Be a part of Broken by Design: A Documentary on Right-to-Repair

[Broken by Design]

Hi everyone,

My name is Michael Galgano and I run a video production company called My Own Productions based in Orlando, FL. I am reaching to farmers and anyone with agricultural equipment who might be interested in being a part of a new documentary we are producing called 'Broken by Design.' This documentary will focus on the right-to-repair movement, how it affects farmers, and the consumer electronics, biomedical, and automotive repair industries.

Though I'm in Central Florida, I can travel throughout the state to capture your testimonials. Additionally, I have another producer in Arkansas who can also meet with you to share your stories. Once we have funding, travel across the states will happen. We are looking for individuals willing to talk about the challenges they face with equipment repairs, specifically with John Deere, Kubota, and other brands.

I am passionate about and committed to this project and would love to learn more about the hassles you go through with equipment repairs. My knowledge of the agriculture repair industry is weak, other than what I hear about John Deere. So, I am eager to hear your stories and learn from your experiences.

As a filmmaker, I want to create a documentary that captures the essence of the farming industry and the challenges that farmers face. My team and I are committed to creating a documentary that not only informs but also moves and inspires our audience.

I hope to work with you all either in front of the camera or just learn from all of you.

If you are interested or have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me.

Best regards,

Michael Galgano
Broken by Design

 

[Sparky Prep]

All I will say is that JD's use of.propriatary parts is the #1 reason I am going with a Kubota.

 

[Daren Todd]

All I will say is that JD's use of.propriatary parts is the #1 reason I am going with a Kubota.

Proprietary parts??? Can you expand on that statement???

 

[My Barn]

They all do it...I had a new (97) Chevy Astro van. It air filer was proprietary, and only sold (at first) dealers? As I remember dealer parts price was +40 dollars. Later on it could be purchased at a auto parts store for under $8.
Today in most cases you need proprietary software troubleshoot most vehicles. Like Deere you must be a dealer to buy it.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

I think you're going to have limited input dealing with just Florida and Arkansas.
You need to be able to hit the big farm states if your going to have any impact.
California, Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, just to name a few.

When I think of Florida and Arkansas I think Gators, OJ, Moonshine, Mud Bogs, and Walmart, not major food production.

 

[Daren Todd]

They all do it...I had a new (97) Chevy Astro van. It air filer was proprietary, and only sold (at first) dealers? As I remember dealer parts price was +40 dollars. Later on it could be purchased at a auto parts store for under $8.
Today in most cases you need proprietary software troubleshoot most vehicles. Like Deere you must be a dealer to buy it.

Filter manufacturers have a contract with the engine manufacturers where they can't produce a new filter design as an aftermarket for a certain amount of time.

The only place that had oil filters for my wife's car was the dealer, the first year we had it.

 

[The Evil Twin]

I think you're going to have limited input dealing with just Florida and Arkansas.
You need to be able to hit the big farm states if your going to have any impact.
California, Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, just to name a few.

When I think of Florida and Arkansas I think Gators, OJ, Moonshine, Mud Bogs, and Walmart, not major food production.

View attachment 100007

FL has (or had) a major beef industry. They were in the top 10 at one time.
The 'shine is good too.

 

[The Evil Twin]

Hi everyone,

My name is Michael Galgano and I run a video production company called My Own Productions based in Orlando, FL. I am reaching to farmers and anyone with agricultural equipment who might be interested in being a part of a new documentary we are producing called 'Broken by Design.' This documentary will focus on the right-to-repair movement, how it affects farmers, and the consumer electronics, biomedical, and automotive repair industries.

Though I'm in Central Florida, I can travel throughout the state to capture your testimonials. Additionally, I have another producer in Arkansas who can also meet with you to share your stories. Once we have funding, travel across the states will happen. We are looking for individuals willing to talk about the challenges they face with equipment repairs, specifically with John Deere, Kubota, and other brands.

I am passionate about and committed to this project and would love to learn more about the hassles you go through with equipment repairs. My knowledge of the agriculture repair industry is weak, other than what I hear about John Deere. So, I am eager to hear your stories and learn from your experiences.

As a filmmaker, I want to create a documentary that captures the essence of the farming industry and the challenges that farmers face. My team and I are committed to creating a documentary that not only informs but also moves and inspires our audience.

I hope to work with you all either in front of the camera or just learn from all of you.

If you are interested or have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me.

Best regards,

Michael Galgano
Broken by Design

We face the same thing in the racing industry.

 

[Broken by Design]

All I will say is that JD's use of.propriatary parts is the #1 reason I am going with a Kubota.

See this is something that I want to know more about. I know that JD is the Apple of the agricultural world when it comes to repair, but other than that I am quite ignorant. I really want to learn from everyone. What is cool though is that I have a Kubota just around the corner from me and I will be seeing if they would like to participate in the doc.

They all do it...I had a new (97) Chevy Astro van. It air filer was proprietary, and only sold (at first) dealers? As I remember dealer parts price was +40 dollars. Later on it could be purchased at a auto parts store for under $8.
Today in most cases you need proprietary software troubleshoot most vehicles. Like Deere you must be a dealer to buy it.

