It was 10 years ago that Pottinger formed its wholly-owned distribution subsidiary in Ireland, based in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary.
To celebrate the occasion, the company held a dealer event attended by not only senior management from Austria, but also the Austrian Ambassador to Ireland.
Pottinger loosens the reins
The company is still family-owned by Klaus and Heinz Pottinger, but over the last few years, and in a bid to support its healthy growth, the regular running of the company has been passed to an executive board of five directors who have the combined experience and expertise to take the company further still.
It was Gregor Dietachmayr, the director responsible for sales and marketing, who attended the event along with Sven Neils and Christoph Stueblreiter from the company base at Grieskirchen, a town that lies two hours west of Vienna.
Gregor, a very energetic man, spoke with Agriland at the event, during which he expanded on the company’s present situation and its vision of the future.
The first point he brought up was the impressive growth of the company; it has doubled its turnover in the the last six years, a notable achievement for an engineering concern that is involved in the ‘centuries old’ business of farm machinery.
This might pale in comparison with hi-tech companies which may inflate enormously overnight, but then go pop in the morning, a fate which Pottinger is intent on avoiding. It has been around for 152 years already and will be around for a lot longer yet.
Maintaining independence
Another stroke of destiny the company has no intention of succumbing to is a takeover by a larger corporation. Gregor tells of regular knocks upon the company door from companies wishing to buy them out.
All the invitations to sell are firmly rejected, for the Pottingers wish to keep the company as a family company, as do the board members and staff who enjoy a genuinely close company culture that is rarely found elsewhere.
Growth can occur in two ways, organically through sales of equipment developed in-house, or by acquisition of other manufacturers.
Focus on the soil
Pottinger has travelled both routes, and is now charting a course into a future where it sees much more emphasis on preserving the soil, its structure and, something that rarely needs consideration in Ireland, its moisture content.
This has led to its two latest purchases, the Italian drill manufacturer MaterMacc and the tillage division of CFS, a company which produced a range of inter-row cultivators and is working to further develop them alongside Pottinger.
The key to these two companies is precision, a word which Gregor uses a lot when talking about future trends in crop production.
The Italian machines bring an exactness to seed placement which Pottinger had hitherto lacked in its drill range, while the CFS cultivators rely on that very exactness to work most effectively.
It is no accident that the two smaller companies were embraced at the same time and looking back we can see a clear commitment by Pottinger to take a step forward in an alternative approach to weed control without herbicides.
A third way with autonomy
The other great talking point at the moment is autonomy, and here Gregor concurs with the general idea that there are two trends emerging, small robots and cab-less tractors; the latter will still require implements, but the former will not.
Here the company faces a dilemma, for it is part of its core philosophy not to get involved in making machines with an engine.
Small robots obviously have a driveline, so they would not fit in comfortably with Pottinger’s ethos, yet the more ground that is farmed by these machines, the more they undercut the potential market for traditional implements.
A third approach may be possible, and although not directly stated by Gregor, it appears that self propelled cultivation equipment might be on the cards. Gregor gives the distinct impression that his company is actively preparing to master the new world of autonomy in its own way when, or even if, it arrives.
This, though, is a very nebulous idea at the moment, but companies need to think a long time ahead and it is clear that Pottinger is there to shape the future as much as to respond to it.
ISOBUS with everything
More immediately, it is the application of digital technology to its present range which is involving a lot of research and development.
Tractor Implement Management (TIM) featured in the conversation more than data harvesting, and helping operators achieve greater efficiency is the name of the game.
Returning to more general issues, he noted that the loader wagon factory has run out of capacity and expansion will be needed, while the belt mergers, introduced last year, are already showing a lot of promise, especially in Alfalfa growing regions.
Gregor’s expertise is in communication and he certainly paints a picture of an industrious company that is going places and doing it independently of outside interference.
Key to being able to do this is profitability. Pottinger cannot afford to falter and it shows no signs of doing so. There has been a constant stream of innovation over the last few years, despite the massive global disruption.
Neither do the management and staff of the Irish branch show any sign of letting up. It has grown considerably over the last decade, not least because the people behind it strive to be a family-run company engaging with family-run businesses, and in that they appear to be genuinely succeeding.