Harvesting the future CLAAS

HARVESTING HARVESTING THE FUTURE THE FUTURE

CLAAS, the Germany-based major manufacturer of agricultural machinery, has sailed through the pandemic-ridden year with flying colours, continuing its international expansion and launching new products. Romana Moares reports.

CLAAS, a family business founded in 1913, is the European market leader in combine harvesters and the world leader in self-propelled forage harvesters. CLAAS is also a top performer in worldwide agricultural engineering with tractors, agricultural balers and green harvesting machinery. In addition to machines, the CLAAS product portfolio also includes advanced farming information technology.

Despite the adverse effects of Covid-19, CLAAS has succeeded in implementing its major investment projects as planned. At the Le Mans tractor plant, state-of-the-art production technologies have greatly increased flexibility and efficiency. At Harsewinkel, the first phase of a major modernisation project in the sphere of combine harvester assembly was completed. And in France and the UK, new sales centres were opened, offering additional options in terms of service and after-sales business.

State-of-the-art workstations

The CLAAS tractor factory in Le Mans, France – the “Future Factory” – has officially started operations following three years of modernisation. Drawing on advanced digital technologies, the production facilities set new standards.

CLAAS gave the go-ahead for its latest major investment in Le Mans back in 2017. Investments totalling €40 million were made primarily on a complete renewal of assembly equipment and digital transformation of the plant. This brings the total investment in Le Mans, the development centre in Vélizy and the test and validation centre in Trangé to around €80 million since the acquisition of Renault Agriculture in 2003.

“Our completely refurbished plant in Le Mans raises the bar for the production of premium and connected agricultural tractors”, says Thomas Böck, Chair of the CLAAS Group Executive Board. “We have opened a new chapter in the continued growth of our global business.”

At present, five tractor model series from 75 to 460 hp are produced in Le Mans. Together with the development centre in Vélizy near Paris and the test and validation centre in Trangé, around 1,000 people are employed in Le Mans. The locations cooperate closely with other development centres and plants, such as in Germany with CLAAS E-Systems in Dissen or with CLAAS Industrietechnik in Paderborn, where the TERRA TRAC crawler track units for the AXION 900 TERRA TRAC and the continuously variable power split transmissions for the ARION 500 and ARION 600 model series are built.

Opened at the same time, the new technology centre in Ymeray close to Chartres means that CLAAS is continuing to strengthen its presence in France, being the largest producer of agricultural technology in the European Union. CLAAS has been producing agricultural balers in Metz since 1958 and now employs over 2,200 people in the country.

Innovation with Awards

Having established a technological lead with the self-learning operator assistance and machine optimisation system for combine and forage harvesters, in 2020 CLAAS extended this ground-breaking technology to the tractor sector with the launch of CEMOS for Tractors.

The “DLG-approved” quality seal awarded in December 2020 certified increases in area output of up to 16.3% and at the same time, fuel savings of up to 16.8% during cultivation work. These impressive efficiency savings achieved by CEMOS for tractors have been duly appreciated by the market: the CLAAS AXION 960 CEMOS was voted ‘Sustainable Tractor of the Year 2021’ by a panel of international journalists.

In recent years, CLAAS has also rolled out hybrid threshing technology in mid-range performance segments. Since 2009, for example, the product range has included an APS threshing unit in combination with a single rotor in the TUCANO HYBRID. Meanwhile, 2019 has also seen another seed-green hybrid – the youngest member of the CLAAS hybrid family – start to roll off the production line in China: the DOMINATOR 370.

Stronger through crisis

The global pandemic of 2020 has not shaken CLAAS’s leading position. On top of increased capital investments in fixed assets totalling €131 million, expenditure on research and development, totalling €237 million, once again remained at a very high level.

“CLAAS managed to achieve sales growth and to improve profitability despite the pandemic and shutdowns in production. In the process, our widespread international presence has paid off,” affirmed Thomas Böck.

Whilst sales in Germany, France and the other western European countries remained largely stable, they grew significantly in eastern Europe and especially in Russia. At around 20%, CLAAS achieved its strongest sales growth outside of Europe, with North America proving to be the most important growth driver.

Reflecting on the future, Böck said: “Working under pandemic conditions has accelerated the digital transformation at CLAAS. We are continuing to drive forward holistic and integrated solutions to seize the tremendous innovation potential in agriculture. We are focusing on dialogue, benefiting the customer, and keeping an eye on sustainable interactions between technology and the environment.” n