In the business year 2016 the Amazone Group has achieved a turnover of 406 million Euros. Compared with the previous year (402 mio Euros) the turnover thus has been slightly increased. At the same time this result is above the av-erage of all German manufacturers of agricultural machinery, which, according to VDMA, register in the Year 2016 a turnover minus of 2 %. In view of the dif-ficult market conditions Christian Dreyer and Dr. Justus Dreyer, the directors of the Amazonen-Werke, regard this result as very positive. “In comparison with many competitors and the sector average we are very well positioned with the 2016 annual turnover, because the willingness to invest of farmers and contractors was, due to poor producer prices and under average harvests, in-ternationally very restrained. With our new developments we were able to compensate the associated decreasing market development and so, in many areas, we could gain new customers for the purchase of an Amazone ma-chine.”
In the countries Russia, Ukraine, Rumania, Spain, in the Baltic region and in Australia the turnovers developed well above average. On a still good turnover level are the markets in Germany, Austria, France and England.
Also in 2016 the export share was 80 %, the number of the permanent em-ployees was 1,800, among them 130 trainees. The expenditures for research and development still were also more than 5 % of the turnover volume.
Strategital investments
An important strategital step was the purchase of a 24 ha new site in the new Bramsche industrial and commercial area. This enables the Amazone Group in future, depending on the economic development, to erect an other site in addition to the factories in Hasbergen-Gaste and Leeden and thus to further expand the production capacities. The new area is situated conveniently at the A1 and and has a distance of just 25 road kilometres to the headquarter in Hasbergen-Gaste.
Also of very big strategic importance was the purchase of the plough factory from Vogel & Noot in the Hungarian Mosonmagyaróvár. In a consortium of bidders in September, 2016 in total three investors were awarded the contract for important parts of the Vogel & Noot Group. Here, Amazone secured the plough factory including all rights for the plough programme. This enabled Amazone, in supplement to the existing Cayron series to include in its portfolio at one go five further series of mounted reversible ploughs of different sizes and designs. The new series with the name Cayros were initially introduced in November in green-orange colour at various international exhubitions.
Also the investments in the expansion of the different factory sites were con-tinued unabatedly in 2016. In Hude-Altmoorhausen the new painting facility started operation in November so that the products from Hude are delivered now with an even more high-grade KTL primer coat and powder coating. With its 20 million Euros this new facility is the biggest individual investment in the history of the company.
At the site Hasbergen-Gaste Amazone has invested 2 mio Euros in a new text centre. The new building has a size of 3,000 m², containing prototype con-struction, test plants and electronic laboratories and doubles the capacities for the research- and test sector at this site. The employees in the test centre look after the assembly, commissioning and the test of functional models and proto types of the competence ranges fertilising technology and crop protection technology. The development of electronics also has got own offices, an E-laboratory and a workshop for measuring technology and a secured test room for electronic components in the new test centre.
Amatechnica inspired the visitors
As in every post Agritechnica year in June 2016 the “Amatechnica“ field day was held. Meanwhile it has become a tradition that at this international in ho-house exhibition all Amazone innovations from the previous Agritechnica are shown in practical operation. Accordingly big was the visitors’ response: 4,000 farmers, contractors and sales partners from Germany and 2,000 visotors from 29 export countries joined this major event.
New developments for new customers
Also in 2016 Amazone has introduced various innovations to the market to convince old and new customers. So, the Catros Special as new cost effective series of mounted compact disc harrows in 2.5, 3, 3.5 and 4 m working width was introduced. As most important difference to the classical Catros 01, where the stagger of both disc rows can be adjusted, the disc rows at the new Catros 03 Special models are firmly arranged.
With the also new, pack top Catros+ TX in 7, 8 and 9 m working width and with a centre running gear, Amazone has closed at the same time the so far exist-ing programme gap between the 3 to 6 m wide Catros and the biggest Catros+ 12003-2TS with 12 m working width. In total in 2016 Amazone with its com-pact disc harrows, cultivators, rotary harrows and rotary cultivators and the strongly expanded plough programme became a top supplier in the sector of soil tillage.
In the sector sowing technology Amazone offers since March, 2016 the new 6 m Cirrus 6003-2 and 6003-2C large area sowing combinations. Both machines can be equipped from choice, depending on the individual farm situations, with the proven RoTeC single disc or with the new TwinTeC+ double dics coulter system.
The second innovation in sowing technology is the mechanical Cataya sowing combination. It exists of the Cataya 3000 Super, designed for professional ar-able farms, which, from choice, can be combined with the new KE 3001 rotary harrow or the new KG or KX 3001 rotary cultivator. Equipped with the new TwinTeC double disc coulters and with ISOBUS technology, also the Cataya provides new important impulses for the sowing technology.
An innovation in the range of fertilising technology is the dynamic Dynamic-Spread part width section control for the ZA-TS Hydro mounted spreader and the ZG-TS Hydro trailed spreader. Thanks to a newly developed software these spreaders are able to control up to 64 or 128 part width sections result-ing in the dynamic matching of spreading width and application rate. This al-lows another significant more precise spreading in wedge shaped areas, short work or at obstacles.
In the range of crop protection the demand on sprayers with the AmaSwitch and AmaSelect electric individual nozzle control has developed very well. Both systems, in combination with the GPS-Switch headland- and part width section control allow the automatic individual nozzle switching with 50 cm part width sections, resulting in even more precision in wedge shaped areas, short work and on the headland. The amount of overlap is significantly reduced, on the headland, for instance, by up to 85 % less. Depending on field shape, working width and number of part-width sections, both AmaSwitch and also AmaSelect result in considerable savings of agent compared with the usual crop tech-niques used up to now.
Also in the sector of municipal technology Amazone has included a new ma-chine in its programme: The E+S H 751 winter service spreader. This spreader is equipped with a 750 litre hopper, with an hydraulic spreading disc drive and a forward speed depending spread rate control and supplements the pro-gramme of Amazone winter service spreaders on the top.
Gold- and silver medals at the Agrosalon in Russia
This year in October, at the most important Russian agricultural technology exhibition Agrosalon the Amazone Group was especially awarded for their in-novations. Here the intelligent AmaSpot sensor-nozzle system for part area specific crop protection was awarded a gold medal. With each one silver medal also the Primera DMC 12001-2C seed drill and the Catros+ compact disc harrow were awarded a silver medal each.
Place 4 at the DLG-image barometer 2016
Also at the DLG image barometer 2016 for Germany the Amazonen-Werke came off well with superb valuations and again achieved the 4th place in the sector agricultural machinery. So, Amazone again is the best in the ranking among the medium sized implement manufacturers because the places 1 to 3 of the image barometer are held by the companies Fendt, Claas and John Deere.
Outlook 2017
Despite a restrained market development the turnover forecast of the Ama-zone directors is optimistic for the business year 2017. So, they expect – at maintained framework – a slight turnover increase. “We are convinced that the growth of the Amazone Group does not solely depend on the general devel-opment of the market but also on the increasing demand on out products. With our new ploughs and all the other innovations we are better positioned than ever before.” Also the exploitation of new regional markets is on the Agenda for 2017. The medium- to long term trend for the development of the agricul-tural machinery industry and especially of the Amazone Group the directors judge as furthermore positive.
