AGCO Expands French Massey Ferguson Campus

AGCO Corp. has confirmed the further expansion of its Beauvais, France, factory, a move that is expected to add 200 new jobs to the already 100-plus jobs created with the Beauvais 3 logistic center project, started in September 2018. The location is the global home of the Massey Ferguson brand.

The company has acquired 39 acres (15.7ha) along with buildings to help enable Massey Ferguson meet a growing demand.

The expansion will support the integration of new activities through vertical integration, including:

• Tractor customization workshop to offer a wider choice to the company’s customers, fitting specific, customized equipment and accessories off the production line to meet any single customer’s needs
• Additive manufacturing facility, benefiting from acquired expertise on prototype parts 3D printing for manufacturing for small series, complex and customized parts production to support the tractor customization workshop. This activity is expected to start in February for plastic parts and, for metal parts, in 2021
• In-house production of hydraulic lines, which are currently outsourced from suppliers in Europe and Asia. The company said its objective is to produce these hoses in Beauvais, integrating advanced technologies for production, quality control and storage. This work is expected to start in April
• Gearbox remanufacturing, offering customers a cost-effective alternative to a brand-new replacement. Remanufactured gearboxes will leave the factory rebuilt to the same specification as the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) standard

This extra space will also allow AGCO to roll out a range of new agricultural machinery, which it said is a key part of its growth plans for Massey Ferguson. It has launched 18 new tractor ranges since 2015, and a further 10 are to come by 2023.

After refurbishment, the newly created and unified Massey Ferguson Centre of Excellence for Engineering and Manufacturing will cover a total area of 133 acres (54ha) and employ up to 2500 people. More than €250 million has been invested in Beauvais in the past eight years. The  campus will encompass the full design, build, testing and manufacture of new models, and the company said it intends to ramp up the site’s production volumes to 18,000 tractors a year.