Date: Fri, 21 Nov 1997 00:45:44 GMT Server: Apache/1.2.0 Last-Modified: Thu, 06 Mar 1997 16:08:39 GMT ETag: "2dfa1-1b4c-331eec07" Content-Length: 6988 Accept-Ranges: bytes Connection: close Content-Type: text/html
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For additional information contact:
Glenn Christians
Massey Ferguson Operations
AGCO Corporation
4830 River Green Parkway
Duluth, GA 30136-2574
(770) 813-6185
ATLANTA (January, 1997) -- Massey Ferguson® is observing its 150th anniversary in 1997 -- an achievement never envisioned by Daniel Massey when he opened his small machine shop in 1847 and began manufacturing farm implements.
Today, Massey Ferguson is one of the biggest names in farm equipment. MF® products are sold in more than 140 countries and are produced in company plants and by associate and licensee operations in 18 countries of the world.
Massey Ferguson tractors are the world's best-selling brand and the company has achieved this leadership role in tractor sales for the past 34 consecutive years. 1997 promises to be its 35th record-setting year.
Massey began to expand into global markets in the 1860's when its harvesting equipment was awarded First Grand Prize in field trials at the International Exposition in Paris, France. As a result, the Massey company began receiving orders from export markets in Europe well in advance of other North American manufacturers.
In 1891, the Massey Mfg. Co. and A. Harris, Son & Co., the two most successful agricultural companies in Canada, merged to form Massey-Harris Company Limited, and pursued a vigorous growth policy. By 1908 at least 48 percent of the company's sales were in foreign markets.
Following the end of World War I a new era began as the tractor became recognized as a more economical form of power than the horse, and when used in conjunction with the reaper-thresher or combine reduced by half the cost of harvesting and threshing.
Massey-Harris contributed to this new era of agriculture with its first gasoline-powered tractor in 1917, and continued to design and produce a line of productive and efficient tractors. In the 1930's Massey-Harris introduced a four-wheel drive tractor, a common sight on farms today, but ahead of its time in that era.
By the mid-1920’s the market for Massey Harris Reaper Threshers and mowers in Europe had become so great that the company established factories in France and Germany to meet the increased demand.
In 1938 Massey-Harris introduced the world's first commercially available self-propelled combine harvester - the Self-Propelled No. 20. This new and revolutionary combine required only one man to operate it, freed a tractor for other work, opened the field without running down the crop, moved at speeds up to four miles an hour, and reaped, threshed and delivered a stream of grain from its elevated delivery spout in a single continuous automatic operation.
The company followed this achievement with the No. 21 Self-Propelled Combine, a more efficient machine that proved its economy of operation during the Second World War when, to meet the need to feed the armed forces of the U.S. and Canada and their civilian populations, 500 Massey-Harris combines harvested crops from Texas through the heart of the Canadian prairies during the now-famous Harvest Brigade. These 500 self-propelled machines combined 1,019,500 acres, saved over 300,000 man hours and 500,000 gallons of fuel, and harvested over 25,000,000 bushels of grain, vegetables and other crops.
In 1945, to meet the growing demand for its products outside North America, the company began production at a factory in Manchester, England.
Massey-Harris and Harry Ferguson Limited of Coventry, England, merged in 1953 to become Massey-Harris-Ferguson Limited. The company name was shortened to Massey Ferguson in 1958. This merger gave Massey-Harris access to the revolutionary Ferguson System of tractor weight transfer with ground-engaging implements, making it possible for small, lightweight tractors to achieve the performance of machines twice their size.
Today, the majority of all tractors made in the world utilize this principle of weight transfer for increased power and traction, and the Coventry plant is the world's largest facility devoted solely to to the production of tractors. More than three million tractors have been manufactured there since 1946.
In the 1980's Massey Ferguson pioneered tractor electronics, introducing its exclusive Electronic Linkage Control for more precise and smoother control of 3-point mounted and semi-mounted implements.
Massey Ferguson then introduced its exclusive Autotronic System of electronic control of many tractor functions. Sensors provide direct automatic control of various transmission, PTO, four-wheel drive, differential lock and hydraulic functions to relieve the operator of tiring, constant supervision, and the possibility of making errors or misjudgments.
At the same time, the exclusive MF Datatronic System was introduced. This automated system provides automatic wheelslip control combined with a wide range of information about the tractor’s performance which the operator can use to adjust operating techniques for maximum efficiency and productivity at minimum cost.
Massey Ferguson began development of a yield-monitoring system for MF combines in Europe in the 1980's, and by 1992 introduced combines with optional yield meters operating in sync with the Global Positioning System, making it possible to map yields in a field while harvesting.
AGCO Corporation, which became Massey Ferguson's parent company in 1994, is now preparing to introduce the FIELDSTAR™ advanced precision farming system in North America, based on MF's pioneering research and development in Europe.
The FIELDSTAR system will record yield information in the combine cab, produce yield and field application maps in the farm office, and control tractor-mounted implements for cultivation, seeding and fertilizer applications. Farmers using the FIELDSTAR system can match crop inputs to yield to improve profitability and reduce waste. The FIELDSTAR system is currently being tested on GLEANER® and Massey Ferguson combines in North America.
AGCO Corporation is one of the world's largest and most innovative manufacturers and distributors of agricultural equipment and replacement parts. AGCO® offers a full product line of tractors, combines, hay tools, forage equipment and implements distributed under thirteen product brands well-known to the farming industry for their productivity and reliability. The products are marketed through more than 7,000 independent dealers and distributors around the world.