Interview: We talk with Husqvarna about reorg.
We visited Husqvarna during Equip Expo and got a chance to sit down with President Andreas Rangert, as well as Jack Easterly, the company’s global segment manager, to talk about the company, its products and its Equip Expo experience.
Andreas Rangert, president of North America business unit
He’s been President of Husqvarna’s North American business unit for about six months, but Andreas Rangert has been with the company at its Swedish headquarters for 30 years. I sat down with Rangert at Equip Expo to talk about the company and his goals beyond the products. I started my questions with a challenging one for Rangert, and he did not hesitate to answer. I asked about personnel changes within the company; shortly after Equip Expo last year, some of my former Husqvarna contacts were let go in a corporate restructuring.
“We try to differentiate between professional and residential product groups, and we underestimated the complexity of the channel landscape. We needed to reset a bit. The channel is blurring and with that comes a lot of changes,” said Rangert.
“We need to get back to our core,” Rangert continued. “With petrol handheld products, for example, I think we lost touch with that a bit. Petrol has a place of course, and we have to find a way to win in both petrol and battery. The power of choice is important for the customer. We can’t push it on them.”
Talking more specifically about its reorganization, Rangert said the company had two business units, professional and residential, “and now we’ve merged them again,” he said. “In theory, it was good, but in practice it was difficult for the dealer to communicate with two different people, one for residential products and one for professional.”
“Dealers are important to us, and we need to make our brand attractive for them,” said Rangert. “We need to work on our dealer presence. The dealer focus is important; we can’t leave them out.” Rangert said Husqvarna is working on developing new dealers, urban and suburban, like so many other equipment manufacturers.
“My main focus areas have been to have the organization come together. And to have a clear operation strategy,” said Rangert.
Jack Easterly, global segment manager
“Everybody here is looking at how they can improve productivity,” said Jack Easterly, Husqvarna’s global segment manager. “It’s good for us to hear all the questions from customers in this dense fashion at Equip Expo. This is a good way to get the pulse of the industry.”
Easterly admits that the people who come to Equip Expo tend to be the leading dealers in the nation, the most progressive and future-focused professionals.
Dealers and pro users come to Equip to see new products, Easterly and Husqvarna know that, and the company was ready with a new backpack blower, which it calls the world’s most powerful. It also showed an expanding line of robotic mowers, among other products.
“Landscapers and dealers are checking out all the electric products to find what might work best,” said Easterly. “People are interested in all of it, even though some are in the ‘have to’ switch category.” He said that in Husqvarna’s demo area, the majority of what people want to try are battery-powered products. “They are trying out the performance of these products.”
Easterly said battery knowledge is better among attendees at Equip Expo. “People are asking more knowledgeable questions about charging,” he said. “Many people understand the charging options, and they understand the options on price and charging performance.”
Husqvarna wants to make clear that it’s not about “an agenda for batteries.” Easterly said, “The customer and market will tell us what they need. Pro users who need blowers specifically are under a lot of stress for power and performance and run time. For residential buyers, the battery conversion happened already. But it would not be wise for us, it’s not even a consideration, to stop making gas-powered equipment, especially for professional users.”
