2010

The important agricultural machinery markets serviced by CLAAS only started to return to positive territory at the end of 2010. CLAAS used the 2010 financial year to prepare itself for profitable growth with various new products and improved structures and processes. The CLAAS 2010 financial year (balance sheet date 30 September) was characterised by a decline in sales due to the global recession and financial crisis.

Harsewinkel. At its latest meeting in Harsewinkel, the Supervisory Board of CLAAS KGaA elected a new President. Cathrina Claas-Mühlhäuser was appointed as the new President of the Supervisory Board. She thus takes over from her father, Helmut Claas, who had been President since 1995, when the legal form of the company was changed to a KGaA (commercial partnership limited by shares).

A massive combine harvester is now on show on the A 2 motorway at Hamm-Uentrop. Industrial climbers attached a giant poster measuring 116 x 14.20 meters to the facade of the now extended CLAAS Parts Logistics Center right next to the motorway. The LEXION is lit up at night, making it clearly visible to many thousands of drivers.

CLAAS has launched a new "Super LEXION", the fastest combine harvester of all time. With the new generation of the LEXION, CLAAS has introduced two model series that are a lot faster, much more comfortable, even more productive and yet more economical.

Farmers and sub-contractors want the ideal sized hay, silage and straw bale. That is exactly what the CLAAS QUADRANT balers give you, and at an extremely high bale density and with maximum throughput. As the most recent member to the baler family, CLAAS is launching the QUADRANT 2200 RC ADVANTAGE which has a standard bale dimension of 120 x 70 cm.

LEXION – the name is synonymous worldwide with high-performance combine harvesters. The new generation LEXION from CLAAS is a combine harvester that has become much faster, more comfortable, more productive and, at the same time, more economical.

It is as sure-footed on slopes as a mountain goat. Its threshing activities are conducted as though it were on a completely flat surface. It starts where other combine harvesters stop – the new LEXION MONTANA (750 – 670 – 630).

A perfect harvest begins with a perfect cut. CLAAS therefore provides the right kind of cutterbars for all the different kinds of crop. Whether it's wheat, rye, barley, oats or triticale. Or rape seed, maize, sunflowers, rice, soya, flax, beans, lentils, grass and clover seed or durra, the different types of CLAAS cutterbars at the front of the combine harvester can cut down crops well anywhere.

CLAAS has set completely new standards in the multi-purpose wagon segment when it introduced the new CARGOS series for the season 2010. Recovery rates are maximized by the innovative new power-saving feeding system known as the EFFICIENT FEEDING SYSTEM (EFS) with a floor conveyor rising 500 mm towards the interior of the wagon. And the platform remains horizontal while loading.

Last year, CLAAS set new standards for large-area swathers with its LINER 4000. However, all links in the harvesting chain must be highly efficient so that farmers can successfully recover large forage volumes within ever shorter time frames. CLAAS has now enlarged its range of swathers with four rotary units to include a new model with 12.50 m working width - the LINER 3500.

The balers of the VARIANT series are characterised by the freely selectable bale diameter, increased throughput rate and greater compaction than with fixed-chamber systems. There are now four new models in this successful series, which can be optionally equipped with a hydraulically lowerable cutter chamber.

To minimize contamination of the forage, it is important for the mower to optimally adapt to changing ground contours. The tried-and-tested relief function ACTIVE FLOAT is now also available from CLAAS for the front mowers DISCO 3100 FC PROFILE and DISCO 3100 FRC PROFILE.

CLAAS is once again enlarging the range of harvesters for grass and lucerne this year and now offers one of the largest ranges on the market. As a result, CLAAS offers DISCO disc mowers with working widths from 2.10 m - 14.00 m both for small farms with own machinery and for agricultural contractors.

Prince Charles has been presented with a miniature combine harvester from CLAAS as a gift during his visit to troops in Gütersloh. Harsewinkel's Mayor Sabine Amsbeck-Dopheide gave him the TUCANO model as a present from the "combine harvester town of Harsewinkel".

Harsewinkel/Tashkent;   CLAAS has started to assemble combine harvesters at a new plant in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan. It is planned that tractors and balers will also be produced in future.

Krasnodar / Moscow;   CLAAS is going to strengthen its activities in the Russian Federation and plans to extend its production site in Krasnodar in the future. As a result, our company has now agreed a contract with the Krasnodar Region to purchase additional plots of land.

CLAAS Tractor SAS invests in difficult times and continues paving the way for the future. Set in motion at the end of 2008, CLAAS Tractor's SAS investment in a new ultramodern paintwork line was realised with its launch a few days ago.

We sadly announce the death of our shareholder Prof. Dr. h.c. Günther Claas. He passed away on May 3rd in the 79th year of his life after a short and serious illness.

A few days ago, the thousandth XERION rolled off line four at the XERION production plant in Harsewinkel, Germany. The white giant was resplendent in a special white paint finish. The employees of the production plant turned out in force to witness the unveiling of the super machine and to bask in the glow of the photographers’ flashbulbs.

Bern / Oberbipp;    A new, large Swiss agricultural engineering company is currently being formed. Service Company AG, Oberbipp and Landtechnik Zollikofen (a division of fenaco Agrartechnik, Bern) want to work together as partners in Swiss agriculture. The most important business area is the maintenance of the whole product range of the agricultural machinery manufacturer CLAAS.