CLAAS: ‘The Supplier has reached a new quality level’

In the first quarter of 2020, the experts of the CLAAS plant and the representatives of the central quality control department of the concern in Harsenwinkel (Germany) audited the manufacturing site of the supplier of the tires for TUCANO combine harvesters – JSC ‘Voltyre-Prom’ – for the compliance with the CLAAS requirements based on the German quality standard VDA 6.3. According to the audit results, the rating of the enterprise raised up to В level (Stage II) with the view to get the highest А level in the coming 12 months providing implementation of jointly developed measures for process improvement meant to achieve production stability and to raise the level of reliability of the manufactured goods.

ICollaboration of the two enterprises started in 2013, and one of the key directions of work for the CLAAS and Voltyre-Prom specialists was collaborative research, development and experimental works in order to improve the engineering and manufacturing processes. Particularly, they improved the assembly of the tire with the wheel, stabilized the rubber quality and minimized formation of air bubbles in the bead.

IThe development and implementation of the certain measures to improve the quality of the manufactured tires were performed on the ground of the results of the operational tests in the field and the analysis of the data received from the maintenance services of the authorized dealers of CLAAS. The taken measures enabled to bring a great improvement of the quality characteristics within the last two years, herewith the annual volume of deliveries of the tires manufactured by JSC ‘Voltyre-Prom’ increased sevenfold. At the present moment, for the CLAAS plant in Krasnodar we manufacture six types of pneumatic tubeless tires for operation on the grain combine harvesters TUCANO, including four types of front tires and two – rear ones. The total amount of the delivered goods for the last seven years is more than 7,500 items.

I‘We regularly monitor the quality of the tires, because their reliability is really important for the total operational excellence of the grain combine harvesters TUCANO. In the last few years, we carried out two full audits for compliance of the quality of the manufactured goods with the German standard VDA 6.3. The measures taken by our partner JSC ‘Voltyre-Prom’ have been leading to the impressive positive results proved by statistics of the maintenance services of our dealers’, – says Michael Ritter, Director General of the CLAAS plant.

About CLAAS

The CLAAS company (www.claas.com), founded as a family enterprise in 1913, is one of the largest manufacturer of agricultural machines in Europe now, and also holds leading market positions in the world. The headquarters of the company are located in the German city Harsenwinkel. The organization holds tightly its leading positions on the international market of grain combine harvesters, forage harvesters, tractors. The company has been getting success through active implementation of the state-of-the-art IT solutions in the agro-industrial sector. Today, CLAAS is presented in all continents, with around 11,000 employees. The cash flow of the company in 2019 comprised 3,898 milliard euros.

In Russia the company appeared in 1992. In 2003, they started manufacturing grain combine harvesters in Krasnodar. In 2015, the production facilities were enlarged ninefold, and the plant came over to the complete production cycle for manufacture of grain combine harvesters: from a steel plate to a finished machine. The total amount of investments in the company since 2003 has reached 150 million euros. 550 workplaces were created. At the present moment, the CLAAS plant in Krasnodar is one of the four largest among 13 manufacturing facilities of the concern around the world. The plant manufactures the grain harvesters TUCANO and the tractors AXION and XERION.

In 2016, the plant signed the special investment contract (SPIC) with the Government of the Russian Federation. The grain combine harvester TUCANO manufactured at the plant in Krasnodar has got a status of the Russian goods.

The service-sales company ‘CLAAS Vostok’ in Moscow is in charge of sales, service and provision of spare parts for the machines manufactured by the CLAAS plant as well as manages the dealer-partner network throughout Russia from Kaliningrad to Yuzno-Sakhalinsk.