Glendale appoints new machinery manager in the South East

Neal Harper joined Glendale in September as machinery manager for the South East region. As part of the engineering team, he is responsible for ensuring Glendale’s machinery assets are being operated and maintained in accordance with company policy, are in the correct location and are the right machine for the job. He also supports contracts with any technical issues they may encounter.

Neal came to Glendale from Haynes Agricultural, a large agricultural machinery dealer, where he held the position of service manager responsible for the service depot at the New Holland and JCB Sussex branch. His job saw him scheduling retail, warranty and sales services through the workshop and liaising with customers, sales staff and manufacturers. He was also responsible for the depot health and safety and the groups JCB warranty.

His move to Glendale was prompted by the need for a new challenge, he comments: “My position was becoming stale and I felt I needed a change of environment. The position offered by Glendale provides the challenge and variety I felt I had been lacking. The scope of contracts and the different equipment Glendale uses enables me to use the skills I have gained whilst working in the agricultural, arboricultural and green waste industries.”

Neal’s passion for machinery came from his father who was involved in the repair and maintenance of vehicles; however, his career nearly took an entirely different trajectory when his father took a job as a long-distance lorry driver.

Neal comments: “Having spent many summer holidays travelling with my dad I originally wanted to be a lorry driver, but you had to be 21 to have a driving license and that was too long to wait. So I’d sit and watch the local engineer we employed on our farm repair equipment.”

This rekindled Neal’s love for engineering and, upon leaving school he started an apprenticeship with a local John Deere dealer and began studying Agricultural Engineering at Burchett’s Green Agricultural college before becoming a full-time engineer.