MACHINERY giant Agco said they have started with a blank sheet of paper and redesigned the header, or combine harvester as they prefer to call it.
The global manufacturer of agricultural machinery and parent company of Massey Ferguson and Fendt, has unveiled the “Ideal” header in Italy this week.
Agco chairman, president and CEO, Martin Richenhagen said the driver for the redesign was to deliver solutions to the farmers feeding the world.
“The Ideal combine is the result of many years of R&D, countless engineering hours, committed teamwork, and leading industry expertise,” he said.
He said the new generation of combines is the result of a global “Voice of Customer” study.
The findings of which showed there is a need for an entirely new header platform, prompting Agco to start from a “blank sheet of paper”, he said.
Senior vice president of global crop cycle and fuse connected services, Eric Hansotia said the global team from different Agco sites developed the features customers had pointed out in the study.
“Ideal is part of Agco’s global platform strategy that supports synergies across different regions, saves cost, and optimises supply chain management,” he said.
In a media statement Agco said close to 50 header prototypes were built and tested in the lab, on the field and around the globe in varying environments.
“Our customers harvest in many different conditions, and each farm has a unique set of requirements for their operation,” said Mr Hansotia.
“It is the most innovative combine we have ever produced and an investment in the future of harvesting. Ideal will change the way harvesting is done today,” he said.
He said the new technology relied on an efficient processing system which outperforms on grain and straw quality, grain handling, power efficiency, and capacity in a wide variety of conditions.
Massey Ferguson, European market development manager for harvesting, Adam Sherriff said among a host of new features, models in the Ideal from Massey Ferguson will offer the biggest integral grain-tank capacity with the fastest unloading rate and the largest threshing area available on the European market.
“Our focus was on fuel-efficiency, performance, serviceability, ease-of-repair, grain quality, residue management, transport width, data management, hillside working and soil compaction,” he said.
The Agco statement said the Ideal header will be available in three of their core brands: Challenger, Fendt and Massey Ferguson, with some markets to see delivery in 2018.
The “Ideal” header will debut at Agritechnica, Germany in November 2017.