AGCO is a global leader in the design, manufacture and distribution of agricultural equipment. Although specific needs may vary from market to market, the company’s common approach is to partner fully with every customer through every phase of the farming process, aiming to boost agricultural productivity and reduce post-harvest waste. Romana Moares reports.
AGCO is the world’s largest manufacturer of machinery and equipment focused solely on the agricultural industry. 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.
The company has been investing in facilities and technologies that allow it to manufacture the most cutting-edge machines and equipment to stay at the forefront in the sector - over the past few years, every one of its factories around the world has benefited from a significant investment in both its people and systems.
Image: T Series tractor. Credit: AGCO
2018 Supplier Day
The company’s leading global position could not have been achieved without reliable partners and suppliers, a fact that is well recognised. Each year, the company awards its top suppliers in various regions and various categories. This year, AGCO honoured its top EME Region suppliers during the annual AGCO EME Supplier Day in March, an event which was held at AGCO’s Breganze Harvesting Facility in Italy and run under the theme ‘WE ASPIRE IDEAL PARTNERSHIPS’.
At the event, AGCO`s senior leaders presented the 2018 business plan and also shared their expectations towards the supply base. They further explained the importance for suppliers to attain ‘Preferred’ and ‘Partner’ level status to participate in additional growth through New Product Introduction, a resurging market as well as new opportunities resulting from AGCO’s strategy to consolidate and optimise its supply base and focus on Supply Chain Excellence and Partnership.
As 2018 sales projections, order intake and the overall business environment remain strong and positive, AGCO heavily relies on and challenges its supply base to ensure on-time-delivery, world class quality as well as sharing the benefits generated by improved fixed cost absorption driven by increased volumes.
AGCO honoured its first three ‘Partner’ level suppliers, which is the highest relationship level a supplier can attain with AGCO, recognising AGCO as a top customer, providing leading innovation and serving as a world-class benchmark. The first Partner suppliers were Trelleborg Wheel Systems; Robert Bosch GmbH and Reinz-Dichtungs-GmbH.
Image: Massey Ferguson 6700S Series midrange loader bale spear. Credit: AGCO
Honoured partnerships
Trelleborg was awarded for taking a number of strategic steps since 2012 to support AGCO as a key customer, including the opening of new factories in China and the US, purchasing Mitas to offer more competitive tyres and leveraging its manufacturing footprint to optimise production and flexibility in supply. During the recent upswing, Trelleborg has gone the extra mile to support AGCO’s sudden demand peaks while remaining flexible to changes.
Bosch has been recognised for proactively sharing its leading edge technologies with AGCO and extending its product portfolio and manufacturing footprint to support AGCO´s Global demands, while providing competitive cost, and an impressive global delivery and quality performance.
The third company, Reinz-Dichtungs-GmbH, has been awarded for helping with its seals and gaskets to keep the pressure in the right place, the power up, the oil lock-&-tight, and the temperature steady. It gives priority to AGCO, collaborate closely with AGCO engineers and researchers, while keeping an outstanding quality level with year-over-year ZERO PPM levels and ZERO non-conformances.
AGCO also awarded 20 suppliers in 8 categories for their special commitment and performance: Collaboration (Danfoss Power Solutions; Erkunt Sanayi A.S.; Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co KG.), Quality (Alfagomma Hydraulic SPA; Witzenmann Rohrtechnik; Shapers’ France), Innovation (Faster SPA; AF Neunkirchener Achsenfabrik AG; Comer Industries SPA), Logistics (MSK Plast Oy; Camozzi Automation GmbH; Wabco), Best Logistics Service (Döderlein Spedition GmbH), Parts (M. Barnwell Services Ltd), NPI (PKC Group; Polirim SRL; Komas Oy) and Indirect (SDL plc; Air Liquid Group; Concentra).
Image: Massey Ferguson 2700 E Series. Credit: AGCO
Continued growth
While the company values its business partners, it is at the same time aware of its social role - in September AGCO announced the launch of the AGCO Agriculture Foundation. “The AGCO Agriculture Foundation is a testament to our commitment to support farmers feeding the world. Our objective is to support non-profit initiatives that contribute to global food security, support sustainable agriculture development and have an economic impact in developing countries,” said Martin Richenhagen, AGCO’s Chairman, President and CEO.
This initiative is set to benefit from the group’s continud growth - in October, AGCO reported net sales of approximately $2.2 billion for the third quarter of 2018, an increase of approximately 11.5 per cent compared to the third quarter of 2017.
“AGCO’s solid operational performance across our regional business units and constructive market developments are driving sales and earnings growth,” stated Martin Richenhagen. “We delivered sales and operating income improvement across all regions, with the strongest growth in North and South America. Equally important, we have delivered operationally while making significant progress on our long-term strategic growth drivers.”
Visit: www.agcocorp.com
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