This may be true however your Astro Van is not software locked because you changed your filter.

I think you're going to have limited input dealing with just Florida and Arkansas.
You need to be able to hit the big farm states if your going to have any impact.
California, Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, just to name a few.

When I think of Florida and Arkansas I think Gators, OJ, Moonshine, Mud Bogs, and Walmart, not major food production.

View attachment 100007

Yes, I do realize that however, this project is currently out of pocket until we get funding so if I can drive there on a tank of gas and back the better. Once the funds come in we will be going to the Midwest.

 

[Broken by Design]

We face the same thing in the racing industry.

I am going to be covering part of the racing industry in the automotive section of the documentary. One of the companies I am reaching out to is HP Tuners to discuss tuning software and how OTA updates can ruin cars.

 

[fried1765]

FL has (or had) a major beef industry. They were in the top 10 at one time.
The 'shine is good too.

Florida is currently in the business of "raising"...... New Yorkers,...... in droves!

 

[Sparky Prep]

I think you're going to have limited input dealing with just Florida and Arkansas.
You need to be able to hit the big farm states if your going to have any impact.
California, Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, just to name a few.

When I think of Florida and Arkansas I think Gators, OJ, Moonshine, Mud Bogs, and Walmart, not major food production.

View attachment 100007

Love mudbogs, Moonshine, Gators, and orange juice. Hate WalMart.

 

[The Evil Twin]

Florida is currently in the business of "raising"...... New Yorkers,...... in droves!

They should be "razing" them.

 

[Broken by Design]

Florida is currently in the business of "raising"...... New Yorkers,...... in droves!

Last Summer I helped deliver some back to their home state lol.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

They should be "razing" them.

You sure it's not planting them?

 

[Daren Todd]

You have the ability to repair your own equipment. The software and licensing fees are expensive though.

Deeres fees are around $1200 a year plus the laptop and engine connector.

You can get a diesel laptop that will work on pretty much all engines. Has all the connectors.

That's $6000 plus $1000 a year licensing.

Here's the thing. Most trouble codes reset once the fault has been corrected.

You can diagnose and fix those yourself. All you need is the code.

The exception is latched codes which are emissions related.

Those are government mandated and basically it's a technician signing off that the issue was fixed. And yes, you need software to to clear those codes.

 

[PoTreeBoy]

They all do it...I had a new (97) Chevy Astro van. It air filer was proprietary, and only sold (at first) dealers? As I remember dealer parts price was +40 dollars. Later on it could be purchased at a auto parts store for under $8.
Today in most cases you need proprietary software troubleshoot most vehicles. Like Deere you must be a dealer to buy it.

Not just vehicles. I was thinking about a new water filter for a Frigidaire refrigerator. $54, no.

 

[torch]

Proprietary parts??? Can you expand on that statement???

If he means what I think he means then he's referring to JD's habit of forcing suppliers to exclusive contracts on parts.

For example, JD sources an engine from Kawasaki. Kawasaki is contractually obligated to refuse to sell replacement parts for that engine, forcing consumers to buy through JD at many times the price Kawasaki sells the exact same part to owners of other brands.

 

[JohnDB]

Already some interesting info above. Thanks Darren.

Patrick, presumably out of the doco you will have some ideas for action to occur.

I expect you will be giving the manufacturers a right to reply. It would be interesting to have Frigidaire explain the $54 water filter and then you ask for a breakdown, which they wouldn't supply, but you could make educated guesses to make them or the retailer look foolish.

Manufacturers avoid R2R on their products because it makes them more profit (would there be any other reason? Others here who have worked for dealers would have better views on this). If I'm right, then making more parts, more service information available and for longer, probably has additional cost to the manufacturer. To maintain profitability, will a requirement to meet R2R push other prices up?

Other than forcing manufacturers to make parts, software and repair manuals available (and if so, at what price?), I can't see any sort of govt regulation working - too cumbersome, too many loopholes.

Would a sort of hall of shame work - say a sort of citizen science "Right to repair" website that ranked or focused on price gouging? Deere might change its approach if people stopped buying their machinery. Assuming their approach doesn't become the default for all competing manufacturers. Also, the Deere approach is well known, but consumers still buy Deere.

Should the manufacturer's policy on duration of parts/service/software supply be in the public arena? I was told that Rockwell guaranteed to have all parts available for 7 years after the last year of production of any model of off-highway axle, don't know how true it was. After that, you were at the mercy of inventory availability.

A useful action might be to get rid of regional pricing or limitations on supply. I can't buy Kubota parts from USA retailers other than by a very roundabout route, so if the local national retailer won't supply, I'm stuffed. Maybe the reverse happens for some US consumers - can they get parts out of Europe, or only through North American suppliers?

How long do you expect parts, software and service information to be available for? Maintaining extensive inventory is expensive, if manufacturer's were forced to provide parts for their product, who would determine when they could stop stocking those parts, since "right to repair" must have some of expiry. Or maybe I misunderstand something.

I support the concept of R2R, and I can't help wondering how it can be made to happen. Hopefully your documentary will provide the answer.

 

[Lil Foot]

Wolfman and others here who have worked for dealers

?????