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Raven is well known for providing field computers, steering, guidance and height control products.
Case New Holland Industrial (CNHI) – parent company of the New Holland, Case IH and Steyr brands – has announced it is to buy out Raven Industries in the US.
The deal said to be worth $2.1 billion, with projected annual earnings by the new subsidiary of €400 million by 2025.
Besides agricultural technology – the key driver for the CNHI acquisition – Raven also operates in the polymer film engineering sector, delivering waterproof membranes and liners for construction and agriculture. It also manufactures lighter-than-air platforms such as weather balloons. The latter might give a hint towards CNHI’s plans, with the increasing importance of aerial imagery coming to the forefront in the crop management sector.
Within the agricultural sector, Raven is well known, particularly in North America and Europe, for providing field computers, steering, guidance and height control products. It also produces flow control valves for directing chemical injection into sprayer lines, as an alternative to the more traditional method of relying on pre-prepared tank mixes.
Raven is also well established within the autonomous guidance sector with its ‘OMNiDRIVE’ and ‘OMNiPOWER’ products.
The former replaces the driver in a conventional tractor – making it suitable, according to Raven, for applications like calling up chaser bins to unload combine harvesters, before taking the load back to a predetermined parking area.
OMNiPOWER takes the form of a robot, without the need for an operator. It is described by the company as “a self-propelled power platform that can accept a range of implements like sprayers or spreaders, allowing it to perform multiple tasks during the farming seasons”.
Meanwhile, the deal will require regulatory approval before it is completed, with finalisation expected by the year end.
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With the biannual Italian EIMA machinery Expo less than a month away, Case IH has taken out a Technical Evolution award for the Advanced Vehicle Suspension system available on its Optum 360–440 series tractors.
The Advanced Vehicle Suspension system, available on Optum 360, 390, and 440 models, responds to changing conditions, automatically adjusting how the suspension reacts to absorbs shocks and controlling vehicle movement.
In operation, sensors monitor the vibrations transmitted from the tractor chassis to the operator cabin, allowing the system to adjust suspension damping in real time. The control system incorporates key priorities, such as comfort at lower speeds and stability as speed increases, while also reacting to factors such as lower tyre pressures, where the tyres absorb more of the initial shock.
Case IH said as suspension requirements change throughout the working day, as tractors move between the paddock and road transport, the system manages suspension response in the background as tasks, speeds and conditions change, leaving the operator without the need to make manual adjustments.
Richard Hollins, Optum series tractors global product manager, said: “Pioneering technology must earn its place in the working day. Farmers and contractors will judge an investment by what it delivers, including manageable ownership costs, dependable up-time and the versatility to tackle different jobs. With AVS, we are putting intelligent control to work for comfort and stability, without giving the operator another setting to manage.”
Organised by FederUnacoma, the Italian Agricultural Machinery Manufacturers Federation, the contest has been part of EIMA since 1986, with the Technical Evolution distinction awarded to products that introduce original improvements to solutions already manufactured or patented.
www.caseih.com
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