Governor Mike Beebe visited Bad Boy, Inc. on Thursday, August 21, 2008. He was invited to help Bad Boy make a huge economic development announcement. The announcement was a $2.5 million expansion project in Batesville and a $750,000 Arkansas Economic Development Commission grant to the City of Batesville. “Bad Boy is another example of an Arkansas success story where the business continues to expand at home,” Governor Beebe said. “This new Bad Boy facility not only expands the company’s investment in Arkansas, it also makes use of an existing vacant building in Batesville.”

The project will be used for the 274,000-square-foot former GDX Automotive building that was bought by Bad Boy, Inc. in July. Within the next 5 years Bad Boy hopes to add about another 100 jobs to the company, bringing the total number of Bad Boy employees to 270.

Owner Phil Pulley stated, “We have a great team at Bad Boy that has made this growth possible. This expansion will enable us to better serve our growing customer base throughout the United States and the world.”

Milwaukee, Wis. (August 1, 2008) — Brett Favre is back in the game… the lawn mowing game that is. The Briggs & Stratton Power Products Group announces the re-signing of professional quarterback Brett Favre as the spokesperson for its Snapper brand of lawnmowers.

“Who wouldn’t want Brett Favre on their team?,” asks Troy Blewett, director of dealer channel marketing for the Briggs & Stratton Power Products. “He’s the ideal spokesperson for our brand. Not only does he enjoy mowing his own lawn, but the attributes he is known for as a quarterback—long-term durability and superior performance—are the same ones homeowners closely associate with our products,” Blewett comments.

Importantly, Favre spends much of his free time in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, cutting several acres of grass, so he knows a thing or two about lawn mowers.

“When I’m away from football, I love spending time on my Snapper,” Favre says. “I just cannot imagine someone else mowing my lawn. It’s something I can look back on at the end of the day and be proud of,” he says. “And someday, after I retire, I imagine I’ll spend even more time on my mower.”

Favre has been promoting Snapper lawn & garden products since 2004 and will continue to appear in television, radio and newspaper ads for the Snapper brand, as well as being featured prominently in sales literature, in-store displays and on the brand’s website. The new agreement is for a minimum of two years.

by Danna Magness
August 18, 2008 @ 09:15pm CDT

Bad Boy, Inc. congratulates Kelly FitzWilliam for being chosen as the 2008-2009 Bad Boy Spokesperson. Kelly, born and raised in St. Louis, MO, is a graduate of Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, AR. She is the youngest of 5 kids (Katie 29, John 31, Amy 36 and Lisa 38) and the daughter of Jerry & Sandy FitzWilliam, of St. Louis, MO.

The search for the new Bad Boy Spokesperson began on June 7th at the Peabody Hotel in Little Rock, AR. 10 ladies were selected from the preliminary interview, and individually shot a Bad Boy commercial in hopes of being named the next Bad Boy Spokesperson. From the top 10, Kelly was one of two finalists selected. After filming a commercial last week, Kelly was announced as the winner on Bad Boy, Inc.’s website, www.badboymowers.com. Her commercial will air Thursday, September 4 during Thursday Night Football, and also during Sunday Night Football this fall. She will travel with Bad Boy, Inc. over the next year and appear in commercials, lawn and garden expos, and other shows across the United States.

Kelly commented, “I have learned so much from all of this, I am definitely not going to walk away empty handed. This has been an incredible experience and I can’t thank you enough. I’m really excited to see what this year holds for me, and I can’t wait to get started! I have big shoes to fill, and I just hope I can do as well as Megan did this past year. It’s truly an honor to represent such an amazing company.”

MOLINE, Illinois (August 15, 2008)— Deere & Company will enhance its parts service capabilities in the U.S. and Canada by investing in capacity expansions at Deere’s primary parts distribution center in Milan, IL and three additional locations in the western U.S. and Canada.

“This strategic investment will further enhance John Deere’s leadership position,” said Gail Leese, vice president of Worldwide Parts Services. “The initiative will support dealers and customers by locating service parts inventory closer to customers and dealers to enhance availability and speed of delivery.”

The Parts Distribution Center in Milan, IL will be expanded over 300,000 square feet to meet the capacity needs of the growing parts business. Importantly, three other locations will become regional distribution centers after having served as emergency parts depots.

