JOHN - No, never worked with anything really to do with Cub Cadet... but did run the '63 Original Dad bought brand new a LOT, and also the new '65 #70 the O was traded in on... Bought my own CC, a #72 in Jan '81, and have since added a few more to the fleet.
I started work out of college at International's FARMALL Plant in Rock Island, IL, where they built the BIG ag tractors. I started working in the shop and worked my way up the ranks to various salaried positions and the day before the BIG strike of '79 & '80 ended, I interviewed for Management. But as everybody expected, IH was in for very hard times in the spring of '80, and upper management decided I was MUCH more valuable in my salaried position than on management. As it turned out, I'd have been out the door many months sooner on management than if I stayed salaried. I was at FARMALL in one capacity or another for almost five years, I also did a six week stint at IH East Moline Combine plant while on a short lay-off from FARMALL. While in material scheduling I dealt with other IH plants ordering & expediting parts into FARMALL for assembly, and have a great understanding about how the company operated.
IMHO, as far as process control, which MANY companies struggle with now days, IH was in a class of ONE back in the 1970's, their processes were ISO compliant decades before ISO was even thought of. International had communication satellites in space by 1980 for long distance phone calls, had a main frame computer network that was state of the art for heavy manufacturers back then. From my desk, I could punch ANY IH part number into the computer and it would spit back supplier name, IH plants or warehouses that used that part, open PO's they had for the part, stock on hand at ANY IH facility, historical usage, and brief description, and cost. From that same computer terminal I could instant message ANYONE at ANY IH facility that had access to a main frame terminal if I knew their terminal ID, and I could also access incoming orders for tractors & other equipment as well as incoming orders for purchased material. Every month we sent ALL our suppliers blanket PO's with a Firm accum order quantity plus one or two months more firm orders, plus various stages of forecast for material, labor, etc. Very elaborate system.
In my opinion, the ONLY thing they failed at was MARKETING, which had more to do with upper management letting marketing make terribly poor decisions about forcing IH into markets they shouldn't have entered.
