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XtraBlatt Issue 02-2018

  • Text
  • Krone
  • Machinery
  • Forage
  • Straw
  • Farmer
  • Contractor
  • Dairy
  • Bales
  • Agricultural
  • Cows

INTERVIEW 1 2

INTERVIEW 1 2 adjustments for different harvest material without any great effort, at that time a sensation! It ensured – and still does nowadays – very uniformly packed bales with grass silage, even with varying moisture content along the swath. Amshove: 2003 brought an additional quality boost: the introduction of the double knotter. This enabled a substantial increase in bale densities. The demand for stable-form, high-density bales came firstly from the USA. The double knotter was thus one of the most important steps in the direction professional machines and proved an enormous benefit to Krone, particularly in the export trade. Beindorf: 2003 was also when the MultiBale System was introduced – only possible with the double knotter, and a further addition to the Krone unique selling arguments. to meet the hard demands from agricultural contractors and large-scale farms worldwide. I would, in fact, go so far as to say: HDP was the winning throw for Krone. Beindorf: Without a doubt, this was also responsible for HDP bales becoming a real generic term for heavy, high-density and form-stable bales. Even when it sounds melodramatic and immodest: HDP bales revolutionised straw and forage transport logistics. These bales are excellent for stacking, even up to 12 bales high with straw. And this is a standard of performance that other manufacturers have been unable to match over many, many years. For freight concerns, there’s also the business advantage of maximum exploitation of truck carrying capacity. In the USA for example, payment is based on the weight transported. There, people quickly stopped talking of big square bales and instead refer to “Krones”. XtraBlatt: When did the HDP (High Density Press) system arrive? XtraBlatt: With that then, these bales became the accepted standard of excellence against which all others are judged … Dr Martensen: Pacemakers for the HDP were professional straw merchants all over the world, merchants that bale more than 40,000 bales per machine. Such customers demanded a substantial increase in bale density. We worked on this intensively, doubtless not without paying “learning money” in the process. However, we have been able to increase bale density by 25 %. Important steps in this direction were, e.g. enlargement of the frame and the driveshaft inclusive flywheel. A positive side-effect: the strengthening went in-hand with a still longer working lifetime, a fact we’ve been able to appreciate in following years. Dr Martensen: Correct! And this applied even more so to the HDP II that we brought onto the market in 2013. Requirements for the development of this were: doubled throughput of unchanged bale density. Hereby, we decided that six double knotters were not enough to handle this performance and thus developed together with the company Rasspe a new, slimmer, unit that permitted eight knotters to be fitted side-by-side. The performance possible with this set-up was demonstrated by our record in 2013 of 149 big bales each averaging 500 kg being produced in one hour, representing 74 t material baled per hour. Premiere of the HDP system was Agritechnica 2005 and, in my estimation, represented one of the greatest milestones in BiG Pack development, not only regarding performance but, just as importantly, in terms of manufacturer reputation as producer of seriously professional machinery specially made XtraBlatt: Whereby the conditions probably didn’t reflect a “normal” practical situation?! Beindorf: Admittedly … but at least as important as the per hour performance and bale quality is the robustness of these 46

3 1 The 1993-introduced BiG Pack beat the competition, not only because of its tandem axles but also through many other technical features. 2 The BiG Pack 1270, presented in 2003 with MultiBale function, was the first-ever baler producing up to six smaller bales within a big bale. 3 Krone developed the BiG Pack HDP II to bring best possible efficiency into straw handling. machines. When the next workshop is three flight hours away as is possible, for instance, in Australia, customers are naturally interested in extreme durability and reliability. And because this excellence in construction and robustness is also designed into all the other Krone baler series, the result is more confidence in machine reliability and an associated boost to sales figures. can be seen in the MultiBale 870 HDP, a new type of universal machine with which the contractor can produce high-density big bales for the straw and forage trade but also has the capacity, through selection in the operating field on the monitor, of producing with the same machine easily-handled small bales, handy for transport by livestock farmers. Dr Martensen: Also enormously increased is operating speed with this reaching 15 – 16 km/h. In fact, we’ve tested the balers working at 30 km/h, although power demand then was simply too high. However, one alteration is symptomatic: before HDP, drivers accelerated on the headlands in order to quickly turn into the next swath. Now when coming to the end of a swath, the brake lights go on … XtraBlatt: As perfectly formed the high-density bales may be, the usual procedure of payment still relatively common is per bale. From the agricultural contractor point of view, this is unsatisfactory with HDP bales … Amshove: As long as form and weight of bale is not considered in the charge per bale produced, this way of paying is not really fair. Essential with HDP baling is therefore a way of weighing and assessing moisture content – and both parameters are catered for through Krone options offered since 2011. XtraBlatt: With all these achievements so far, is there still room for improvement? Where will the trend with big balers go in the future? Dr Martensen: As full liner, we must cater more for niche requirements now and in the future. An example of this “THE HDP BALES HAVE REVOLUTIONISED STRAW AND FORAGE TRANSPORT LOGISTICS.” NIKLAS BEINDORF, PRODUCT MARKETING Beindorf: The latest example of this full line aspect is the BaleCollect, originally triggered by demand from customers in Denmark and also from the USA where 80% of big balers work with collection wagons. But even in its first year, this solution was much better welcomed than we expected in Germany. Helping acceptance more than a little here was the fact that the bale trailer, because of its telescopic drawbar and factory-fitted roadworthiness plating, was suitable for use on public roads without further official roadworthiness tests. Dr Martensen: On the subject of trends, two other points are very important on my part. One is the reflection on how, particularly with silage, additional feed quality can be ensured at baling, for instance through adding dosing units for supplementary feed components. And naturally with the BiG Pack the theme digitisation is also very much in focus, from optimising management between tractor and baler through to documentation for operation and fleet planning. In short: “Agriculture 4.0” is currently an important guideline in product development for us. And I am convinced that we – to use your formulation – will continue to be able to develop what is seen as the accepted standard of excellence. « 47