A day with
I HAVE fond memories of trying to keep straight lines when using a 36-iinch Dennis mower on the ornamental lawns of Cannon Hill Park. Ken Lumley, head groundsman at the time, always made it look so easy, gliding around the flowerbeds, with the precision of the Red Arrows. However, when I tried, the beast of a mower saw the end of many bedding displays! But the end result was always worth the effort. The quality of cut and the desired mowing pattern the machine left on the sward is a reputation Dennis is keen to retain. Thirty years on from my first encounter
with a Dennis mower I am invited to see the latest developments at the Derbyshire works. My host is Ian Howard, Managing Director of Dennis Mowers. Back in 1981 Dennis was at Godstone,
Surrey and the company was going through a particularly poor time. Sales were low and little or no new development was taking place, the company was relying solely on past glories. Howardson Ltd - a long established
family engineering company bought Dennis that year and took it up to Derbyshire factory. Ian's father persuaded him to join the family business in 1985 from his background in the mining industry and from then set about re- building the Dennis brand. In 1991 the company took over the defunct JP Mowers, which had designed a changeable cassette system way back in the 1960's but had not effectively
developed it. Ian and his father
immediately saw
the potential of the system, and so the Dennis FT range of mowers was born,
MACHINERY & WORKSHOP DENNIS
Laurence Gale MSc meets IAN HOWARD, MD of Dennis Mowers
offering a cassette system with 7 widths from 17 to 34 inches. The first FT mower was shown at the
1992 IOG Show. The interest was phenomenal with many groundsmen suggesting what cassettes they would like on their mowers. This led to Dennis developing a whole range of cassette options, including cutting cylinders with 9 and 5 blade options, scarifiers, verticutters, brushes, slitters, sorrel rollers and rollers. The mowers immediately proved popular, especially in the cricket and bowls disciplines. Over 75% of all football clubs in the top
4 divisions now have a Dennis mower of one type or another. Current sales figures show that 60% of their market is taken up by bowls and cricket, 25% football and 15% ornamental lawn/Local Authority use. Dennis also exports over 10% of their products overseas, to such countries as Italy, France, Turkey, Poland and Spain. The company employs eighteen staff at
their head office near Derby. The factory is modern and includes an extensive array of workshops, consisting of lathes, milling and drilling machinery. This enables the company to design and make many of their own parts. Ian is keen to obtain other specialist parts from Midlands based factories, thereby keeping the whole product British made. Dennis is constantly working with
groundsmen and greenkeepers to improve product and services. Listening to what they want is key when developing new products. This has led to some important changes to the ergonomics of their mowers, particularly handle design, which now incorporates vibration reduction technologies. The new handles are fitted to all FT models and the latest Simplex mower, which will be officially launched at this years' Saltex 2005 show. The Simplex is designed to meet the needs of the Local Authority market providing a mid range mower dedicated to cutting only. This year alone Dennis
have managed to implement eleven new changes to
their product range, bringing in a number of anti-v
vibration and noise reduction
features together with additional greasing and oiling points. Dennis's whole production line is
geared around specific order requirements, with the emphasis on expert workmanship using quality materials. The rear roller fitted to most models, for example, is constructed from well over fifty parts! Cutting and roller units are pre-a
assembled, as are the
chassis and handle bar configurations, allowing quicker assembly of the final mower. Nearly all the pre-a
assembled units are
universal to most of the mower range. Even mowers more than twenty years old can effectively receive many of the updated units and parts. It is this part compatibility that makes Dennis unique in mower manufacturing. Dennis is renowned for sturdy, well
built mowers and many over the age of thirty are still being worked in the industry. These older mowers often find their way back to Derbyshire for servicing. During my visit some older mowers from Wolverhampton FC and Chesterfield FC are being serviced at the factory. It's part of Dennis' ongoing liaison with their customer base. It was Dave Roberts, Head Groundsman at Southampton FC, who helped Dennis redesign the front roller, introducing channels to prevent the grass from being flattened prior to mowing. The team at Dennis produce and
manufacture well over 400 mower units per year, proving that the customer still wants a quality branded mower that can fulfil the needs and requirements in an ever changing and progressive turf grass industry. Ian and his staff are keen to meet the
demands of the industry and keep the Dennis flag flying for many years to come. With a turnover set to exceed £2 million in 2005 and annual growth averaging around 24% Ian looks to be moving his company in the right direction.
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