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A touch of Claas CLAAS
A TOUCH OF CLAAS
The name ‘CLAAS’ is recognised all over the world as a producer of state-of-the-art agricultural machinery, particularly combines. Industry Europe looks at its continued global expansion, most recent advances in product development and the importance it places on its key suppliers.
Established in 1913 as a family-run concern by August Claas, the company has always been strongly innovation-focused. Today headquartered in Harsewinkel, Westphalia, it began by producing straw balers and in 1936 moved on to the development of combine harvesters – a product with which the CLAAS name has been indelibly associated ever since.
Expanding operations
A series of investments and acquisitions over the years have further expanded the group’s product offering and geographical presence. In 1997 it took over the Hungarian plant in Törökszentmiklós in eastern Hungary. CLAAS Hungaria Kft manufactures cutterbars and mowers, as well as attachments and implements for self-propelled agricultural machinery such as combine harvesters and tractors. In the same decade CLAAS also moved into the US market when it opened a new factory for the manufacture of its LEXION combine harvesters at Omaha, Nebraska.
This was followed in the highly significant 2003 takeover of the French tractor manufacturer Renault Agriculture. Since then, the CLAAS product range has included a broad range of modern tractors. As a result, group sales increased by over €600 million and its workforce grew by around 2000 people.
The past 10 years have seen the group’s gradual move into the Asian market too. In 2008, it set up a new production facility in India, near Chandigarh in the state of Punjab, for the manufacture of combine harvesters. A new ‘Regional South Centre’ was opened in March 2012 in Bangalore, which is home to a large spare parts depot and sales office to serve the southern Indian market. Finally, in September 2012 CLAAS established a new company in Beijing, China. CLAAS Agricultural Machinery Trading (Beijing) Co. Ltd works on promoting and marketing CLAAS technology to this hugely important market.
Powered by innovation
As mentioned above, continuous innovation has always been the main pillar upon which CLAAS is able to maintain and indeed build upon its world-leading position. For example in July this year (2015) the company announced that it will be launching the widest tractor-mounted mower conditioner ever made. The new machine, the DISCO 1100 C/ RC BUSINESS disc mower will offer a cutting width of 10.7 metres, allowing it to appeal to a wide range of customers. Next year, the company is also set to introduce a new range of nine mowers which can be attached at the front or rear of a tractor and come with rather more modest cutting widths ranging from 2.6 to 3.4 metres.
Another significant product launch, in mid-2014, was the CARGOS 8000 dual-purpose wagon. From the beginning it has received excellent feedback on its performance, operation and maintenance. This will be followed up in 2016 with introduction of the new CARGOS 9000. The large dual-purpose wagon with its three models – the 9400, 9500 and 9600 – has been completely redeveloped. It has been equipped with the new loading and crop cutting assembly developed for the CARGOS 8000, whilst the EFS (Efficient Feeding System) has been equipped with a hydraulically powered pick-up with optional hydropneumatic suspension. Award-winning company
CLAAS is regularly honoured by various awards bodies for the consistently high quality of its products and innovation. For example, it received two awards at the SIMA Innovation Awards 2015: the completely new PANORAMIC cab concept on the ARION 400 tractor, which was launched this year and reached the final round of the ‘Tractor of the Year 2015’ competition, are the recipient of one of two gold medals; the new VARIO cutterbar in the VARIO 930 and 770 models with cutting widths of 9.30 and 7.70m for the TUCANO and LEXION combine harvesters also received a special mention.
Furthermore, at the 2015 SIMA Trade Fair in Paris two CLAAS machines won awards in the ‘Combine Harvester’ and ‘Mower’ categories. In the former, the new TUCANO was again recognised for its superior quality and comfort, whilst in the latter the DISCO 9200 with its new MAX CUT cutterbar received the coveted award.
Honouring suppliers
The importance of a strong supply network for a huge global operation as CLAAS cannot be overestimated. In recognition of this fact, the company runs its annual CLAAS Suppliers’ Day to award the suppliers who have made the biggest contribution in the preceding year in areas such as quality, logistics, innovation service and overall excellence. In previous years major winners have included Orcaplast, a France based producer of cover panels and mounting parts (Service category, 2013) and Hölling – DMA GmbH & Co. KG, a Germany-based distributor of industrial machinery and equipment (Logistics category, 2013).
The 11th CLAAS Supplier Day, which took place in January 2015, was based on the theme of ‘implementing ideas’. As usual, the Supplier of the Year titles were divided into several different categories, with one ‘Total Winner’ award which this year went to Mitas a.s., a Czech producer of tyres. A stand-out winner in the ‘Quality category was Turkish castings supplier Atik Metal. In the area of Logistics, Duvenbeck of Germany received an award, whilst Rába Axle Ltd of Hungary was awarded for Innovation. In the category of Service, BS Energy of Germany was awarded for its expert advice and innovative power procurement strategies.
Future focus
Looking ahead, CLAAS’s plans for future growth include the expansion of its global dealer network. According to Jan-Hendrik Mohr, worldwide sales director, said it was important for the company to expand its distribution and service network: “We are convinced that this is the right way to move forward with CLAAS, and now we have to convince customers.”
Alongside this, the group will be looking to carry out major investments in the introduction of new technology at its primary manufacturing facilities worldwide in order to continue serving its customers with the world-class quality machines they have come to expect. n
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