New energy to harvesting AGCO Feucht

new enerGy to harvestinG

This year, AGCO Feucht GmbH (formerly FELLA-Werke GmbH) has two reasons to celebrate: the site commemorates its 100th anniversary as a leading player in the agricultural engineering industry. At the same time, the parent company AGCO is making a €10.5 million investment in an major plant expansion, an important step in line with anticipated business growth. Romana Moares reports.

AGCO Feucht GmbH is a German manufacturer of agricultural equipment based in Feucht, Germany, located just southwest of Nuremberg in Bavaria. It was established in 1918 as a harrow manufacturing company, and its product range has expanded ever since. 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 in the world market.

member of a Group

In 2011, FELLA-Werke GmbH was acquired by the AGCO Group, changing its name to AGCO Feucht GmbH. The FELLA brand has remained independent and, as a result of competence concentration, has gained in significance. The Feucht location has been designated the centre of excellence for green forage harvesting in Europe.

AGCO is a global leader in the design, manufacture and distribution of agricultural equipment. Through well-known brands including Challenger®, Fendt®, GSI®, Massey Ferguson® and Valtra®, AGCO Corporation delivers agricultural solutions to farmers worldwide through a full line of tractors, combine harvesters, hay and forage equipment, seeding and tillage implements, grain storage and protein production systems, as well as replacement parts. AGCO has the sector’s most powerful sales network – including more than 2600 independent dealers in many countries of the world.

Joining AGCO Corporation has not diminished any of FELLA’s core strengths, quite the contrary – the company has the widest product portfolio in the green fodder segment including the unique, specialised Alps range of machines, it continues to offer quality made in Germany and to operate a strong dealer network. But the company’s targets for the future surely reflect a boost in confidence, as FELLA intends to continue to increase its turnover in the coming years.

Strong brand

FELLA is the specialist in the world of innovative harvesting technology. With a huge range of high-quality drum and disc mower units, tedders and rakes, FELLA offers the industry’s largest selection of harvesting tools in the world. Plus, FELLA’s ‘Customer First’ philosophy means the company is fully focused on providing the optimum solution for each individual forage harvesting need.

Traditionally FELLA supplies machines to dairy farms in countries across Europe, Northern America, Australia and New Zealand. 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 markets 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. Investing in the future

Currently, FELLA’s site is undergoing its greatest period of change in more than 20 years. This involves building production facilities for three brands, increasing production capacity by up to 40 per cent and converting company processes to an SAP system. In late 2016, the first machines marketed under the Fendt and Massey Ferguson brands left the production line at AGCO’s European centre of excellence for forage harvesting in Feucht. Since then, the brand mix has been changing significantly, with the overall number of machines produced rising. Coupled with the increasing demand for larger machines, the capacity of the Feucht site has reached its limits.

Therefore, the parent company has made a decision to support growth by investing €10.5 million in the facility extension. The biggest addition is a new assembly hall measuring 4000m², where the entire range of mowers will be produced in the future. The flow of materials is also being optimised in order to meet growing demands on capacity.

“The new plant layout will enable us to manufacture products on time and respond more flexibly to the increasing demands of the individual markets,” says Uli Nickol, Managing Director of AGCO Feucht GmbH. Given the company’s track record and sound performance, the investment will, no doubt, further boost its leading position in global markets. n