Fastparts – the consumable parts division of Farmhand – celebrated 30 years in business just last month with an open evening for its 350+ strong dealer network.
The purpose of the recent event was apparently two-fold. “It’s great to mark 30 years for my department,” said parts director Sinead Scrivener.
“However, it’s also about the culmination of three years’ hard work by the Fastparts team to get this ‘webshop’ ready,” she said.
Fastparts was set up by Farmhand in 1988; it distributes a range of components – claimed to comprise 20,000 different lines – throughout Ireland.
The new webshop allows dealers to place orders with next-day delivery. Although a trade account is needed to order from the site, anybody can apparently browse the range, print what they want and bring it to their local dealer.
“We are delighted with how the site has turned out and hope it will allow people to see our full range, while making it more efficient for our dealers to place orders,” remarked Sinead.
The pictures below were taken at the recent Fastparts open evening; they provide an indication of the range of parts carried.
Click on a thumbnail in the gallery (below) to open up a full-size image; once opened you can scroll sideways to see the next picture.
Farmhand – the parent company of Fastparts – was formed in 1962 as a 50-50 partnership by Denis Scrivener and Bernard Krone, grandfather of the current Krone owner and CEO.
Employing just three people, Farmhand initially worked from a rented office in Merrion Square, Dublin and a yard in Lucan. It took on the Quicke agency – then a small company in northern Sweden. Farmhand was Quicke’s first importer outside of Scandinavia.
The other big product line was the Krone Optimat trailer/muck-spreader – of which literally thousands were sold over the following decade.
Farmhand grew and moved to a bigger premises in Phibsboro, Dublin; it completed a purpose-built facility in Castleknock in 1972 where it remained until 2008.
Scrivener-owned company
John Scrivener – well-known in the farm machinery trade over many years – took over as manager in 1975 when Denis retired at the age of 55. John bought Krone’s shareholding in 1993; at that point Farmhand became a 100% Scrivener-owned company.
Image source: Shane Casey
Over the years, Farmhand has represented many machinery brands including Kuhn, Mengele, Pottinger, Niemeyer, Howard, Kongskilde and Overum. The core partners are still Krone, Alo (Quicke) and Amazone – all companies with whom the Scrivener family still maintain close personal ties.
Image source: Shane Casey
John stepped down as managing director in 2015 and Paul, one of his sons, took over. Sinead Scrivener, who heads up the parts division, was appointed to the board in January 2016. Their brother Stephen is now the marketing manager.
