company profile
The goal and the challenge
1
Argo Tractors in brief
2
Corporate identity
4
Mission and stragetic guidelines
6
Worldwide
8
The Factories
10
ATLife
12
The Group and its Brands
16
II
Landini, McCormick and Valpadana Argo Tractors and the Gruppo Argo
company profile
18 20
The goal and the challenge
O
future is Argo Tractors’ goal. A policy pursued by uniting three successful brands with a long-standing heritage, i.e. Landini, McCormick and Valpadana, thereby forming a single company. A strategic move that, by exploiting their tried-and-tested experience, has allowed the three brands to achieve an important quality improvement and to attain leading positions on the market. Argo Tractors offers a high quality product at a competitive price. This can only be achieved through economies of scale, flexible manufacturing processes and an optimized organization. The establishment of Argo Tractors has thus allowed the business activities of the three brands to be finely coordinated and to benefit from synergies deriving from the lengthy experience acquired by three enterprises belonging to the same sector. Today’s tangible results are the company’s technologically pioneering and complementary ranges. Products that are able to meet any requirement in all fields of agriculture, from specialized crop cultivation to high power machines for open field work. In addition, belonging to the same enterprise has allowed the Landini, McCormick and Valpadana brands to create important synergies deriving from the geographical locations of their individual target markets, thereby achieving full, worldwide and widespread coverage able to provide all customers with a complete and reliable service. A successful strategy, as testified by the results: Argo Tractors is now one of the world’s leading manufacturers of agricultural tractors. the Chairman
Valerio Morra
Argo Tractors in brief
A
long with an increasingly more international sales strategy, its wide range of products allows Argo Tractors to play a leading role in the world’s agricultural machinery sector. This is testified by the statistics: 25% of the products are sold on the Italian market, while the remaining 75% is exported to Europe and the rest of the world. Argo Tractors thus confirms its strong leaning towards internationalization. 1,600 employees and more than 100 tractors coming off the assembly lines each day.
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company profile
geographic breakdown of turnover
group turnover (millions of euro)
europe 30%
rest of the world 45%
659 447 425
italy 25%
2007
2008
2009
413
2010
“The figures speak for themselves: over 24,000 tractors manufactured per year and 1,600 employees. 25% of the products sold on the domestic market and 75% exported�
479
2011
Corporate identity
A
rgo Tractors. An enterprise that unites three of the tractor world’s legacy brands, namely Landini, McCormick and Valpadana, under the same name. Argo Tractors SpA, one of the most important players in the western world, was established for the purpose of creating a leading-edge tractor manufacturing industry of world renown. True to the philosophy of the Argo Industrial Group to which it belongs, Argo Tractors has founded its business activities upon the deepest integration between manufacturing and commercial spheres in a strategy that makes the most out of the solidly-based synergies created among the various different areas: sales, R&D. engineering, purchases, logistics, pre- and aftersales services. Production takes place in three plants, each of which deals with a specific product line, while there are two other facilities dedicated to parts. The R&D and engineering divisions are located in the main headquarters of Fabbrico (Reggio Emilia - Italy). All factory areas are equipped with quality control facilities as qualitative excellence is the prime goal. Nowadays, with its Landini, McCormick and Valpadana tractors, Argo Tractors is present throughout Europe and the rest of the world with one of the most comprehensive product ranges available, including 25 to over 230 HP machines in the 3, 4 and 6 cylinder open field, orchard, vineyard, crawler and equal-wheel families.
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company profile
“Join forces to achieve the utmost in manufacturing excellence. Argo Tractors: the result of integration and synergies among different industrial and business areas.�
the mission “We want to be amongst the leaders in Europe and one of the world’s most important players in the agricultural tractor designing, manufacturing and marketing business. Our strength lies in the experience of a long tradition, the foundation on which our skills and innovative acumen are based, and that now allows us to offer a technologically pioneering productplus an excellent service able to facilitate the work of our end customers and make it increasingly more profitable� 6
company profile
The force behind a great project
A
rgo Tractors is one of the leading enterprises in Europe and one of the world’s most important players in the agricultural tractor designing, manufacturing and marketing business. To achieve its corporate goals, Argo Tractors uses a strategy based on 5 main guidelines:
Innovation
Use our engineering and industrial know-how to develop products that meet our end customers’ demands for performance, reliability, ergonomics and design. Competitiveness
Provide the end customer with the very best value by making our organization and manufacturing process increasingly more efficient. Distribution
Optimize the dealer network so as to ensure widespread coverage of all the markets of the world. Human resources
Invest in human resources to an increasingly greater extent, thus strengthening a team spirit while preserving and improving the specific know-how of our business. Service
Offer an excellent service as to delivery lead times, plus preand after-sales backup by developing a “customer oriented” organization. Design engineering skills, know-how and applied technology are the right mix for success and create an important competitive advantage. With resources and and know-how integrated into a single, experienced and creative team, all this becomes a key factor allowing Argo Tractors to establish a privileged and leading position and to be a protagonist in the ever-changing world of agriculture.
