In September, AGCO/Fendt opened the world’s most modern, efficient and flexible tractor-manufacturing complex in the towns of Marktoberdorf and Asbach-Bäumenheim. And here, it isn’t just a matter of new production and assembly halls being built – every process, IT system and key element of the production technology has been rethought and optimised.
Under the motto “The Guarantee of Efficiency”, the AGCO/Fendt group has created the most modern manufacturing complex in the world, specialising in tractor production. The parent company AGCO, one of the world’s largest agricultural machinery manufacturers, having identified its key development directions, has carried out its largest single investment project to date, Fendt ahead², worth around USD 300 million, aimed at expanding Fendt’s production capacity in Marktoberdorf and Asbach-Bäumenheim.
For the celebration held in September in Marktoberdorf, the agricultural machinery manufacturer invited more than 3500 suppliers, sales partners, journalists and guests from Germany and around the world. Besides an impressive show, presentations and interesting information, visitors were offered a factory tour, during which they could form their own impression of the new assembly plant.
The highest degree of product complexity on a single assembly line
During the Fendt ahead2 project’s development, the main task was implementing efficient production principles and achieving maximum flexibility.
This goal draws attention to the fact that, at AGCO/Fendt’s new tractor factory, tractors of every series are born on a single assembly line – from mini tractors used in viticulture to tractors with 390 hp. In the process, each tractor consists on average of around 10,000 parts, which need to be delivered to the assembly line in a coordinated, timely fashion. Practically all the parts on the new assembly line in Marktoberdorf arrive directly, with no detours, straight into production, where they’re assembled according to each customer’s individual wishes. Thanks to Fendt’s broad product range and range of configurations, this guarantees the tractors offered perfectly match customers’ specific requirements. In-line production is, besides this, also a critical factor in ensuring quality and close coordination with suppliers. The concept of synchronised work across every stage of production, along with stable deliveries in the right quantity and at the right time, guarantees the timely arrival, in the correct sequence, of such important components as engines or cabs. And, of course, the opportunity to implement the most modern environmental-protection technology wasn’t missed either – both in terms of reducing emissions and in terms of energy efficiency, the new production capacity can serve as a role model.
Controlling the most complex logistics processes with the SAP system
At the heart of the Fendt ahead2 project at the Asbach-Bäumenheim production centre is a new assembly and logistics hall, and it’s precisely thanks to this hall that it’s become possible to meet the customer wishes expressed in
Marktoberdorf. Cabs are now assembled in the same sequence and according to the same customer order as the corresponding tractors in Marktoberdorf, after which they’re shipped in the right quantity, at the right moment. The extremely complex logistics processes this requires are controlled by the advanced SAP system. But before that, raw materials supplied, such as pipes, profiles or sheet metal, are processed using the most modern technology, such as flatbed or five-axis laser systems. On a 5,000 m2 site in Asbach-Bäumenheim, a workshop was built back in 2010 for a new cab-welding installation. 18 robots, used in automated systems, weld, among other things, the VisioPlus cabs for the 500 and 700 Vario series, as well as the comfortable Fendt cabs for the 800 and 900 series, all to the highest quality standard.
A new one-kilometre-long production line
Over just 13 months, on open ground adjoining the Marktoberdorf factory, a final tractor-assembly line was built. Construction began in March 2011. By August 2012, sections of the assembly line had already been commissioned, and the final tests needed to accept all the installation work had been carried out. In September, the first tractor rolled off the line.
Thanks to the Fendt ahead2 project, Fendt’s production floor space has more than doubled: the new infrastructure elements cover an area of 85,000 m2. 80,000 m3 of earth and gravel were moved, a building up to 18 m tall was constructed, 20,000 m3 of concrete and 850 tonnes of steel were used, and a new production line a kilometre long was created
