Wouldn't it be good if stihl made a lawn mower

It's just that fabricated decks gained a reputation for being "bulletproof" and stamped decks are found on nearly all residential grade riding lawn equipment.

The real reason fabricated decks became so desirable was manufacturing at small to moderate volumes. Developing a die and stamping out enough parts to make it financially viable is not within the realm of a smaller manufacturer like Exmark, Bobcat, Scag, Ferris all used to be. It is a LOT easier/cheaper (up front) to cut parts from flat sheet and weld it together creating a complete mower deck. And incremental changes mean changing a drawing, and letting Bob in assembly know. Perhaps a jig gets modified. With stamping, the whole die is likely to need re-working, and any parts you've already produced, are now scrap, or worse yet, a liability. And nobody complained about how heavy a fab'd deck is, because, just look at all that steel man! So, because -almost- every commercial mower manufacturer chose to go with a fab'd deck, they became the go-to indication of a durable mower. I'm curious on how fab'd vs stamping works out once you're doing enough volume to justify robots doing the work.

Deere bucked the trend big time with the 7-Iron deck, being it's stamped from material every bit as substantial as the material used in fab'd decks. The difference being, you can make a stamping a LOT more rigid than a weldment (and every bit as durable) with much, much less material. They certainly had the money to invest in the manufacturing up front too. Another win for stamped designs is they have a lot fewer corners underneath for material to build up, and less baffling is required. Easy to clean, and less for wet grass to stick too. That applies to many stamped designs, not just Deere's. Kubota's stamped decks were pretty good back in the day, although I have no experience with anything built in the last ten years or so. But they would not stand up to being abused. I'm not talking about the farmer that just wrapped up 100+ hours of field work that week and (almost) missed the old fence post in the backyard. I'm talking about the "it ain't my machine and the boss just pulled my raise" abuse. Good news is it's easier to straighten stamped decks with a "swing press".

 

I too wonder how this affects the Deere/Stihl relationship as that's not just tip-toeing into Deere's territory. This can't be a surprise to Deere, as I'm sure they had a fairly long-term"heads-up". And Stihl getting into riding equipment? Why? What do they have to offer that isn't already well covered by Ferris, Deere, Scag, Cub Cadet, Toro, Exmark and Husqvarna? Let alone Kubota, Gravely, Grasshopper, Dixie Chopper, Walker, Wright, Bobcat, and Hustler.

I will say from prior experience, that unless you are selling equipment at volumes approaching HD/Lowes, the "we carry it all" approach is not an easy road for the dealer. You're now dealing with multiple OEM's and their dealer support channels (or lack thereof). The most successful dealership owners I knew, all had one thing in common: focus. Nobody was trying to nab every sale in the area. As a sales team, when we decided to focus on the products (from multiple brands) we knew were awesome performers and a great value, our overall volumes took off. You don't have to be brand exclusive, but most of the brands offer much lower invoice pricing if you are able to order more equipment up-front.

 

Every design is an individual. Can't lump them into stamped bad, fab'd good. Even within the same brands, there's good and bad. I've welded plenty of Scag decks back together that were marketed to be tougher than they actually were. Frames too come to think of it.

 

Yes and no. Could go either way. You have to have the licensee (Stihl) taking a reasonable fee for use of their brand and sell more than enough to make up for the reduction in margin. As soon as it begins eating into Ferris' sales, it's actually harming the manufacturer. I wonder what the division of support is? Stihl must be handling all of the warranty and parts traffic. I've worked for manufacturers that started applying other, better known, brand names to their product, and believe me, if the sales volume bump is significant, the brand owner will leverage that in their favor after you have invested in the equipment and workforce to keep up. Keep in mind this is a saturated market already. Most of the dealers that will get the opportunity to carry these machines already are carrying a competitive product. What happens there? If you were a *Stihl Elite* (exclusive) dealer that carried Ferris, Deere, Exmark, Toro, Gravely or any of the other big ZTR brands, do you now need to discontinue those lines in favor of Stihl to maintain your *Elite* status and your sales margins? I sure hope not.

Stihl is usually careful about what they put their name on. I liked that they built what they built, focused on quality handheld OPE, and weren't really trying for 100% coverage of the lawn equipment market. Applying their brand to products they don't manufacture is nothing new to them (hand tools and shop vacs anyone?) but it's never been such a large segment of product. I raised an eyebrow when they got into pressure washers but it kinda made sense for smaller dealers that weren't already carrying Briggs Power Products. I have no doubt that Ferris is building great quality ZTRs for them, and I've always considered them to be a quality manufacturer. But this rapid brand expansion has me wondering why they've chosen to get involved in such a competitive, and saturated market.