“Argo Tractors has created a vast and far-reaching network of relations with the most different agricultural areas and has developed a well-founded ability to produce agricultural machines for diverse conditions and situations, thereby providing the right answer for markets the world over.�
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company profile
An international outlook
T
he Argo Tractors assembly lines are located in four plants situated in Italy. The factories of Fabbrico, San Martino in Rio and Luzzara, in the province of Reggio Emilia, are where all the Landini, McCormick and Valpadana
Argo Tractors also owns two modern and efficient Parts Facilities in San Martino in Rio (Italy), which provides Landini and Valpadana parts in Italy and abroad, and in Saint Dizier (France), for worldwide distribution of McCormick parts. Argo Tractors covers the entire world through 8 commercial branches, 130 foreign importers and 2500 dealers.
argo s.p.a. argo tractors s.p.a.
Landini Brasile Ltda - Brazil mccormick de Mexico s.a. de C.V. - Mexico
argo France S.a.s. - France
Agri argo Iberica s.a.- Spain
key Holding Group Finished product concern
mccormick u.s.a. Inc. - U.S.A. Landini Canada Inc - Canada
Component manufacturer Business enterprise
argo Gmbh - Germany
EMMEGI Srl - Italy
argo Industrial s.A. South Africa
canada landini canada inc.
u.s.a. mccormick u.s.a. Inc.
mexico mccormick de mexico s.a. de c.v.
manufacturing plant
brazil Landini Ltda brazil
business branch importers
10
fabbrico ( i )
san martino in rio ( i )
luzzara ( i )
saint dizier ( f )
tractor manufacturing
tractor manufacturing
tractor manufacturing
mccormick parts facility
plant
plant
plant
total area:
total area: 105,000 sq m
total area: 33,000 sq m
total area:
11,500 sq m
built-up area: 50,000 sq m
built-up area: 25,000 sq m
25,000 sq m
built-up area:
Emmegi srl Cabs
argo parts facility
built-up area:
5,000 sq m
Total area: 33,000 sq m
total area: 20,000 sq m
10,000 sq m
built-up area: 10,000 sq m
built-up area: 10,000 sq m
company profile
germany argo gmbh
france saint dizier parts facility argo france s.a.s.
spain agriargo iberica s.a. italy south africa argo industrial s.a.
argo tractors factories in fabbrico san martino in rio luzzara parts facility san martino in rio emmegi cabs fabbrico
“4 Manufacturing facilities in Italy 2 Parts Centers (Italy and France) 8 Business branches (3 in Europe, 4 in America and 1 in South Africa) 130 Importers and 2,500 dealers worldwide.�
“The challenges posed by the new economic models move in an increasingly faster way towards the need to innovate wisely and towards full respect for the requirements of life, work and future, with environmentally responsible behaviour and sustainability as the ultimate goals.�
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company profile
The vision of Argo Tractors: ATLIFE
A
rgo Tractors, a company geared towards the creation of a tractor-making enterprise of world-wide renown, has founded its business dealings on technological development and quality, but most especially on values that have made it the sound undertaking it is today: research into environmentally friendly solutions, respect for an extremely stringent code of ethics and the Full Made in Italy concept. A whole constellation of issues that explains the excellence achieved by Argo Tractors’ Landini, McCormick and Valpadana agricultural tractor brands, leading-edge machines on both the domestic and international markets. And it also explains Argo Tractors’ decision to subscribe to the European Union’s Life+protocol, an ambitious and farreaching project. The various different areas of the enterprise are becoming increasingly more inclined to develop company policies that respect environmentally friendly criteria, with innovation and codes of conduct dictated by strict corporate social responsibility. Each new goal is true to these principles, traditionally bound to the Made in Italy quality concept and to the limitless creativity for which our country has always been famous. The challenges posed by the new economic models, known by the name of “glocal”, since they are globalized but linked to specific local characteristics, move in an increasingly faster way towards the need to innovate wisely and with sound skills. In short, towards full respect for the requirements of life, work and future with environmentally responsible behaviour and sustainability as the ultimate goals. The starting point of every investment, the root of every true, great business and human venture, is the present. Argo Tractors has accepted the challenge with the AT Life global project. From now on.
