Driving force for positive change CLAAS

DRIVING FORCE FOR POSITIVE CHANGE

CLAAS Industrietechnik is a global player in the development of advanced drive technology and hydraulic solutions. Philip Yorke takes a closer look at a remarkable company and its latest, groundbreaking innovative products and solutions.

CLAAS Industrietechnik is a wholly owned subsidiary of the world renowned CLAAS Group of Germany. The affiliate company was founded 56 years ago at its present site, located at Paderborn in western Germany where over 650 highly skilled staff maintain its enviable reputation for quality and innovation. Today the company produces industry-specific products and solutions that are developed for a wide variety of industrial sectors and applications. These range from agricultural and municipal equipment and complex construction machinery to offshore technology.

The company’s modern factory in Paderborn was recently upgraded and restructured to offer a new, state-of-theart testing centre, designed to provide its customers with the most advanced testing technology available today. This latest facility is also designed to optimise the quality and efficiency of the company’s drive technology and hydraulic systems products.

This latest investment allows the company to exhaustively evaluate its advanced components and drive systems during the final stages of production. In addition, it offers clients the opportunity to participate in the overall project management process.

Another €3.5 million was invested in a new logistics centre which recently began construction and will be taken into operation in summer 2013. This is the next part of the rearrangement of the facility site and

represents huge progress in the internal rationalisation and optimisation process.

Today, CLAAS Industrietechnik’s contribution to the group’s innovative and advanced range of agricultural products has helped it to push CLAAS Group sales to more than €3.3 billion in the last fiscal year

World CLAAS driving technology

CLAAS Industrietechnik is a leading producer of drive technology and hydraulics. The company’s outstanding product is the TERRA TRAC system, the world-leading rubber track undercarriage system. Owing to its flexibility and special characteristics it is used for a large variety of machines like harvesters and dumpers.

Thanks to its hydro-pneumatical suspension it provides high driving dynamics, amazing riding comfort and therefore a whole new level of control. With a maximum speed of 40 kph and increased driving safety the TERRA TRAC system sets a new benchmark. Its unique construction reduces the soil pressure to the ground by up to 66 per cent and avoids irreversible damage.

Besides the TERRA TRAC system CLAAS Industrietechnik offers a large variety of axles for any kind of vehicle. The top products in this sector are the drive axles for the world’s largest combine – the LEXION – with a net load between 22 and 30 metric tonnes. These axles are equipped with planetary gears and a transmission with two speeds based on electrohydraulic shifting. CLAAS Industrietechnik’s open-structured driving axles can be used with standard tires and have easy-maintenance tanks to ensure fast and easy access to the modules. The close-structured driving axles are equipped with electrohydraulic transmission, integrated multidisc brakes, an optional tyre pressure control system and differential lock. Vehicles with these axles have a load capacity of up to 14 tonnes and a speed limit of up to 40 kph.

CLAAS Industrietechnik also provides steering (drive) axles with a load capacity of between 4.5 and 10 tonnes. These universal adjustable axles can be installed on any kind of harvester and are also available as swing axles. Owing to their modular structure any customer specific configuration can be applied.

In addition to this, CLAAS Industrietechnik is known for its axles for municipal vehicles. The range of products includes numerous axle and chassis solutions. Steering, driving and steering drive axles are available as rigid axles and as axles with independent wheel suspension. Rigid drive axles with internally vented disc brakes are also available.

New hydraulic solutions

Ever since the company was founded 99 years ago, research and development has been a top priority at CLAAS, and has gone hand-in-hand with innovation, quality and reliability. As a result, CLAAS Industrietechnik’s product range for hydraulic solutions is constantly being enhanced to meet the many diverse and demanding challenges of today’s hydraulic-electronics marketplace. Whether for intelligent control of complex motion sequences for mobile applications, or for industry in general, it is the company’s passion for precision and efficiency that drives it.

The company also leads the field in its core competences for switch and proportional valve technology. This is owing to its many years of system competence, which extends from the system design and simulation to integration and final application. Furthermore, the company’s advanced research and testing facilities provide the opportunity to validate the entire

development process and offer a truly holistic approach to the project management process.

CLAAS Industrietechnik is in charge of the OEM sales function of the cabs produced in Harsewinkel. Its cabs offer a pleasant level of comfort combined with ergonomic efficiency and can be applied to a large variety of products such as potato or sugar beet harvesters. The cabs can be individually adjusted and offer a panoramic glaze, ensuring an unimpeded view from all sides. An automatic air-conditioning system can be relied upon to maintain the temperature required even at external temperatures of up to 50°C. Sun blinds and a refrigerated drinks compartment round off the features of the cabs. More than 1000 cabs are sold per year. All this in-depth expertise and innovative technology can be harnessed at CLAAS Industrietechnik at any time, in order to meet a customer’s tailormade specifications and requirements.

To keep its leading position on the global market CLAAS Industrietechnik is always inventing new technologies and products, following the motto: “If you want to be the leader you must keep running.” (Helmut Claas). n