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Agco Factory in the US |
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Spud
Orange Level Joined: 16 Sep 2009 Location: North Dakota Points: 601 |
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Posted: 11 Nov 2009 at 8:12am |
According to the article in the link, Agco is looking at the possibility of opening a factory for tractors in the US.
I wonder why the couldn't use the Coldwater, Ohio or Hesston Plants. Did they dispose of Coldwater? What about the Independence plant? Is it gone?
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Jim Lindemood
Orange Level Joined: 22 Sep 2009 Location: Dry Ridge, KY Points: 2569 |
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Any increase in maufacturing in the US is a plus. Would love to see a plant manufacturing tractors And other Ag. equipment.
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Dale in MI.
Bronze Level Joined: 21 Sep 2009 Location: Sw. MI. Points: 10 |
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That would be great. There are a lot of states that would want that number of jobs. According to the newspaper article, they want a larger market share of the North American sales. Maybe they should try to work harder with their dealers. Many dealers closed because they wouldn't work with them.
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FredW
Orange Level Joined: 12 Sep 2009 Location: N. Weston,OH Points: 588 |
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The Coldwater plant is pretty well something else now, several different manufacturing shops and a storage unit. I know they built four wheel drive tractors for a while, but I think the place was outdated. I am about ten mile from there, but I could wrong. Fred
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Dale-OH
Orange Level Joined: 12 Sep 2009 Location: SW OHIO Points: 895 |
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Fred is correct on the Coldwater plant, it was outdated when AGCO left almost 10 years ago. The same is true for the Independence plant which was leased to Gleaner and was not Owned by AGCO. I was at both of these factories prior to there closing and I have also been to the Hesston Plant which is in the process of some very extensive updates and additions. Agco has told us that they have been looking at possibilities to bring more manufacturing to the US for a few years but still do not have any major plans set. It will become a better chance as the factorys overseas age and require replacement or extensive rebuilds. I have also been to the tractor factory in France and The Fendt Factory in Germany. Both of which are excellent factorys.
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Austin(WI)
Orange Level Joined: 11 Sep 2009 Location: Wisconsin Points: 1460 |
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Bring the Factory back to West Allis...lol wishful thinking. |
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"Better By Design"
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Byron WC in SW Wi
Orange Level Joined: 11 Sep 2009 Location: Wisconsin Points: 1635 |
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90% of the profit comes from outside the US but only 75% of revenue? I don't trust any of their numbers or them saying they don't sell enough orange. They sell even less yellow and yellow has many more options. Plus, their going to put all their expenses on their US balance sheet so they don't have to pay taxes on that. But they'll tell their investors their making a bunch of money to drive up stock price. It's all a game.
They want to move to the US because they'll have to start paying taxes on overseas profits? That doesn't make sense. What will happen is that they'll move their headquarters over seas to avoid paying US taxes at all. I've heard that rumor too. Funny Martin didn't mention that to the Atlanta Rotary club. Then again Martin seems to be speaking in hypotheticals which is good. Maybe it's a hypothetical when he said their dumping orange tractors a few weeks ago. I'm not holding out hope though. Everyone go buy Kubota. |
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Spud
Orange Level Joined: 16 Sep 2009 Location: North Dakota Points: 601 |
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Byron. You might want to rename yourself Ben Dover. If your dream of Agco going out of business ever comes true, then you will be ready for CNH and Deere to stick it to you if the market is theirs to divide between them. Kubota and Chinese tractors aren't a real competitor in the field.
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Byron WC in SW Wi
Orange Level Joined: 11 Sep 2009 Location: Wisconsin Points: 1635 |
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I don't want them to go out of business spud. I'd like them to stop being two sided. In what? They sell more large orange AGCO tractors than large Massey and Challenger combined by far. Are they dropping the yellow and red for orange...nope.