The Life+
F
ollowing on from the Life initiative of 1992, the European Union has now launched the Life+ Program. It is an important endeavour with an extremely decisive goal: co-finance projects that contribute towards the development and implementation of environmental policies and law. In other words, Life+ supports public or private companies, institutes and operators that invest in environmental sustainability. Argo Tractors has subscribed to the program and has launched a proposal based on a series of unique and very important pecularities concerning the aforementioned scope, ones that are part of an already consolidated commitment for the Group’s various different plants, where recovery and recycling activities have been going on for some time. The project that the Company has proposed and submitted to the EU will notably increase the amount of production material recycled and will include the use of oils with characteristics that comply with environmental protection dictates, thus full respect for a green development model. What does all this involve? The Life+ protocol, which concerns the first part of the corporate initiative, involves the internal production cycle; more precisely, recirculation of the oils used for flushing during the test phase: the tractor transmissions are filled with oil, tested, emptied and the remains of the process (over 4000 liters of glycerol per flushing station) is kept by the company for disposal according to the procedure with the least possible impact. An enormous commitment, true to the scope established by the EU and the Old Continent dwellers’ desires.
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company profile
Ecology
I
n, addition, besides having set up a production cycle that creates the minimum amount of waste, Argo Tractors has also embarked upon a second, decisive phase in its endeavour to reduce environmental impact. A phase that includes three crucial initiatives. Firstly, binding compliance with the most stringent laws and advanced, pioneering standards concerning emissions and low environmental impact. So much so, the machines are now equipped with more economical and performance-oriented green engines and systems. Secondly, a significant and large-scale dedicated disposal policy: 52% of the 5,000 tons per year of industrial waste produced in the plants is recycled in the manufacturing process thanks to differentiated waste collection, while 44% is treated to make the waste inert, i.e. without impact on the environment, prior to being disposed of in special landfills. Only 4% of the waste is disposed of in rubbish dumps. Lastly, use of biodegradable lubricants instead of mineral-based products allow the machines to be marketed with a wholly environmentally friendly profile. In conjunction with Life+, the purpose of all these projects is to safeguard the land, air and nature.
Ethics
R
ight from the very time it was established, the entire commitment of Argo Tractors has always been based on well-rooted values. Every aspect of the production cycle - from design to delivery and even communication - must comply with rules of conduct conforming to standards established with the utmost care. Corporate philosophy is true to an extremely detailed Code of Ethics to which the executives, employees and outsourced workers are bound. It is a real document that contains commitments to which each individual must conform. Rules of conduct that begin with transparency of information both within the company and provided to the outside world, absolute respect of procedures involving suppliers, institutions and the laws in force, and creation of an internal surveillance system. In no phase may forms of respect be flouted, since they are synonyms of absolute transparency in institutional, corporate and human relations and guarantee the utmost safety and reliability for the purchasers.
All issues that have allowed Argo Tractors to acquire the trust of millions of people throughout the world.
Full Made in Italy
O
ne of the flagship issues of the Group is Full Made in Italy, i.e. tractors entirely made in Italy, from the time they are designed, through to their assembly. It’s certainly not a detail or a marginal aspect, but a fundamental characteristic. In an increasingly larger market that tends to relocate production, assembly and the other phases of the industry, Argo Tractors has consolidated its roots to an even further extent.
An entirely Italian product is based on respect for the workers’ rights. It possesses technological and environmental impact characteristics that are recognized synonyms for quality, development and reliability. However, the Group is not merely content to rest on its laurels. It is committed to standards that reach beyond the usual and already high levels of domestic production. Thus, through the use of specific protocols and optimized processes, the ultimate goal is excellence. All this has created an impressive heritage based on tradition, wellrooted know-how and a vision of the future that has allowed the Group to become established in all continents.
To cite Karl Kraus, “The origin is the goal”. The goal of Argo Tractors is development and respect for a very distant origin, one that has made the company great and that will continue to nourish it, thereby nurturing the trust of millions of people throughout the world.
A major Italian Group, three great international brands
A
rgo Tractors has acquired a leading position on the international scene, testifying to the success of a manufacturing strategy founded on specialization. The secret lies in joining forces so as to offer the utmost in technological innovation and competitiveness while maintaining the individual identity of the three great brands controlled by Argo Tractors: Landini, McCormick and Valpadana. Each brand works in a fully autonomous way within the scope of its own particular core business but with the advantage of a highly professional central management dedicated to furthering the growth of corporate value. A worldwide challenge whose outcome also depends on the ability to provide immediate answers with technical solutions tailor-made to suit market demands.Argo Tractors possesses the technology, human resources and manufacturing plants capable of developing products on a short, medium and long-term basis for each brand and every type of tractor.
