In the world of Massey Ferguson

Russian farmers, together with AgroCentre plunged into the world of Massey Ferguson when they visited the company’s manufacturing facility in France.

The tour started with a visit to the company’s new tractor cabin manufacturing facility, Beauvais-2. Yuri Zyabkin, AGCO Machinery Commercial Director in Russia, said that in the last five years Massey Ferguson has invested more than 300 million euros in equipment and engineering support. The Beauvais-2 facility is one of the new production plants making a special contribution to the unique quality of MF products. The facility was opened in October of last year. It turns out 100 cabins per day. The farmers watched assembly lines and a spare parts depot. On passing a rigorous testing, the cabins are shipped to the main plant of Beauvais. This assembles Series Five, Six, Seven and Eight MF tractors featuring 85 to 400 hp. The guests learned that the facility builds 17,000 tractors each year, 85% of which are exported.

Thierry Lhotte, Massey Ferguson Vice-President for Marketing in Europe, Africa, and Middle East, made a statement for Russian farmers at the “Massey Ferguson’s Vision of the Future 2014” conference.
“The mission of Massey Ferguson is to serve each farmer in each country of the world,” Thierry Lhotte said. “By manufacturing innovative equipment we seek to be pioneers on the global farm market.”

Specialists of the design and engineering department constantly work on creating smart machines. Among the latest developments are series 2700 and 4700 tractors. Before coming onto the market, the machines passed more than 360 hours of laboratory and field trials in Africa, America and Asia. The focus in creating the new generation tractors was to combine power with comfort.

The most interesting thing awaited the guests on the field. The farmers saw here the complete range of Massey Ferguson equipment, from tractors of various capacities and the newest combines, balers and loaders. In the exhibition, Nikolai Filonov, head of one of the Kursk oblast enterprises, quickly spotted the MF7624 tractor, which already operates on his farm. Nikolai was the first in Kursk oblast to acquire this red-coloured assistant from AgroCentre.

“We’re already using this tractor on the fields for tilling and winter sowing,” Nikolai Filonov said. “Each and every part of the machine was carefully thought out. I’m very glad I visited the facility myself and saw with my own eyes how the production is organised.”

The farmers familiarised themselves with a new hybrid grain combine harvester, MF DELTA 9380. This features both caterpillar and wheeled versions. At the moment, the machine is available only to European farms, but the company plans to supply it also to Russia. As for the MF Beta 7330 straw walker combine, the Russian farmers know it already. AgroCentre supplies this model to the Russian market. The Beta combine harvesters are fitted with AGCO Power large capacity engines. These have a 6-cylinder 8.4 l volume and rated power of 300 hp. The 9,000 litre grain bin of the Beta features one of the fastest discharge rates, 105 l/s, which minimises machine downtime. 

The farmers were invited to participate in test driving the tractors. Nikolai Shalygin, Chief Engineer of Agsen LLC, Penza oblast, did not deny himself this pleasure, eagerly taking a drive on the gigantic MF8732. After a ten-minute rally, Nikolai shared his impressions.

“The tractor is great! It’s convenient to control and moves well over stony soil. The cabin is large and comfortable. You feel like you’re in a Mercedes.”

The finale of the event was a music-supported show of the Massey Ferguson equipment. Tractors, combines, and loaders skilfully danced to different foreign hits, boasting their capabilities.