Pöttinger: From grassland machinery to global innovator
Formed in 1871, Austrian agricultural machinery manufacturer Pottinger originally focused on producing grassland machinery for a little over a century.
The company puts this down to an innovative product range and steady expansion of its international activities.
With 58% of sales, grassland is the most important sales sector, followed by tillage and seed drill technology delivering about 27%. Grassland and spare parts increased 5% over the previous year; tillage and seed drills recorded a slight fall due to difficult global grain pricing.
The top five countries where company’s machinery sales increased in monetary values were Ukraine, Britain, Sweden, Australia and the Czech Republic.
Pottinger says Sweden, Belarus, Denmark, Ukraine and Australia all recorded above average increases in market shares.
Export markets remain central to Pöttinger’s success, these sales accounting for 88% of annual production and earning Eur 270 million. About 60% of these sales are made in Germany, France, Austria, Czech Republic, Switzerland and Ukraine.
The company has spent “vast sums” on its facilities in recent years, upgrading the seed drill plant in Bernburg, the machinery plant in Vodnany and building new offices at its headquarters.
Prompt supply of spare parts is central to the success of the business, hence its €14m new logistics centre for spare parts in Taufkirchen. The centre carries 50,000 spare and wear parts, every day processes up to 800 customer orders and ships 3.5m items worldwide every year.