They sold more red in the small sizes than orange. Never mind that the utility tractors were made by SAME for orange and by MF for MF. Never mind that they didn't compare oranges to oranges or apples to apples if you prefer red. But based soley on that, (apparently), they stopped making orange ones available. As far as I've heard they say sell more orange and we'll keep making them. We'll they've consistently lost money on the Challenger brand and yet they don't have any plans or threats to end that. Yeah they stopped the small tractors, like for AGCO, but they gave them the big articulated tractor, tracked tractors, spray equipment, yellow hay line, etc. What do they do for orange AGCO dealers? Nope, you can't sell that stuff. We're going to shoe horn you into one range of tractor and that'll be it. Around here, it's been reported, that AGCO spent a million dollars so a CAT dealer would bring in a challenger dealer here. How do you think the mom and pop AGCO dealers feel about that? My dealer is ticked and so is the dealer in Virginia where I bought my ST at. He's selling Deutz now and I wouldn't be surprised if mine starts selling New Holland. I'm not sure if you own any AGCO equipment or if your a dealer. I own an RT100A, Sunflower no-till drill, ST compact tractor with attachments and some small stuff like AGCO rear blade, rotary cutter and landscape rake. I've put my money where my mouth was because I heard them say sell more orange and we'll make it. We'll they do sell more orange but their still dumping it..according to Martin. So you tell me. People on here have said for a long time that AC died when the West Allis plant closed. In the last ten years I've met several AGCO employees and a bunch of them were former AC employees. AGCO used to stand for Allis Gleaner Corp not your AG company. So to me it was Allis. I guess I was wrong or am wrong now. So do I want them to go out of business? Nope. Over the last few years, on here, few have been a bigger supporter of AGCO than me. Look it up. I've justified their high parts prices, I've touted their equipment and I've backed them up. I want them to stop speaking out the side of their mouth and support their orange AGCO tractor owners. I don't know who else feels this way. I don't even know how many people on here actually own an orange AGCO tractor. But I know some who do feel betrayed by AGCO and that's how I feel. So what should I say? I can't stand hypocrits and liars and at the very least AGCO is being one big hypocrit. |
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Spud
Orange Level Joined: 16 Sep 2009 Location: North Dakota Points: 601 |
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I agree it would be a bad decision to drop orange for what it is worth. It is merely paint on a couple of panels and a different brochure to keep a whole line going. I do not understand why they dropped the White name but started Challenger. Having said that, I see Challengers going out to farms that wouldn't buy a Massey although in fact they actually are. The Cat name carries a lot of marketing oomph. The rumor has been going around for a while. I guess I will have to see it to believe it. If by chance Agco did go out of business, the only plausible competitor to Deere and CNH I can see would be McCormick for row crop/live stock farming and Versatile for 4wd. |
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Byron WC in SW Wi
Orange Level Joined: 11 Sep 2009 Location: Wisconsin Points: 1635 |
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When they had White they put CAT engines in White, Cummins in AGCO and Perkins in MF. I can see where that was cost prohibitive. Now they only have some cosmetic changes and paint. Why not bring back those lines and call them AGCO Heritage with just different paint and stickers? They already offer Valtra with paint options why not do that here? Again, it seems they'll bend over backward for any brand but their own.
Those guys in charge make millions of dollars in salary. They want to please their stock holders more than the farmers. They can do what they want I can do what I want. I guess, even though I am blatant now at least I'm giving them a shot by saying what I feel. I know a lot of people would just walk away. Maybe they want me to do that too? I have a crazy feeling that a lot of people close to AGCO feel the same way I do but are afraid to say something. Yeah. McCormick is made in Italy now and Versatile is owned by who knows? JCB has a great tractor and looks like a great company but they only do big ones. Kubota has a nice engine, an ok transmission and an ok cab. They can't compete on the high end but mid range and small tractors they rule. Eventually they will probably get into higher end stuff. There are other short lines out there that, as far as I know, haven't been bought yet like Vermeer, Mac Don, Kinze and Landoll. |
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Jordan(OH)
Orange Level Joined: 11 Sep 2009 Location: Celina, OH Points: 1547 |
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McCormick has a good tractor, as well as Versatile, but it is only 150HP and up.
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David Gantt N.C.
Orange Level Joined: 12 Sep 2009 Location: North Carolina Points: 379 |
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like to see that happen, country needs all it can get #1 jobs#2 something else built in this country and not over seas.
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620Doc
Silver Level Joined: 11 Sep 2009 Location: Ohio Points: 84 |
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This could be the "Perfect Storm" scenario for AGCO. We all know that cities, counties, and states are clamoring for new jobs. You will recall some of the sweet deals and tax incentives that were given to the U.S. automakers to not close some of their manufacturing plants in the U.S. Some of these plants were state of the art facilities. They now lie dormant. Why could't one of these sweet deals with tax incentives mixed with stimulus money be offered to AGCO to reopen one of these plants? I'm no industrial engineer, but could't a heavy truck plant be easily retooled to make farm equipment?
Now let's think about this. If Mr. Richenhagen would really like to impact the North American market, what better way to launch his plan then to draw the attention of the national media to this venture. Think about the marketing buzz he would create if he made a simultaneous announcment that he was also reintroducing, with this venture, a proud American tractor brand.... He could spin this as being the flag bearer of economic recovery. The rest would be history.
Edited by 620Doc - 12 Nov 2009 at 6:20am |
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Every day is a holiday. Every meal is a banquet.
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Dale-OH
Orange Level Joined: 12 Sep 2009 Location: SW OHIO Points: 895 |
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Byron, I agree with you on keeping orange around and your MF and Challenger Facts are correct for the North American Market. Worldwide there are by far more MF and Challenger tractors and equipment sold. The reason that the Orange is underfire is because it is only sold in North America. Trust me that the Orange AGCO Dealers have voiced there concerns to AGCO, we are not just sitting here and waiting. There have been times that I have waited longer to get a new tractor that is orange instead of taking the red one that is available to me.
