On April 21st, the buildings for the new paint shop and logistics center at the Fendt site in Hohenmölsen, Germany were inaugurated. The ceremony was marked by the placement of a metal crown, made by Fendt employees, on top of the building.
Dr. Reiner Haseloff, Minister President of Saxony-Anhalt, attended the ceremony, as well as representatives of local politics, tradesmen, suppliers, Fendt sales partners, customers and employees of the site.
Highlight was the placing of the topping-out crown on the roof of the 12 m high building. Employees from the cutting and toolmaking departments had made the crown themselves from 40 kg of steel. The topping-out saying was read out by Sven Häselbarth, Managing Director of Naumburger Bauunion, and Markus Giesers, Managing Director of Giesers Bau, who wished the workers accident-free production and every success.
“An important investment in the future”
The new paint shop will consist of both cathodic dip coating (CDC) and powder coating for thin and thick sheet metal parts. Both painting processes meet sustainable environmental standards. The components will be primed without heavy metals in an immersion bath containing 80 percent water. The paints are water-based and contain no heavy metals, solvents or volatile compounds. The residues from powder coating are processed and thus reused in a resource-saving manner.
The new logistics center complements production for goods handling. In the future, manufactured components will be shipped from here to other Fendt plants and the new paint shop will be supplied with materials. The handling rate will then be around 40 trucks per day.
“The paint shop and the logistics center are important investments in the future of the Hohenmölsen production site,” says Christoph Gröblinghoff, Chairman of the AGCO/Fendt Management Board. “In order to meet the high quality requirements for Fendt products even better in the future, we will take over the painting of our components ourselves. The new paint shop also gives us the opportunity to manufacture even more components for other Fendt products at other plants.”
At the Hohenmölsen plant, parts and components for Fendt tractors, round balers, combine harvesters and loader wagons are produced and will soon be painted and shipped in an environmentally friendly manner.
In another production hall, the Fendt Katana forage harvester and the Fendt Rogator 600 self-propelled field sprayer are manufactured at the Saxony-Anhalt plant.
“Like a Phoenix from the ashes”
AGCO Corporation acquired the Hohenmölsen site in 2009, and the plant has developed rapidly since then. 13 years ago, there were seven permanent employees. Today, more than 380 employees and another 90 temporary workers work in production, logistics and assembly.
“With the construction of the modern paint shop and the adjacent logistics center, we are positioning ourselves as a technology location for the future. We are creating an infrastructure for another 50 jobs,” Dr. Thomas Schneiderheinze, plant manager and managing director of AGCO Hohenmölsen, reports with pride. “We can truly say with justification that this site has risen like a Phoenix from the ashes thanks to AGCO and Fendt.”
The construction project in Hohenmölsen comprises two sections, a paint shop and a logistics center, with a total investment of 18 million euros. Construction of the two buildings began in December 2020, and the expansion of the logistics center will be completed in September of this year.
The paint shop will be set up starting in August and will go into operation in summer 2023.
