The Kuhn Group manufactures agricultural equipment in factories around the world. Its headquarters are in Saverne, France, but it also operates offices in Australia, New Zealand, China, Germany, Spain, Italy, Poland, Russia, the U.K., Ukraine, Brazil, the USA, and Canada.

It manufactures sprayers, seeders, balers, mowers, tillage tools, forage harvesters, and a vast array of other farm equipment.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Construction and Expansion 1.2 Awards 1.3 Key Equipment Developments 2 The Company Today 2.1 Kuhn Group—Who Builds What Equipment? 3 Equipment List 4 References 5 External Links

[edit] History

The Kuhn company was established by Joseph Kuhn in 1828. He was a specialist in manufacturing scales and other weighing apparatus.^[1]

In 1864 Joseph teamed with his brothers to open an agricultural equipment manufacturing plant in Saverne, France. The factory was built alongside the Strasbourg-Paris railway line, which helped the company grow because it was able to easily deliver its products throughout the Alsace region.^[2]

In 1921 Kuhn built special workshops for threshing machine assembly. Seven years later the company was building 1,000 threshing machines a year. It was also producing mowers, tedders, and tedder-rake combinations.^[3]

In 1945, after becoming financially weakened by World War II, Kuhn searched for a partner to help it succeed. Kuhn formed an association with the Swiss company, Bucher-Guyer. Four years later, Kuhn was France’s leading agricultural equipment manufacturer.^[4]

In 1965 a large fire destroyed a number of the machining tools and assembly workshops, but the company rebuilt and delivered its one millionth machine five years later.^[5]

[edit] Construction and Expansion

Kuhn began constructing and establishing a number of new facilities in the 1970s. It built a spare parts warehouse in 1972, a storage and dispatch area in 1980, a research and development center in 1982, a training center in 1988, a material storage warehouse in 1991,^[6] a new warehouse in Columbia, Tennesee, USA in 1998, a new factory in Chateaubriant, France in 1999, and a new parts distribution center in 2001.^[7]

Kuhn began to expand in the late 1980s. It acquired Huard in 1987, Matelest Diffusion in 1990,^[8] Audreau S.A. in 1993, Kuhn-Nodet S.A. in 1996, Knight Manufacturing Corp. in 2002,^[9] and Metasa S.A. in 2005.^[10] It also established subsidiaries in Germany, Poland, Spain, Australia, Ukraine, and Russia.

[edit] Awards

Kuhn won gold medals at the SIMA innovation awards in 1990 and 1992 for its rotary plow and mower conditioner.^[11]

Its Accura precision coulter won the gold medal at Agritechnica in 2003, and Agribex Exhibition and Fieragricola in 2004.^[12]

It also won the silver medal at SIMA in 2005.^[13]

[edit] Key Equipment Developments

Kuhn introduced its first self-propelled machine, a mixer feeder wagon, in 2001.^[14]

Kuhn-Knight developed a vertical auger mixer feeder wagon and a hydraulic push manure spreader. Both were introduced to the North American market in 2004.^[15]

In 2007 Kuhn introduced a self-propelled silage cutter and mixer wagon with a vertical auger.^[16]

[edit] The Company Today

Kuhn Group’s president and CEO is M. Michael Siebert. The company has approximately 3,000 employees producing 65,000 machines annually.^[17]

Kuhn currently owns about 1,500 patents.^[18]

[edit] Kuhn Group—Who Builds What Equipment?

Kuhn Brazil: Crop spraying systems, min-till seed drills, and no-till seed drills

Kuhn North America: Livestock feeding, manure handling, hay and silage making

Kuhn Geldrop (Netherlands): Fixed and variable chamber round balers, large square balers, wrappers, rotary drum mowers, tedder-rake combinations, and maize choppers

Kuhn-Huard (France): Plowing, non-drive tillage tools, precision drilling, min-till seed drills, and no-till seed drills

Kuhn Blanchard (France): Field and green area sprayers

Kuhn-Audreau (France): Livestock bedding, feed ration mixing and feeding, and landscape maintenance

Kuhn S.A. (France): Hay and forage harvesting, power take-off (PTO) driven tillage tools, seeding, shredding, and precision fertilization

Kuhn MGM S.A.S. (France): Large agricultural machines for soil preparation, seeding, and hay/silage making

[edit] Equipment List

• Baler
• Forage harvester
• Gyrotedder
• Harrow
• Mower
• Mower conditioner
• Plow
• Rake
• Seeder
• Spreader
• Sprayer
• Tedder-rake

[edit] References

1. ↑ History: 1828-1945. Kuhn Group, 2009-03-25.
2. ↑ History: 1828-1945. Kuhn Group, 2009-03-25.
3. ↑ History: 1828-1945. Kuhn Group, 2009-03-25.
4. ↑ History: 1945-1992. Kuhn Group, 2009-03-25.
5. ↑ History: 1945-1992. Kuhn Group, 2009-03-25.
6. ↑ History: 1945-1992. Kuhn Group, 2009-03-25.
7. ↑ History: 1992-2002. Kuhn Group, 2009-03-25.
8. ↑ History: 1945-1992. Kuhn Group, 2009-03-25.
9. ↑ History: 1945-1992. Kuhn Group, 2009-03-25.
10. ↑ History: 2002-2007. Kuhn Group, 2009-03-25.
11. ↑ History: 1945-1992. Kuhn Group, 2009-03-25.
12. ↑ History: 2002-2007. Kuhn Group, 2009-03-25.
13. ↑ History: 2002-2007. Kuhn Group, 2009-03-25.
14. ↑ History: 1945-1992. Kuhn Group, 2009-03-25.
15. ↑ History: 2002-2007. Kuhn Group, 2009-03-25.
16. ↑ History: 2002-2007. Kuhn Group, 2009-03-25.
17. ↑ Key Figures. Kuhn Group, 2009-03-25.
18. ↑ Key Figures. Kuhn Group, 2009-03-25.

[edit] External Links

• Official Kuhn Group website