Helmut Claas

Described as one of agricultural engineering’s most significant businessmen Helmut Claas, the long-time Managing Director, Chairman of the Supervisory Board and Chairman of the Shareholders Committee of the CLAAS Group, died on January 5th aged 94.

During his lifetime, he oversaw the expansion of the CLAAS Group from a small agricultural machinery company employing around 100 people when he was born at Harsewinkel in 1926. Today, under his leadership the CLAAS Group has grown to become a world-leading manufacturer, employing over 11,000 in plants around the world.

After graduating from school, Helmut Claas completed an apprenticeship as a machine fitter, prior to gaining practical experience working in metalworking firms, and further practical training in casting.

In 1947, he was sent by his father, Dr August Claas, to work for Bill Mann, helping him set up his fledgling company Manns of Saxham and in particular organising a parts system for the company.

The Manns family had been importing CLAAS machinery since the 1930s and in 1947 was one of three dealers in the UK offered the opportunity to sell the CLAAS SUPER combine harvester. Of the 50 allocated for sale in the UK, Bill Mann was given 17, but quickly sold both these and about 25 of those allocated to the other two dealers. Following this sales success, Bill Mann was made the sole UK concessionaire for CLAAS machinery.

Based at the Mann’s Honey Hill Farm just behind the current CLAAS UK headquarters, Helmut Claas was responsible for providing an English description and relevant number for the parts, which were stored in cattle mangers on the farm and for identification were outlined on their greaseproof paper wrapping.

Helmut Claas joined the family firm in Harsewinkel in 1957. In 1962 he was made Managing Director, before becoming the Personally Liable Partner in 1978 and the Chairman of both the Supervisory Board and the Shareholders Committee when the company was made a jointstock company in 1996.

Helmut Claas and his family maintained a close affiliation with the UK and Suffolk in particular, where they own a farm which mainly grows arable crops along with forage maize for the AD plant that serves the new CLAAS UK headquarters.

It is arguably as the leading agricultural engineer of his generation that Helmut Claas will be remembered, with world leading products such as the XERION, DOMINATOR, LEXION and JAGUAR to his name.

In recognition of his achievements, Helmut Claas was awarded four honorary doctorates (Dr. h. c.) from Harper Adams University in the UK and universities in Hungary, Bulgaria and Germany. In the year 2000 he received the honorary title of ‘Doctor of Agricultural Science’ from the University of Stuttgart-Hohenheim, which also made him an Honorary Senator in 2004.

In June 2009 he was bestowed an honorary professorship by the Goryachkin University in Moscow. Also in 2009, Helmut Claas was made a Knight of the French Legion of Honour in recognition of his efforts as a pioneer of Franco-German cooperation. In November 2013 he was inducted into the Hall of Fame of American Equipment Manufacturers (AEM). An important highlight was the awarding of the Diesel medal by the German Institute of Inventions in 2017. His legacy and contribution to agricultural engineering has been recognised throughout the industry, with tributes led by JCB Chairman Lord Bamford who described him as “a very important figure in the agricultural machinery business for more than six decades. The worldwide agricultural industry is going Read more to miss him tremendously.”