Record result for AMAZONE

LEADING European farm machinery manufacturer, AMAZONE, has posted a 12.6 percent jump in sales to a record €457 million (AU$719 million or NZ$775 million) in 2017.The German company, which is represented via the CLAAS Harvest Centre network in New Zealand and Australia, manufactures a range of spreaders, sprayers, cultivators and drills that are renowned for their precision and ease of use.

Highlights of the year included the release of more than 30 new models and innovations at Agritechnica 2017, three of which were awarded a silver medal for excellence in agricultural engineering. AMAZONE Directors, Christian Dreyer and Dr. Justus Dreyer, see the company continuing on a stable growth trajectory.

“The excellent result for 2017 shows that our many innovations, along with our strengthened engagement in many of export markets, are bearing fruit,” an end-of-year report says. “Innovative machinery and systems, which are not only more efficient, but which operate with more precision and with greater operational comfort, are in demand all over the world. “We provide farmers and agricultural contractors with the optimum technology for use on any farm size.”

Established in 1883, the fourth-generation family-owned business now employs 1,850 people, including 130 apprentices, across eight sites in Germany, France, Austria, Hungary and Russia. More than 80 percent of the company’s production is exported.

AMAZONE invests more than seven percent of its turnover in research and development. The company is currently developing a new 24 ha trailed sprayer manufacturing facility at Bramsche in Germany. The €16 million (AU$25 million or NZ$27 million) investment includes a 16,000 square metre assembly and storage hall.

Other capital improvements during 2017 included the completion of the KTL (electrophoretic cathode metal coating) paint facility at its Hude-Altmoorhausen factory in Germany. The facility is used to apply more than more than 750,000 square metres – that’s 75 hectares – of paint each year.