We need to double our food production by 2050 if we are to satisfy requirements on a global scale.” – Dr. Hermann Garbers, former Executive Vice President Technology and Quality, CLAAS.

Agriculture produces food worth $1.3 trillion each year, yet it also uses 95% of the world’s water withdrawal and 2% of the world’s energy (along with forestry).  With the world’s population expected to reach nine billion by 2050, sustainable food production is a growing priority among governments, scientists and business.

It is also one of the key trends in the industrial equipment industry.  Farmers look to agricultural equipment that helps effectively use water and energy resources for a greater output with less input, such as energy or fertilizer.

 

What happens locally has the potential to impact globally, which is why, as part of our Expo Milano 2015 “Sustainability Series,” we’re featuring CLAAS, an agricultural equipment manufacturer headquartered in Germany.  With over 11,000 employees and nearly €4 billion in revenues, their combines, forage harvesters, balers, tractors and field harvesting machinery are used by farmers worldwide.

CLAAS adopted our solutions to help provide farmers with this optimized machinery.  Specifically, this involved providing the company’s development and production sites around the world with access to a unique source of product information for all of a product’s virtually working parts.   Designers can digitally store and test their designs, and mechanical, electrical and hydraulics engineers can collaborate to make any necessary adjustments in a digital environment.  All of this takes place before any design is finalized and before any prototype is created, meaning less waste and fewer errors during production.  Also, stored and managed design data for every machine can easily be accessed in order to upgrade equipment having long lifecycles with the latest technology, to build more intelligent machines.

When you look at the last 20 to 30 years, technological advances in machinery were linked to size and horsepower.  Today the focus is more on intelligent, energy efficient machines that accomplish more while keeping operational costs to a minimum. It is these machines that have the preference of farmers who speak less about machine power or productivity and more about resource efficiency,” added Garbers.

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