In 2013, Amazonen-Werke again significantly increased sales and, for the first time, exceeded the 500 million mark. With a new record of 515 million Euros, the turnover in 2013 was about 12 percent higher than that of 2012 (460 million).
Parallel to the increase in turnover, the number of permanent Amazone em-ployees rose to 1,800. The export share still is about 80 % and the investment in research and development amounts to more than 5 % of the turnover. The markets with the highest revenues are France, Russia, Poland, Great Britain and Scandinavia. In the German market, Amazone further increased its high turnover level of previous year’s. Amazone has also managed to strongly in-crease its sales figures, in amongst other areas, in the Baltic Region, in Spain and in Rumania. In Great Britain, Amazone Ltd saw again a record turnover with significant increases especially in the areas of fertiliser spreaders and trailed & self-propelled sprayers. Again to cope with this additional business, staffing levels were increased in both service and product support.
Worldwide sales have developed positively above average, especially in Ama-zone crop protection sprayers. However, in the core areas of fertiliser spread-ers, soil tillage, sowing technology and municipal equipment, sales figures also further increased.
“We are especially pleased that, after a very good year in 2012, we were able again to increase the turnover so significantly and thus are even over the av-erage of the sector”,Amazone directors Christian Dreyer and Dr. Justus Dreyer comment about the 2013 year’s results. They explain this on the one hand by the general market situation but also to the fact that the Amazone Group con-tinuously invested in the expansion of the factories and in the development of new machines.
So, also in 2013, about 25 million Euros were invested in the further expansion of production capacity. The biggest projects includes the building of a new technology centre with 120 work stations for Amazone engineers and techni-cians in Hasbergen-Gaste, which will be inaugurated by mid-February 2014. In addition, on an area of 1.75 hectares, a new employees’ car park with 570 parking spaces was built in Hasbergen-Gaste in 2013. In Leipzig, Amazone is currently building a new production hall for plough production and, at the Leeden site, a 3,000 m² extension for logistics.
Amazone has also expanded its capacity in service and customer service. Here, not only has the number of employees been increased but the training offered to Amazone sales partners has also been intensified. As an innovation in this sector, Amazone E-Learning was launched in 2013. E-Learning offers the possibility to, independently and outside operational periods, train the op-erator in the use of complex machinery on either the PC or Tablet via an inter-active training module.
At the GAG Eurotechnika production site in Samara, Russia, the Amazone-Group has now fully taken over the company’s shares and has become the sole shareholder. At this factory, Amazone has also invested in an administra-tive building. As a further measure, a new Amazone Eurotechnika sales opera-tion has been opened in Saratow. With GAG Eurotechnika, which is supposed to be the biggest national manufacturer of non self-propelled agricultural ma-chinery, the directors of the Amazone Group regard themselves to be also very well positioned with reference to the medium and long term prospects in Eastern Europe.
New business area and product initiative
At Agritechnica 2013, the world’s leading trade fair for agricultural technology, Amazone, with its products, again introduced to the market a broad range of innovations. There was an especially strong interest for the newly developed Cayron reversible plough. The new plough is of significant strategic impor-tance because Amazone now also offers the technology for conventional soil tillage and thus makes available a complete machinery programme for profes-sional crop production. At the same time, with this programme expansion, Amazone continues – exactly 150 years after the foundation of Messrs. Rud. Sack – the long and successful tradition of soil tillage technology and espe-cially of plough production at the Leipzig site.
Also with the new Cenius TX cultivator series, in working widths up to 7 m and the Cirrus 03 seed drills, Amazone launches for 2014, a product initiative in the sector of cultivators and large area seed drills. Additional important innova-tions were the larger and further developed Pantera 4502 self-propelled crop protection sprayer and the XTill-VT strip till implement for the professional so-lution for minimal soil disturbance tillage. Already at the beginning of 2013, Amazone had introduced the new ZA-TS fertiliser series at the SIMA 2013 ag-ricultural exhibition in Paris. With the ZA-TS, Amazone expanded its product range by an ISOBUS compatible fertiliser spreader with a working width of up to 54 m, which, concerning precision, efficiency and operational comfort, moves into a new dimension of technology.
All these innovations will be introduced to a large audience and shown in prac-tical operation at the Amazone Amatechnica 2014 in-house show. This event for farmers and sales partners will be held on 22nd May, 2014 on land around the factoryin Hasbergen-Gaste.
Prognosis and plans for 2014
In view of the currently muted market development worldwide, the Amazone Directors are careful with regard to a turnover prognosis for 2014. So, al-though in total there could be a slight market decline, at the same time, they are confident that the future growth of the Amazone Group not only depends on the general development of the market but that it will also be inspired by in-vestments in new products, in manufacturing processes and by new markets. Therefore, they expect to be able to maintain the turnover in 2014 by gaining new market shares.
As an ultimate ambition, the Amazone directors wish to maintain the course of sustainable growth. They see much potential in the core markets to further in-crease sales with the new products, such as, for example the new plough. Ad-ditional opportunities of sales increases are possible, above all, in export, by the entry into new markets, such as in Africa or China.
Simultaneously, the production capacity and the range of services and in cus-tomer service will be further expanded in 2014. Amongst other investments, the building of a new painting facility at the Hude-Altmoorhausen site – with its investment total in the double-digit million range, the biggest individual invest-ment so far in the company’s history. In Leipzig, the production of the new Cayron ploughs will be started and in Hasbergen-Gaste the production capac-ity for the new ZA-TS fertiliser spreader will be extended.
