Amazonen-Werke

AMAZONEN-Werke H. Dreyer GmbH & Co. KG
Company type	GmbH & Co. KG
Industry	Agricultural machinery manufacturing, Agriculture
Founded	Hasbergen-Gaste (1883)
Founder	Heinrich Dreyer
Headquarters	Hasbergen, Germany
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Christian Dreyer; Justus Dreyer;
Products	Fertilizer Spreaders, Sprayers, Seed drills, Tillage machinery, etc.
Services	Parts, service, training
Number of employees	1,500
Website	www.amazone.net

Amazone H. Dreyer GmbH & Co. KG (also known as:Amazone) is a German manufacturer of agricultural machinery and municipal machinery. The headquarters and main plant of the company was founded in 1883 by Heinrich Dreyer and is in Hasbergen-Gaste near Osnabrück.

Amazone produces a wide range of products including fertilizer spreaders, sprayers, seed drills, and tillage machinery. The logo is an Amazon woman riding a horse. Agricultural machinery uses an orange logo and the machinery is green and orange. The municipal machinery uses a green logo, and the machinery is tan with green.

History of the name edit

Heinrich Dreyer wanted to give a name to his most successful machine. He asked a friend, a teacher in Gaste, what he thought. The friend told Heinrich that his machine was beautiful and very strong on the market. These two attributes of beauty and strength reminded him of an Amazon. This is a heroine in Greek mythology confident, very strong and beautiful.^[1]

History of the company edit

Mrs. Dreyer in 1902 as the first Amazone model

Heinrich Dreyer founded Amazone in 1883, though the Dreyer family had been involved in the manufacture of agricultural machines earlier. The first machines brought to production were grain cleaning machines, later plow cultivators, potato sorters and in 1915 the first fertilizer spreader was put on the market. Early on Dreyer began exporting of his machinery; in 1906 the first grain cleaning machines were sold in Valparaíso, Chile. He substantiated this with his slogan: "We must go out to the world".^[2] In 1942, the first potato harvesters were introduced to the market and in 1949 the seed drill machines and 1959, a manure spreader. In the 1960s, the two-disc ZA fertilizer spreaders and D4 seed drills were very successful, which helped Amazone to reach market leadership at this time. In 1967 the company entered into tillage and there developed the first Amazone manufactured PTO driven tillage equipment that could be used with a drill. The harrow and rotary cultivator were also included into the product range. Later, after the German reunification, a variety of passive soil-working machines were added to the market.

Amazone BoniRob Field robot

In 2008, the Amazone establishment exceeded expectations because for the first time they added interns and other young workers to their workforce. 2009 saw the opening of an extension of the central spare parts warehouse in Hasbergen, which doubled the workflow capacity for spare parts supply by Amazone. That same year, Amazone took over a new manufacturing site for production of large seeders in Hude and began with their production site in Leeden near Tecklenburg with the production of self-propelled sprayer, the Pantera. In addition, the BoniRob, an autonomous field robot for the individual plant-based experimental research, was presented that was developed in cooperation with the University of Applied Sciences Osnabrück, the Robert Bosch GmbH as well as other partners.

Present edit

In January 2010, a new fertilizer spreader test hall was opened in Hasbergen-Gaste. This has enabled the company to complete fertilizer spreading tests with a working width of up to 72 meters (236 ft) as well as to study new types of fertilizers regarding their mass and scattering properties. This information can then quickly be added to the Amazone fertilizer database so when customers ask how their machine should be set, the answer is easily acquired. This test hall is state-of-the-art and a unique feature for a mid-sized company; no other manufacturer has such a building.

After the huge success at the first Amatechnica - Amazone field day in May 2005, this event was repeated in September 2010. Customers and prospective customers from around the world were shown demonstrations of new and long-standing agricultural machinery.

In February 2011, Amazone sold the warehouse technology division to a newly formed company.^[3]

Management edit

Heinrich Dreyer, the original founder of Amazone, had two sons. It was decided that each of his sons would receive half ownership of the company, but only one of their children would be allowed to carry on the company. Amazone is now in its fourth generation with Christian Dreyer, son of Klaus Dreyer, and Justus Dreyer, son of (SAA Samara) Heinz Dreyer. Both fathers remain active at Amazone. The number of employees is approximately 1700. Amazone exports to over 70 countries, the export share is 75% (in 2012). Amazone's customers are farmers, agricultural contractors, municipalities and related areas.

Manufacturing plants edit

Amazone headquarters in Hasbergen-Gaste near Osnabrück, Germany.

Amazone also has manufacturing facilities in the following locations:^[4]

Hude near Oldenburg, Germany -
Forbach, (France) - municipal implements
Leipzig, Germany - formerly known as BBG - tillage equipment
Leeden (near Tecklenburg), Germany - AmazoneTechnologieLeeden - Pantera
Samara, (Russia) - GAG Eurotechnology Samara

Amazone maintains working offices in 5 locations in Germany; Rendsburg, Göttin, Winningen-Mosel, Altheim-Landshut and Gablingen.^[5]

Are 6 sales locations in Europe in the United Kingdom, France, Poland, Ukraine, Hungary and Russia.

Current machinery range edit

The production program includes soil tillage implements, seed drills, mineral fertilizer spreaders and crop protection sprayers. Amazone is a specialist for “Intelligent crop production” in agriculture. In addition Amazone produces implements for park and green maintenance and winter application.^[6]