Published by Farmers Guide, May 2008.

Michael Horsch .

New factory helps Horsch to meet demand

Farmers Guide reports from Germany where we got an insight into the man behind Horsch, one of Europe's most successful drill manufacturers.

TIMING is everything in business and German agricultural manufacturer Horsch couldn't have opened its new production facility at Ronneburg, in the former East Germany, at a more opportune time.
Officially opened in May last year, the new factory has allowed the company to increase production to meet the colossal demand for its products from across the Continent - particularly from Eastern Europe.
During 2007 the company notched up sales of £82.5 million - a massive increase on the £56 million achieved in 2006 and the £46 million recorded in 2005. The prediction for this year is sales of £120 million, a figure that would have been impossible without Ronneburg coming on-line.
What makes these figures even more remarkable is that they exclude machines sold in the US and Russia, which are built and sold by Horsch Anderson and Horsch Agro Soyuz respectively.
It's a level of success that Michael Horsch, who founded the company back in 1984, could never have dreamed of. In fact, his sole aim at the time was to make enough money from building drills to buy his own farm. Today he farms 15,000ha in the former East Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as land closer to home, but he shows no signs of stepping back from the business.
The company started because he felt he could build a better drill than those that were already on the market, and that urge to innovate is still as strong today. In a way, the infrastructure that has been built up at Horsch's Schwandorf headquarters means that there is more opportunity to work on new products than ever.
"Essentially we are building our own toys," Michael Horsch said. "We are still farmers at heart and about 80% of the products we build come from ideas we have had on our own farm."
The introduction of computer-aided design (CAD) systems has meant that new ideas can be put into practice much more quickly than in the past. A machine can be designed on screen and any obvious problems ironed out before any steel is even cut or welded.
Mr Horsch estimates that at least one new machine comes out of the R&D workshop at Schwandorf every month. Some might be used for only half a day before they join the scrapheap, but others will make it to full production and will be added to Horsch's growing price list.
"There are three basic principles we work to when we build a new machine," he said. "Simpler in that it makes the job easier, faster in that the job is completed more quickly and safer in that it does the job more effectively.
"And there's a fourth principle as well, it has to look right. If a piece of machinery looks right, it is right. In fact we've killed machines in the past that didn't look right."
Horsch spends about 5% of its turnover on R&D and spends a lot of time testing its machines to make improvements wherever possible.
Michael Horsch's brother, Phillip, runs the design and R&D side of the business and has invested heavily in technology to test the company's products - sometimes to destruction. His toolbox includes a hydraulic test rig that can subject parts to massive and repetitive forces to find weaknesses in materials or construction techniques, as well as sophisticated high-speed filming systems that allow the workings of a machine to be slowed down on a computer screen to study how well, or otherwise it is working.
One excellent example of using the high-speed filming was in testing the corrugated pipe Horsch uses to distribute seed evenly throughout the flow of air that takes seed to the distribution pipes. In a flash of genius, it was recognised that the pipe could be fabricated in glass so that the movement of the seeds inside could be filmed and studied. The resulting film allowed the firm to optimise the length of pipe depending on the volumes of seed and air it was required to handle.
Typical of the prototype machines built by Michael and Phillip Horsch is a 24-row trailed maize seeder that they built to use on the home farm It can hold enough fertiliser to cover 10ha and enough seed for twice that, and it achieves workrates of 10ha/hour. From a practical point of view, the 8t machine folds to little more than 3m wide for transport.
Even if this machine does not make it into production, there are elements of the design and seeder drive system (Michael Horsch does not like chains) that will undoubtedly appear in other machines in due course.
About 30% of Horsch's sales are made in Germany, with the other 70% going elsewhere in Europe. France is responsible for about 15% of turnover and the Czech Republic 11%, while the UK, Poland and Scandinavia all contribute 8% of sales. Splitting the sales by machine type, 52% can be allocated to seeding equipment, with 32% coming from cultivation equipment. Spare parts and components supplied to Horsch's US and Russian ventures help make up the balance.
Horsch claims to be the world's biggest producer of large drills (6m or more), helped by the fact it produces both disc and tine machines. Disc units drills still dominate sales by approximately five to one in Europe (three to one here in the UK).
There has been a growing trend towards larger drills and Horsch has recently produced its first 12m Sprinter, and will add a 12m Pronto (which the c company claims will need 25% less power to pull than the equivalent Väderstad drill) later this year. The company feels the time is right because the 350hp tractors needed to pull the 12m drills are now more common.
Interestingly, Horsch is also looking at producing 3m mounted drills as it feels there is a demand for these from farmers in the UK, France and Germany. Don't expect anything other than a top-spec machine, however, the disc drills are likely to feature the company's full-spec electronic controls and pneumatic seeding technology.


Business deal works both ways with Horsch

SIMBA UK recently signed an extension to its marketing deal with Horsch that will keep the company as UK distributor for the German manufacturer until 2010, followed by rolling 12-month terms for as long as both companies continue to see eye-to-eye.
Both Simba and Horsch have done will from the deal to date, with sales of distinctive red drills - branded Simba-Horsch - reaching £7 million here last year.
And it not just a one-way trade between the pair. Horsch also buys Simba's DD rings and took £600,000 of components from the UK company last year. A figure that is expected to increase during 2008.