Claas inaugurates assembly plant in Kazakhstan

Accompanied by high-ranking government representatives, Claas recently started up its new assembly plant in Kazakhstan. In addition to Tucano combine harvesters, Xerion large tractors will be assembled here in the future and later on the new Trion combine harvester.

The Kazakh President, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, attended the inauguration ceremony of the new Claas assembly plant in Petropavlovsk, Kazakhstan. During the ceremony, Claas Regional Director Dr Nils Roitsch described the numerous special features of the modern assembly line, which will be primarily used to produce the Tucano combine harvester. Besides the President, Roman Sklyar (Deputy Prime Minister), Yerbol Karashukeyev (Minister of Agriculture) and Yerlan Koshanov (Head of Presidential Administration) also took part in the opening ceremony. More than 90 harvesting ma-chines are expected to be fully assembled by the beginning of the next harvesting season at the new site in the Republic of Kazakhstan. On account of the tight schedule, production of the first Tucano combine harvesters had already begun before the official opening.

Strict quality control

As part of their visit, the guests were shown the new assembly plant and the production process. After the various stages of assembly, the machines undergo quality control in which, for example, the condition of all threaded connections and the precise layout of the hydraulic lines is checked. Separation, feeder housing and other functions are also carefully examined. In addition, every fifth vehicle is tested on an in-house test track before the machines are finally declared ready for use.

The start of operations at the new plant forms part of a larger cooperation. Already on 21 June this year, a special investment contract (SIC) was signed between the Kazakh government and TOO CT Assembly (project organiser), aiming to start industrial assembly of both various Claas harvesting machines and tractors and Horsch seed drills. Besides the Tucano, Xerion and various other combine headers, full assembly of the new Trion combine harvester in Kazakhstan is also planned for the future.