Made in Germany FELLA-Werke

MADE IN GERMANY

The name FELLA has been a byword for innovative agricultural machinery for over 90 years. Fresh investment from the parent company and plans for market extension spell an energetic future for the company, as Julia Snow reports.

FELLA-Werke GmbH is based in Feucht, near Nuremberg in the Franconia region of Germany. The company currently holds a top position in the specialist green forage harvesting machinery sector. With a comprehensive range of drum and disc mower units, tedders and rakes, FELLA has been enjoying solid growth on the world market. The company’s single location in Feucht employs 170 staff, with teams responsible for sales and administration, research and development as well as the assembly of all machinery. “We are very proud of the fact that our machines continue to be truly ‘made in Germany’, with all assembly and quality control taking place here in Feucht,” explains Mr Reinhard Brunner, the general manager for FELLA.

In March 2011, FELLA was fully incorporated into the AGCO Corporation and as such will continue to drive forward the specialisation of harvest technology for them. The Feucht site, near Nuremberg, was declared AGCO’s centre of excellence for green forage harvesting in Europe.

Stronger with AGCO

FELLA’s strong market position has attracted the interest of the international AGCO Corporation, which is one of the world’s largest manufacturers and providers of tractors and

agricultural machinery. In 2011 AGCO expects record sales of nearly €6.6 billion. AGCO’s full range includes tractors, combine harvesters, forage harvesters and seed drills, fertiliser spreaders and soil tilling implements. AGCO has the sector’s most powerful sales network – including more than 2600 independent dealers in over 140 countries of the world.

“John Deere and Case New Holland are the other top players in the agricultural industry sector,” says Mr Brunner. FELLA’s production plant will benefit from some very ambitious expansion plans in the next years, based on AGCO’s announced investment of up to €20 in expanding facilities and creating a group-wide ‘Green forage harvest Centre of Excellence’ in Feucht. “We see this as a huge opportunity for us, as it will guarantee jobs and the stability of our location. We’re already taking the first steps in securing land for the redevelopment and expansion.”

More products for large scale harvesting

“We are absolutely committed to our core sector, which is the agricultural industry with a specialised focus on green forage harvest machines mainly for dairy farming and biogas,” adds Mr Stefan Sprock, export director for FELLA. “But additionally we are looking to extend our product range over the next years in order to increase our offering specifically for large farms and for harvesting subcontractors.” While FELLA already has some business with large-scale farms the intention is to multiply the presence in this growing and highly profitable segment by closing any gaps in the product portfolio and by introducing more specially adapted models for these particular customer needs.

FELLA’s R&D team is organised in product groups and work closely with customers and third-party research institutes, utilising cutting-edge CAD software to develop solutions that push the boundaries of performance and efficiency.

New markets on the horizon

Traditionally FELLA supplies machines to dairy farms in countries across Europe, Northern America, Australia and New Zea-

land. In addition to these core customers the company will increasingly target larger commercial farming enterprises as well as harvesting contractors in these areas.

Through its own sales and service network FELLA covers the western European home market of Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria, Benelux and Italy, where many important clients are located. Recent strong developments in countries like Poland and North America have promoted FELLA to strengthen distribution networks further afield. Now, with the additional sales reach of the AGCO Corporation, even more markets have become easier to access including Russia and South America.

Future growth is expected to come from incremental growth in line with the growing distribution networks and the additional sales channels provided by the AGCO partners. Further acquisitions may lead to new members of the AGCO family – bringing even more synergies to the table. “AGCO has a great track record in company acquisitions in its 20 year history,” Mr Sprock says, before adding: “They buy a brand and instead of swallowing it they develop and protect the brand identity very successfully – the proof for this are names like Fendt, Massey Ferguson, Valtra, Challenger and Laverda, all members of the AGCO Corporation. We believe that this success story is only beginning for FELLA and we are confident that we can look forward to the same long and prosperous future for the FELLA brand.”

Joining AGCO Corporation has not changed any of FELLA’s core strengths – the company still has the widest product portfolio in the green fodder segment, it still offers quality made in Germany and there is still the strong dealer network and the unique, specialised Alps range of machines. But the company’s targets for the future surely reflect a boost in confidence, as FELLA intends to double its turnover within the next five years. n