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company profile
“Thanks to the Landini, McCormick and Valpadana brands, Argo Tractors now enjoys an important standing in the domestic market and is one of the most important international players, thus confirming the value of a successful group strategy.�
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company profile
Landini: blue blood
L
andini. Time-tested brand, true to the Made in Italy concept. Symbol of reliability, sturdiness and specialization par excellence. Established way back in 1884, Landini is now known for the experience and long tradition on which today’s innovation process has been based. The Landini brand has evolved over the years and faces the future with great dynamism and a far-sighted outlook, with concrete solutions for the farming world as its goal. Nowadays, Landini is well known throughout the world, with dominating standings in the Mediterranean area, in central Europe and in the emerging countries. Whether they are for specialistic uses in vineyards or orchards, crawler models or designed for open field work with up to 230 HP power ratings, with their aggressive look, modern styling and pioneering technologies, Landini’s tractors now excel in all power brackets.
McCormick: byword for excellence
B
earing the name of McCormick is something to be proud of. McCormick tractors have always been a byword for excellence, quality and innovation. A brand of worldwide renown and a historic name in English-speaking countries, McCormick is extremely popular in North Europe and Central North America, where it was established in 1831. McCormick has always been acknowledged by the market for high quality and pioneering technology, features that make this brand of tractors ideal for the most demanding and professional users. McCormick now produces a comprehensive range that suits a market mainly centered on medium and high powered machines for open field work featuring particularly high-level technology.
Valpadana: specialization
F
or the past 75 years, the Valpadana brand has been a byword for compact machines dedicated to specialized crops and designed for use in vineyards and orchards, for haymaking on slopes through to greenhouse cultivations and even for ground care in civil and municipal spheres. The present-day result is a whole series of products with the highest added value available on the market in the “compact” tractor segment. The brand stands out for many important features, such as the hydrostatic transmissions, completely designed and manufactured in the company’s plant with 26 to 100 HP power ratings. But they also include the first mechanical transmission with reverse shuttle, oil-cooled multiple-plate clutch assemblies and 40 to 100 HP power ratings. The brand’s target is to always be spot-on and to promptly interpret the continually developing demands from the world market by satisfying all the requirements of the end users, be they D.I.Y. enthusiasts, farm contractors or large farms.
Argo Tractors and the Argo Industrial Group
A
rgo Tractors is one of the companies belonging to Gruppo Argo SpA, the financial holding of the Morra family, which has been in the agricultural machinery business for 4 generations.The Group includes several manufacturing, service-providing and distribution undertakings of great prestige. Enterprises that deal with the Group’s traditional line of business, i.e. agricultural machines, on which all the entrepreneurial and managerial attentions, economic and financial resources have been exclusively concentrated. Argo’s brands are available in all the principal markets of the world, where the Group works through direct sales organizations that promote and market its tractors and agricultural machines as well as providing after-sales services. Based on a sound capacity for development, Argo is now able to compete efficiently throughout the world with its own technology. This makes the Group self-sufficient and capable of defining its own product development strategies. Thanks to this policy, Argo has created a manufacturing and business group centered on products that are in synergy with one another from the technical and marketing aspects. So much so, the Group is able to offer a complete range of tractors thanks to its different brands. The business has become even more comprehensive with the supply of O.E.M. tractors, services and parts. Argo SpA was established in 1988 by Valerio Morra and his brother Pierangelo, now holders of the company’s entire capital. Argo to become an industrial share holding and service-providing undertaking for the companies in the Group. In actual fact, the Morra family, which originally came from Piedmont where it first got started in the industry, possesses long and soundly established experience in the agricultural machinery business. An incredible growth process obliged the Group to combine the enterprises into a single holding company. This enabled the business to be coordinated in a more decisive way and allowed the undertakings to benefit from the synergies achieved by their all belonging to the same sector.
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company profile
“Argo Tractors belongs to a major group. It expresses the value of a number of enterprises that all work towards a common goal. Integration of resources and specialization are the foundations on which the Argo Group has built its industrial and business strategy�
graphic layout: bzzbzz@grupposaldatori.com
Argo Tractors S.p.A. 42042 Fabbrico [RE] Italy via G. Matteotti, 7 t. +39.05220.656111 f. +39.05220.656476 webmaster@argotractors.com www.argotractors.com