German farm machinery manufacturer Horsch has embarked on a €23 million investment, which will be spent between now and 2020 in three stages.

The investment programme is being seen as a renewed commitment to Schwandorf – the location of the company’s headquarters (pictured below).

Work began on the initial phase of the investment – an extension to the ACI (Agricultural Centre for Innovation) building – during recent months.

The so-called ‘idea workshop’ is now expanding into a four-story building – with 50 workstations for electronics specialists, engineers, designers and software developers. This investment alone accounts for €2 million.

More significantly, construction of a so-called ‘forest factory’ is also scheduled to kick off. For the princely sum of €14 million, Horsch is building another production hall (4,200m²) and a logistics facility (4,600m²).

In addition, an open space of 4,000m² will be created outside, which will be used to store components and parts needed for production. Other developments, as part of the overall €23 million investment, will include a new paint shop.

In other news, Horsch and Fliegl recently came up with an alternative to the chaser bin (used to ferry grain from combines at harvest time).

It involves a truck trailer effectively being “carried” in the field – without the rutting and compaction issues that would normally plague such an approach.

The solution being touted by Horsch/Fliegl essentially involves the use of a tractor-drawn tracked chassis unit, which can carry the truck trailer (whereby the trailer’s own wheels are lifted clear of the ground).

A prototype has been around for some years; more recently the two companies have started to forge ahead with what they feel is a market-ready product.

In a nutshell, Horsch builds the tracked (tractor-drawn) chassis/under-carriage unit. Fliegl builds the lorry-drawn (artic) trailer.

The idea is that the lorry (or truck, if you prefer) simply unhitches from its trailer. The tracked chassis unit is then reversed into position – effectively straddling the trailer.