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Byron WC in SW Wi
Orange Level Joined: 11 Sep 2009 Location: Wisconsin Points: 1635 |
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Dale,
You know more than I do with this. I'm glad you guys have expressed your concerns. It's the same thing here. The dealer couldn't get orange tractors right away and they needed them. They got red instead because they could get red right away. I could go into my personal history but one of my HUGE pet peeves is double standards. AGCO does that. If they can only single out orange tractors because their the only non-multi continent brand they have that's fine. How big is Fendt outside of Europe? OK, I won't start something there. But it doesn't matter. They have stated they want a larger market share in US. We'll then you should have a US brand. Make it an AGCO brand. Give people heritage color and sticker options. What's the big deal? Anyway, I'm glad you guys are saying something. Seems to me they put people on their dealer groups that tow the company line and kick of the ones who speak up. |
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Spud
Orange Level Joined: 16 Sep 2009 Location: North Dakota Points: 601 |
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Byron, Perkins is actually owned by Cat now. That is how they can say that they use a Cat engine.
I wonder if a good idea would be for Agco to do like White did with the American Series and offer a smaller line of tractors in Heritage colors. The American series were technologically obsolete at the time so were not a success. Something similar with a modern tractor could work now I would think.
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Byron WC in SW Wi
Orange Level Joined: 11 Sep 2009 Location: Wisconsin Points: 1635 |
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Spud,
That's an idea I had a while back. I even made a couple of logos: And I re-colored a couple of Massey tractors to look orange with the Heritage logo. This one was my favorite: And I got my inspiration from what you mentioned: I was too young back when white did that but that fits right up my alley. Give your color option and make a tractor in America. It was outdated technology but being made in US, solid and with the color you wanted from your heritage line would be fantastic. That is my hope but I doubt it is reality. If they did that I'd buy two in the next year. Edited by Byron WC in SW Wi - 12 Nov 2009 at 10:20am |
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5B Ranch
Silver Level Joined: 14 Sep 2009 Location: Texas Points: 51 |
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I've been considering buying a new compact tractor for some time. If they came out with one that said Allis Chalmers and was orange, I would buy it immediately just because I'd be so happy to see an orange one. My grandpa owned the AC dealership in Estelline, SD back in the early 50s and I bet he'd be tickled.
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bigallis1
Orange Level Joined: 13 Sep 2009 Location: The Villages Fl Points: 303 |
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They could make a tractor in their heritage line with the name ALLIS-CHALMERS on it.
I'll bet they would sell more than they anticipated. |
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NickT(Ky)
Orange Level Joined: 13 Sep 2009 Location: Elizabethtown, Points: 417 |
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I agree 100% bigallis!
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Cal
Silver Level Joined: 14 Sep 2009 Location: East Woodstock Points: 172 |
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I know that you can't compare l&g to farm equip. But I am a simplicty dealer and we could not get the AC lawn tractors fast enough, and that was just paint and decals otherwise same tractor as a snapper. Cal in Ct.
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Byron WC in SW Wi
Orange Level Joined: 11 Sep 2009 Location: Wisconsin Points: 1635 |
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Early Summer I talked with a local hardware store that sold Simplicity, Ferris and had the AC lawn tractors. He said they were his biggest seller too.
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TomYaz
Orange Level Joined: 14 Sep 2009 Location: PA Points: 10323 |
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Guys, why dont you publicly tell AGCO to put a AC badged tractor out on youtube:
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JohnCO
Orange Level Joined: 11 Sep 2009 Location: Niwot Colo Points: 8992 |
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I went to the closest dealer to me (18 miles) a few days ago for some hay rake parts and was talking to a salesman while waiting for the parts. Longmont Farm Supply has been a Ford tractor dealer for 55 years and there wasn't a blue tractor on the lot! Salesman said they dropped NH because the company wanted them to sell construction equipment and they hadn't sold even a skid steer loader since May. They have been a Kubota dealer for 15 years or so and have the lot filled with Orange. Said Kubota is much easier to work with and have quality machines. The Ford /NH dealer south of Denver dropped NH for JD. The NH dealer in Greeley sells twice as many Case/IH machines and even more Kubotas then NH. They want to keep the line because so many people run NH haying machinery, especially pull type and SP bale wagons.
Also, GM dropped both the Chevolet dealers in the county. The one in Longmont is fighting it, the Boulder dealer is now selling KIA's and has sold Hondas for years. The Ford car dealer in Boulder closed a couple years ago. This is in a city of over 100,000 population. This whole thing just gets stranger and stranger!
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