Current parts depots in Portland, OR and Regina, Saskatchewan will be renovated to assume expanded responsibilities for operation as a Regional Distribution Center. Activities at a parts depot in Stockton, CA will be relocated to Lathrop, CA, with expansion to support greater responsibilities. These Regional Distribution Centers are anticipated to become operational between November 2008 and September 2009. The total investment was not disclosed.

Toro Celebrates 10th Anniversary of its Center for Advanced Turf Technology

BLOOMINGTON, Minn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–July 8, 2008–The Toro Company (NYSE: TTC), a global leader in turf maintenance equipment and irrigation solutions, today announced the 10th anniversary of its Center for Advanced Turf Technology (CATT) – a cross-functional team of engineers and agronomists dedicated to developing cutting-edge technologies in turf care.

“This is a great milestone for us, but it’s just the beginning,” said Michael Hoffman, chairman and CEO of The Toro Company. “There’s always an opportunity to innovate, develop and apply technologies that benefit both customers and the environment. It’s listening to customers today to anticipate their needs in the future.”

The CATT team was established in 1998 to develop innovative solutions to customer problems, and environmentally-friendly technologies for customers in the professional turf markets including golf, sports fields, grounds and landscape maintenance. The group’s mission was to work across organizational and product group boundaries to discover new innovations that help customers increase productivity, conserve water and energy, and control costs.

“We had direction to work with customers, academic leaders and industry experts to develop solutions that could emerge as breakthrough products. We’ve had the freedom to be innovative, while focusing on practical solutions – not theory,” said Dana Lonn, PE, director of CATT.

Lonn pointed out that while ongoing research and development activity occurs throughout the organization, the special turf technology group ensures Toro is looking strategically across the entire marketplace to identify long-term trends and technologies.

CATT has been influential in the following areas:

Water management. This has been a key initiative for CATT during its 10-year history with the goal of helping customers better manage water resources and energy. Emerging technologies include -

Soil moisture sensing using a variety of different sensing technologies to know precisely how much moisture is in the soil to apply water where and when it’s needed – no more, no less.
In order to use water to its maximum efficiency it is critical that turf managers understand site conditions including soil types, topography and irrigation effectiveness. Technologies have been developed to quickly and efficiently analyze site conditions to help individuals make better watering decisions.
Reflectance sensing to measure the health of plant photosynthesis, which is an indicator of turf vigor or varying degrees of stress. Reflectance sensing shows promise to detect turf stress from over and under watering, and disease and insect pressure prior to the effect being visible to the human eye.
Alternative fuels. Toro is several years deep into the testing of various alternative fuel sources including hybrid, advanced-battery technology, and hydrogen fuel cells. A partnership with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) and New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation has resulted in the deployment of hydrogen fuel cells to power Toro(R) Workman(R) utility vehicles at Niagara Falls State Park. CATT is constantly exploring new technologies to improve the environmental profile of Toro equipment.
Labor Productivity. CATT is constantly working to identify new ways to help our customers use labor more efficiently. For example, the innovative ProCore(R) 648 walking aerator and Reelmaster(R) Sidewinder(R) mower provides savings of time and labor.

Van Cline, Ph.D, manager of agronomic research, said, “Our experience in agronomy helps us innovate ways to better conserve water and energy. We all face the challenges surrounding water and the environment. With our knowledge and strong partnerships we can help improve the way we manage our resources and care for the outdoors.”

Other innovative technologies developed by The Toro Company include:

Bio-diesel. After extensive testing, the company announced that all 2008 Toro diesel-powered golf course, sports fields and grounds, and landscape contractor equipment have been approved to use bio-diesel fuel blends up to B20. Upgrade kits also are available.
Subsurface drip irrigation that saves water and energy, including the only pressure-compensating tape in the world. This technology is being used to irrigate crops and other tough-to-water areas that include slopes, landscapes, and around golf course sand bunkers.
EvapoTranspiration (ET) controllers that utilize satellite data from the patented-WeatherTRAK(R) technology to automatically adjust the amount of water applied to a landscape based on weather conditions. These “smart” controllers receive signals to replace only moisture lost to heat, humidity and wind.
Sensing technology to detect turf stress as a result of disease, insect and irrigation problems.