By Frances Anne Manning
Who would have thought that bunny ears were the coveted prize during Transland’s trivia game? Definitely not James Frank, the CEO of Transland and that night’s emcee. During Transland’s Annual Dealer Meeting, the dealers teamed up to compete with their friends and rivals. The team names were Spreaders, Fire Gates, Booms, Nozzles, Gate Boxes, and Falcon. The competition was fierce, and laughter abounded. But, just like the Satloc Falcon needed to work out the bugs before pulling through for the win, so did Team Falcon. That group won the golden nozzle trophies, plus the round with the bunny ears.
All joking aside, Transland’s ‘Team Falcon’ is successfully navigating through many difficulties and obstacles to launch the Satloc Falcon during Winter 2022. A considerable barrier involves global supply chain issues. Parts that were readily available pre-COVID no longer exist or are unattainable. Transland staff is constantly searching for parts that will work with our system. In addition, the costs of wires and chips are through the roof, so multiple staff members spend countless hours finding affordable hardware to keep costs low for the end users. Despite the setbacks, look for Satloc Falcon and Satloc Falcon Pro GPS systems to ship at the end of December and the middle of January.
Getting back to Transland’s Annual Dealer Meeting, it consisted of training the dealers on installing Satloc Falcon and using it. One great benefit from the start for the pilots is the How-To videos that will be available on Satloc’s YouTube channel. Video topics include how-to setup hot keys, booms, flow control, pins, and lightbar. Needless to say, Transland is excited about Satloc Falcon’s launch.
As well as training on Satloc Falcon, dealers learned about Transland manufacturing electric gates and electric Wingmans. Transland’s electric gate box brings the ruggedness and durability that our gates are known for, plus it meets modern-day electric actuation control. The electric gate box integrates an electric actuator with the Satloc controller, which means there only needs to be one screen in the cockpit. In addition, reducing the components reduces the total weight and complexity of the system.
The electric Wingman fits right into the total electric concept. Our engineers exceeded the goal of improving the performance of the electric Wingman over the current Wingman by a 30% increase in auger speed and a 60% higher torque in the electric Wingman over the hydraulic Wingman design. Tranlsand plans to obtain STCs for the electric gate box and electric Wingman.
A tour of the facilities spotlighted the expanded area for Transland’s research and development. This larger space allows the engineers to gain a better understanding and insights into the products. A few goals of this area are to improve existing products, create other products that help aerial applicators become more efficient, and reduce costs for people in the industry.
Other sessions in the training room included Transland’s boom shut-off (50%, 60 % and right-hand shut-off), Meterate, and hydraulic electric gate boxes. Many people might not know that Transland is adding more instructional information to its different websites www.translandllc.com and www.satloc.com. Look for resources on the resource tab, product pages, and YouTube channels. Last but not least is Transland’s new nozzle website www.cpnozzles.com. We’re incorporating all our nozzle lines into one website. Resources on the website include calculation tools for Accu-Flo nozzles, CP nozzles, and the Tri-Set nozzle. Charts are also available for the nozzles.
Another highlight of Transland’s Annual Dealer Meeting involved Mike Schoenau of Valley Air Crafts presenting Billy Maxwell, a Transland sale team member, with the “DO YOU KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS?” award. A unique benefit of the ag aviation industry is the ability to get to know and build strong relationships with different people in the industry. Unfortunately, Mike and Billy are long-time friends who share different time zones. Billy sometimes forgets the time difference, but not on purpose (we believe…).
The leadership of Transland wants to thank our dealers for their participation in its Second Annual Dealer Meeting and for giving their valuable input. We look forward to another successful year of helping aerial applicators soar.
