March 2nd was a day Duane Smith awaited a very long time.

Swift Current’s John Deere dealership held the Grand Opening of their new multi million dollar facility at 2777 North Service Road West on Monday, relocating from their former home on the South Service Road.

Smith, the CEO and General Manager of JayDee AgTech, says the building project took approximately 20 months, but the company’s growing business had necessitated an expansion for awhile.

“It’s been a big project – it’s been such a long time coming. For a number of years, we were looking at how we could expand our old facility to facilitate continued growth in the company. We added one new shop to the old facility [on the South Service Road] back in 2004 and we thought that would be sufficient, but as we continued to sell and grow the market, we were just running out of room. Our Parts space was short, we were renting space in other areas in town, we didn’t have enough room for staff, so we had them located elsewhere. Ultimately as we looked forward at what we needed, we decided to build a new facility. Back in 2012, I acquired land on the west side of town, so we developed that and got it ready for building.”

Smith says the team did their homework before breaking ground.

“We did a lot of research on a variety of facilities other dealers had built in Regina and Saskatoon; that process made it more effective for us, as we were able to look at their facilities and see what would work for us – see if it was working for the customer flow, what we did and didn’t like in the design and the look. From there, we hired our contractor in Swift Current – Chad Salter from Silverline Construction, and then worked with him and the architects and the designers in putting this facility together.”

Smith, who oversees nine dealerships across Saskatchewan, says the new facility has received positive reviews from customers since it opened its doors for business in the middle of January.

“The impressions of the customers have been fantastic. The other facility had numerous expansions over the years, but the first piece had been built in 1968, so we’d been at that location as a John Deere dealer for almost 50 years. This new facility has a significant ‘wow’ factor – from the time that you walk in, you see the front showroom, it houses actual large pieces of equipment. Then you see the size of the shop – with five cranes, and then you see our training theatre that seats up to 90 people for customer clinics that we used to house off site.”

The training theatre is a point of pride with both Duane Smith and the Pattison Group, who purchased JayDee AgTech back in April 2014.

“The primary focus of the training theatre is for us to provide optimization clinics for our customers. The equipment we sell is sophisticated, and for the customers to get their best return on investment, they really need to understand the piece of equipment, how to use it, and how to apply it to their conditions. We host a lot of clinics where we’ll bring John Deere experts in, or our own in-house experts in, and we’ll walk them through how to use the equipment – how to service it, how to set it properly for field conditions so that when they go out to their fields, they’ll maximize the production out of that piece of the equipment. There’s nothing like it [the training facility] in Swift Current.” Smith said.

Jim Pattison, CEO and sole owner of the Pattison Group, was in attendance for the JayDee AgTech Grand Opening on Monday, and he told the audience the reasons for his good fortunes in business.

“We have been very grateful for the success we’ve had. The reason that our company has grown from modest beginnings to where we are today is because of our commitment to three things. One is hard work. Two is the importance of integrity and being honest. And thirdly, it’s the massive attention we pay to customer satisfaction. We’re in the business of doing a good job and satisfying our customers. The boss is not the president or the chairman. The boss is always the customer, because they’re the ones who pay everyone’s bills. It is very important that everybody in our businesses realizes that whether it’s cleaning the floors, or if you’re the big boss signing the cheques, it’s the customer who counts. And I can tell you this; as far our company is concerned regarding our involvement with JayDee, our number one priority is to make sure that we do everything honestly and correctly, the best we can, and we want you to know that our customer is the top priority. If we want to grow the business – which we do – we have to deliver, every day, customer satisfaction. I just want you to know that with the transition here that we have had, that are certainly going to do everything that we can to support you, the customer. We also believe it’s important to support the community that we do business in.”

The new facility will continue having a positive economic spinoff for the region, according to Smith.

“For the construction contract, it was a pretty substantial economic impact for the area; well over $10 million for the contract. So even that has quite a spinoff with the materials bought, the labor, and the sub-trades. Going forward, our plans are, with the expanded space, that we need to hire a lot more technicians – we want to add at least six more techs and some additional agrologists, and what have you… so theres extra man power involved there. As the facility allows us to continually grow our market, it provides the resources to continue adding people.”

The acquisition of JayDee AgTech by the Pattison Group was a huge change for Smith, having had the original John Deere dealership in his family for a number of years. Smith and some partners purchased the business in 1996 from his uncle. “It was ‘John Deere Equipment’ originally, then in 2009, when we added four stores from Northern to Northeastern Saskatchewan, we changed the name to JayDee AgTech at that time, and continued growing it for five years, up until we sold it last April to the Pattison Group.”

The transition of ownership, all things considered, has been relatively seamless, says Smith. “It’s been excellent. Anytime you turn over the reins like that, you’ve always got concerns like, ‘Are their business practices going to be different than yours? How does it affect customers and staff?’ Of course we did lots of due diligence, and even though it was a financial decision for us, there was also legacy that we wanted kept as well. We had a very positive read on the Pattison Group that it was going to be a great fit. Having worked with the Jimmy [Pattison] and the Pattison Group for the last year, it’s been more positive than what I could have ever expected. They’ve got a great understanding of the business, they’re committed to the business; they have allowed us to continue doing what we do well. They’ve looked after staff, they’re looking after customers, supporting the community, and providing any resources and support that we require as well.”

Pattison is quick to pass on credit for the business development to the management group in Swift Current. “The new facility is really very, very spectacular. The folks here, Duane Smith and his team, have really done an excellent job.”