New Holland celebrates 50 years of Basildon

Last week New Holland Agriculture celebrated 50 years of continuous tractor operations at its Basildon plant in England.

Basildon is the only remaining tractor plant in Britain (other than the JCB Fastrac factory) and produces the New Holland T6 and T7 ranges. Tractor production and assembly began at the factory on 15 May 1964.

New Holland Agriculture president Carlo Lambro spoke about the brand’s legacy of innovation and its current successes. He stressed the importance of the backing of CNH Industrial, the New Holland parent company, with more than $1,200 million a year invested in research and development, 6,300 employees dedicated to innovation and 7,700 patents registered. He confirmed the CNH Industrial first-quarter revenues for 2014 of $7.5bn, up on the same period in 2013.

The New Holland Basildon factory participates in a World Class Manufacturing (WCM) programme, which is based on the best Japanese production techniques. WCM is a production system designed to attack all forms of waste and losses.

Basildon plant manager Colin Larkin said that WCM practices enable the Basildon factory to manage the manufacture of 14 tractor ranges, 133 models, 12,000 configurations using 9,680 part numbers. In a year, no two tractors that roll off the line are exactly the same.

Lemken family shareholding - correction

In last week’s Irish Farmers Journal we carried a report from Lemken where we stated that the Lemken family had a 60% shareholding in the German farm machinery company. This was incorrect as the business is wholly owned by the Lemken family, with Nicola Lemken as chairperson of the company board, and has been in existence for 230 years. We apologise for this error.

WR Shaw hosts Claydon crops field day

Irish Claydon drill importer WR Shaw of Tullamore, Co Offaly, is hosting a crops field day on Tuesday next May 27. The event will combine a series of talks from Claydon founder Geoff Claydon, with field walks at the nearby farm of Michael Garry at Cloonminch, Tullamore.

Michael has sown crops of wheat, barley and oats with the Claydon drill. Visitors to Shaw’s new dealership premises will be brought by bus to the farm.

The event starts at 10.30 and will run for most of the day. All farmers and contractors are welcome to attend.