Leading Dutch contractor, de Enk Groen & Golf, listened to the
‘experience of the dealers’ when establishing their own grinding operation with
a Foley Company Accu-Master 653 and Accu-Pro 672 bedknife grinder from Milati
Grass.
As well as being Foley Company’s distributor in Europe Milati
Grass offers a number of machinery solutions including ride-on and pedestrian
mowers, greenkeeping tools and GPS line marker the Intelligent One.
With 25 golf courses to maintain and over 80 football pitches to
mow bringing grinding in-house became a necessary time management decision for
Operations Manager, Eric van Velzen, who needed machines that would improve the
cut quality and easily be able to switch between different mower brands.
To find what he needed, Eric spoke to dealers across The
Netherlands who had previously carried out de Enk Groen & Golf’s grinding
and after listening to their experience decided on two machines from Milati
Grass.
“Getting our own grinders was a cost saving and time management
decision,” Eric explained. It was the experience the dealers had with the
Foley’s that led to us getting them. I also checked the reviews and discussed
them with different people and we eventually spoke to Arjen Spek at Milati
Grass, a company that is very reliable with quick service, and he was the last
step to take us over to Foley.
“First of all, we had to find someone within the company who would
like to specialise in grinding and we found a good guy who wanted to do it. He
worked on the older grinding machines first and when we got the new set up, he
phoned the owner and told him ‘I’m the happiest employee at Enk,’ so that says
a lot.
“Purchasing the Accu-Master 653 gives you more opportunities
because the basic machine gives you spin and relief grinding. The installation
of the reels is very easy and it’s all set-up within the machine itself and its
quick to learn, so once you know the machine you’ve got a quick way of working.
“Because we are a contractor when we take over a golf course for
maintenance, we sometimes have to take over the machines as well. That means we
have to work with a lot of different mower brands and the automation of the
Foley system means we can easily switch between them and still get the high
quality cut we want.
“The automation is a feature that was added value for us because
we didn’t buy them for that specific reason. Our specialist had to learn how
the machines worked and get confidence with them, but now he has that
confidence he can leave them to grind a reel and get on with other things, so
it’s a factor we’ve come to appreciate.”
“We’re using the machines from now [November] until the start of
March and they’ll be working for four days a week and in the mowing season, we
will be grinding for two days a week.”
Having their own machines has brought about a number of
improvements to De Enk Groen & Golf’s precision maintenance with the
ability to compose their own grinding schedule benefiting the reels and the
turf they work on. The pair of Foley machines have also contributed to a
reduction in disease pressure within a wider programme because the sward is
being cut precisely and not torn by dull blades.
Adopting innovative technology has been a part of de Enk Groen
& Golf’s ethos since they were established in 2014. While setting them
apart in the turf industry it has also shaped their sister company, Terra
Troniq, who develop autonomous mowing systems that are mainly aimed at golf
courses.
The addition of the Foley machines is seen by all at the company
as a step forward in upping their own quality while expanding on the business
ethos that has given them so much success.
