager and fields to open up significant opportunities. Utilising John Deere’s Agricultural Management Solutions (AMS) our team created integrated packages for precision data management and control of farm equipment, tailored to the customer’s needs.

(2021) New name, new technology, same Masons Kings premium product, premium support

We now operate with a much larger range of products, both agricultural and turf machinery with an increased range of features and benefits. Our team of experts can support you and our aim is to make this technology and the support from our team, more accessible to even more customers. To support with our ambitious plans, we have a brand new name… INTERGRATING TECHNOLOGIES.

 

Integrating Technologies

 

Introducing our Integrating Technologies Team of Specialists

 

Sarah Brimblecombe – With over 16 years, Sarah has a fountain of knowledge about John Deere, Masons Kings and our customers. She has great customer service skills and knows how best to support our customers, to bring them into a technology driven industry. Sarah now leads our Integrating Technologies Team. 

 

Sarah Brimblecombe – With over 16 years, Sarah has a fountain of knowledge about John Deere, Masons Kings and our customers. She has great customer service skills and knows how best to support our customers, to bring them into a technology driven industry. Sarah now leads our Integrating Technologies Team.

 

clayton

 

Clayton Brimblecombe has over 20 years’ experience in the industry. He has been an integral part of the team from day one, fully involved with our early adopters back in 2001. Clayton is based at our Chudleigh depot as a Sales Service Technician supporting customers with their new and used machinery purchases to fully optimise and get the most from their machinery.

 

Dan

 

Dan Wood joined the team in January 2019 to support customers with data analysis and the decision-making processes. Dan joined us from FarmPlan with great industry and local knowledge having grown up in the South West.

 

Andrew

 

Andrew Chave was a valued member of our agricultural sales team for two and half years before joining the now Integrating Technologies team. Based at our Exebridge depot. His role is to install and optimise the machinery and get the best out of all the features for the customer.

With every new connected machine purchase Masons Kings now offer an integrating technologies support package which includes:

  • Machine optimisation.
  • Real Time data visibility and analysis support to enable you to capture your application and harvest data.
  • Historic digital working records.
  • Remote Display Access to assist with onboard optimisation and fault finding.
  • Compliancy solutions to meet new legislation.
  • Early fault diagnosis and support with Service Advisor Remote.
  • 11-month free expert check.

Mark Weeks of SDF Molineux & Partners

“Masons Kings started me off with Parallel Tracking in 2007 and I have been working closely with the team at Masons Kings ever since. We soon progressed into full Auto Track which now is a real must in any modern farming enterprise. We are currently running a John Deere Sprayer with full on/off and section control application which greatly improves the quality of our spraying on our headland and boundaries.

At present I am working with the farm site team to record all my spray records on the John Deere Operation Centre giving me accurate digital spray records, we are also able to bring all the combine data into my John Deere Operation Centre.

Working with Masons Kings is a real partnership for us as a company, their knowledge and helpfulness is second to none”.

Proud Partners

Hummingbird technologies are the world leading imagery analytics provider who we are proud to partner with. Hummingbird supply our customers with application maps, which in turn are used to track specific function output such as fertiliser spreading and chemical spraying.  This is then used to reduced cost from over fertilisation and a reduced environmental impact.

Metos weather station intelligently use data to increase yield. Our partnership gives customer greater insight into the UK’s temperamental weather. Better understand the environment above and below ground which helps to effectively manage your farm or golf course.

Simon Fox of Fox Farm Services Ltd

“We started working with Guidance Systems and Auto Track in 2012. We have seen a real benefit in productivity and accuracy. With any new technology it is very important to work with a trusted company that are prepared to work with you and make sure you get the very best from your investments. Masons Kings have been excellent in supporting our farming business and currently we are using full combine yield mapping from a T660 bringing the data into my operation centre and giving us full visibility to yield variations and any problems that may arise, in turn this allows us to make better decisions on how we improve our cropping.

Our latest step in our technology journey has been full section control and we can already see the benefits and with yield and cost savings. The team at Masons Kings are always on hand to make sure we get the very best of the technology and the data which allows us to make better decisions”.

What does the future hold?  

Peter Endacott our general manager says “We are continuing to invest in our team to expand our reach across the South West and support even more customers. We have plans to recruit an Integrating technologies Sales Service Technician based at our St Columb depot in Cornwall to support Masons Kings growth of agricultural customers in this area.

Other industries including agricultural contractors, Golf and local authorities are beginning to see the benefits of the agricultural technology solutions and how these could transfer to future growth in their businesses. Our team will continue to lead in the South West to partner with new customers to use data in a cost-effective way.

John Deere operates at the forefront of technology providing the best quality products on the market which Masons Kings are proud to supply to our customers.

We look forward to working with your business in the future”.

For more information call our expert team on: 01626 852 140