Driving the farmer forward Weidemann

DRIVING THE FARMER FORWARD

Agricultural vehicle manufacturer Weidemann GmbH is continually expanding its portfolio to ensure that it offers everything needed for loading, carrying and lifting. Emma-Jane Batey spoke to the export sales manager, Mario Middeke, to find out more.

Established in Germany over 50 years ago, agricultural vehicle developer and manufacturer Weidemann GmbH & Co has continued to focus on innovative products and accessories that support the agricultural industry worldwide. With a particular skill in designing loading, carrying and lifting vehicles that perfectly suit the needs of the smaller agricultural business, Weidemann has been able to establish a company that is widely considered to be a real partner to its customers.

Export sales manager, Mario Middeke, told Industry Europe how Weidemann’s dedication to understanding the evolving needs of its agricultural customers worldwide has kept the company moving forward. He said, “Our company was founded on the premise of responding to the actual day-to-day demands and challenges our customers face. Our pioneering vehicle Hoftrac illustrates this perfectly, as we were the first company to develop a machine that suited smaller farming businesses that needed to reduce or replace manual labour. The Hoftrac has continued to be an important product in our portfolio throughout the past 40 years, even though it has been joined by a series of other solutions.”

Investment in facilities

Weidemann invested a considerable sum in 2007 in order to build a new factory, taking its total number of production facilities to three. It may introduce a second shift as demand continues to increase, with the company currently manufacturing around 10,000 vehicles each year. The Weidemann product portfolio includes a range of agricultural and commercial vehicles, including the Hoftrac, wheel loaders, telescopic loaders and related accessories.

The best-selling product offered by Weidemann is its small-scale wheel loader. Bought by smaller farms and agricultural businesses as well as various council and municipal operations worldwide, the Hoftrac small-scale wheel loader has consistently been its most popular product. Mr Middeke added, “As our main customer base is the smaller farming businesses, we totally understand how they work and what type of vehicle is beneficial to their activities. We also know how to develop our products to ensure that they are always keeping up-to-date with even small changes in the industry, or how our customers work.”

Knowing the trends

Staying at the forefront of the small-scale agricultural industry’s trends and challenges is certainly a commercial advantage for Weidemann. It has a dedicated development department that fosters and maintains strong relationships with customers and industry influencers as well as conducting market research.

Weidemann’s latest industry research shows that many small-scale farms in Europe in particular are steadily increasing in order to stay commercial viable. Mr Middeke continued, “It used to be that farmers would order perhaps 40 lambs at a time, whereas now it may be 500 or even 1000, so of course they need different vehicle solutions to deal with it. We are seeing that where small farms would order one small vehicle or machine, they may now require an additional bigger machine or wheel loader. So we are developing solutions that cater to this trend for larger machines, which are more expensive, meaning that although the volume may go down a little from the small machines we are achieving the same turnover.”

BÜTER

BÜTER sees itself not only as a supplier of hydraulic cylinders and provider of ideas but, above all, as a partner to WEIDEMANN. BÜTER creates solutions to improve the functionality of their products- for example by creating a fully automated production method for screw-in hydraulic cylinders.

More than 200 patents and registered designs impressively document the company’s know-how and ability. BÜTER is driven by its ambition to create competitive advantages for customers by providing innovative solutions and highest possible quality. This philosophy and partnerships with customers like WEIDEMANN made the company grow into a high-performance industry leader. Therefore, BÜTER would like to express its gratitude towards WEIDEMANN for beeing a trusted and highly valued customer.

GRAMMER AG

GRAMMER AG, Amberg, Germany, is specialized in the development and production of components and systems for automotive interiors as well as driver and passenger seats for offroad vehicles (tractors, construction machinery, forklifts), trucks, buses and trains.

Everywhere that people are on the move, GRAMMER sets standards of comfort, ergonomics and safety. GRAMMER is represented in 18 countries worldwide with 24 fully consolidated subsidiaries. We are market and technology leader in the offroad segment, supplying seats for both OEMs and Aftermarket. We have been supplying high-quality driver seats for Weidemann GmbH and the Wacker Neuson Group for several decades.

The variety of small to medium-sized machinery with reliable power offered by Weidemann is unrivalled in the European agricultural market. The company operates mainly in Europe, but has customers worldwide owing in part to its 100 per cent ownership by Wacker Neuson, the global manufacturer of light and compact equipment. Wacker Neuson acquired Weidemann in 2005, and its activities in 180 countries worldwide have opened up valuable sales channels for the company.

Global opportunities

The plan for Weidemann is both to utilise the opportunities afforded by being a part of the global Wacker Neuson family and to continue developing market-led vehicle solutions for small agricultural businesses. In addition to its current strong presence in western Europe, and growing market share in eastern Europe, Russia, South Africa and North America, it is hoping to break into a number of emerging markets. The global support from Wacker Neuson means that the company has access to local contacts as well as its infrastructure, so it is already well-positioned to take its products and understanding of the market to countries where the Wacker Neuson brand is already well-known.

Mr Middeke added, “We see exciting development potential in southern and central Asia and Turkey, with our research team already working hard to build relationships with possible partners, suppliers and customers. We know that there is an increasing need for our agricultural vehicles and related products across a number of international markets, so with our strong history, solid structure and passion for what we do, we’re certainly looking forward to a great future.” n