Fendt secures its reputation as the innovation driver in the agricultural equipment industry at the Agritechnica 2015. The German Agricultural Society (DLG) already announced the medal winners at the information forum in Hanover on the 9th of September. Fendt receives a gold medal for its new tyre pressure control system VarioGrip Pro. The four silver medals go to the Fendt VarioDrive drive train, newly developed for the Fendt 1000 Vario, and the ballasting and traction assistant Fendt Grip Assistant, which is integrated in the terminal. Silver medals also went to the Fendt Former 12555 X, the first rotary hay rake with electric integral drive, and the sophisticated 360° camera system, which provides a better overview all around the combine and greater safety.
Agritechnica 2015: Fendt as driver of innovation in agricultural engineering – one gold medal, four silver medals
Fendt secures its reputation as the innovation driver in the agricultural equipment industry at the Agritechnica 2015. The German Agricultural Society (DLG) already announced the medal winners at the information forum in Hanover on the 9th of September. Fendt receives a gold medal for its new tyre pressure control system VarioGrip Pro. The four silver medals go to the Fendt VarioDrive drive train, newly developed for the Fendt 1000 Vario, and the ballasting and traction assistant Fendt Grip Assistant, which is integrated in the terminal. Silver medals also went to the Fendt Former 12555 X, the first rotary hay rake with electric integral drive, and the sophisticated 360° camera system, which provides a better overview all around the combine and greater safety.
Peter-Josef Paffen (Chairman of the Fendt Management Board)
“Fendt is offering so many new products and innovative solutions at the Agritechnica 2015, more than ever before,” says Peter-Josef Paffen, Chairman of the Fendt Management Board. “That we also receive recognition in the form of medals for our continual work and constant further and new developments, is a great honour for all the Fendt employees, because new and innovative ideas are developed from the expert knowledge and collaboration of many smart minds.”
The experts from the neutral Agritechnica Innovations Commission have selected two Gold Medal and 44 Silver Medal winners from the 311 innovations that were registered.
Gold medals are awarded to products that have a concept with completely new functions or significantly improve known processes. Decisive here are their significance for practical application, advantages for farm and labour management, improvement of the environmental and energy situation, as well as facilitation of work and improved operating safety. VarioGrip Promeets these criteria. The further development of the fully integral tyre pressure control system permits changing from 0.8 bar (field work) to 1.8 bar (road driving) in only 30 seconds. With this, AGCO/Fendt meets customer requests for faster filling times to save time and costs while permitting flexible and quickly changing operations. Explaining their choice for the gold medal, the jury states, “This quick tyre pressure control system reduces the time spent in road travel and allows field work at low and soil-friendly pressures.”
Silver medals are awarded to products that have been further developed in such a fashion that an essential improvement of the function or process can be expected. Here Fendt was able to convince the jury of the Agritechnica Innovations Award four times. With the Fendt VarioDrive, AGCO/Fendt has not only further developed the Vario transmission, but also developed a completely new drive train. With the new VarioDrive, the front axle can now be driven by a second, separate transmission output independent of the rear axle. A permanent all-wheel drive that does not need to be shifted when going from field to road is only one of the advantages of the new Fendt VarioDrive.
The jury says: “The system enhances the overall driveline efficiency, prevents reactive power and makes for soil-friendly operation.”
The right tyre pressure is a topic that AGCO/Fendt has been pursuing for a long time. AGCO/Fendt receives its second silver medal for an innovation that also concerns the right traction: the Fendt Grip Assistant. To assist tractor drivers in choosing the right ballast weight and setting the correct tyre pressure, Fendt has developed a new assistance system, which recommends the right ballast weight and optimal inflation pressure directly on the terminal. “Then the tyre pressure control system will inflate the tyres automatically to the proper field or road pressure. The optimum pressures are then automatically set for best soil protection and efficient traction,” says the DLG jury.
The developers at Fendt were also awarded silver medals for two new products from the harvesting division. AGCO/Fendt is the first manufacturer at the Agritechnica 2015 to exhibit a rotary hay rake with innovative electric integral drive, where the electric motor is directly integrated in the rake socket. Regarding the Fendt Former 12555 X, the jury says, “Each rotor can operate at its own individual speed and can thus respond to the specific harvest conditions. The specific energy input is lower than that on direct drive systems.”
The fourth medal went to the sophisticated 360° camera system, which provides greater visibility and safety all around the combine. Four ultra-wide cameras, attached to each of the four sides of the machine, combine their digital recordings into one single image on the terminal. Areas of the vehicle that are difficult to see into are visible and the operator sees the entire machine from a bird’s eye perspective. The jury sums up: “This innovation provides a major boost to the aspects of safety, driver assistance and automation.”
