In 2003, the Claas Group acquired the agricultural division of the Renault Group and, with it, a production plant located in Le Mans, the town famous for its motor racing circuit.
Today, thanks to an investment of more than 80 million euros, the site is one of the most modern and efficient tractor production hubs in the industry
February 2003. Claas took advantage of the French agricultural machinery exhibition to organize a press conference during which it announced the acquisition of the agricultural division of the Renault Group and the production site located in Le Mans, in the Loire region, a town known worldwide for the motor racing circuit that hosts the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans every year.
Thanks to this move, the German Group immediately entered the ranks of the world’s leading tractor manufacturers, launching its first machines as early as October of the same year. At the time, these were obviously tractors based on Renault models, but over the years, thanks to continuous investments in research and development, this identity gradually faded, giving way to originally designed Claas tractors — the same machines that today make up a range spanning from 75 to 653 horsepower in the open-field segment and from 75 to 120 horsepower in the specialist segment.
It is precisely the open-field tractors that represent the core production of the Le Mans plant, a facility in which Claas has invested more than 80 million euros and which is now capable of producing up to 65 tractors per day while operating on a single shift and ensuring the highest possible quality standards for every machine.
Covering an area of more than 25 hectares and employing around 1,100 people including technicians, office staff, and production workers, the site manufactures all Claas tractors from the “Arion 400” series up to the “Axion 9” series, following a philosophy of continuous assembly monitoring. These activities are preceded by strict and meticulous inspections of raw materials, externally sourced components, and subassemblies, with the latter also undergoing functional testing.
As each tractor progresses toward the end of the assembly process, several intermediate inspection stages are carried out, and once completed, every machine undergoes specific bench tests designed to verify the perfect efficiency of all its functions.
These checks also include paint quality standards, handled by one of the most modern and highly automated painting systems in the industry, built between 2019 and 2021 together with the installation of a new cab pre-assembly line and the modernization of the assembly line. Today, the production system is based on advanced, bright, and ergonomic workstations equipped with numerous lifting devices and collaborative robots, ensuring optimal working conditions for personnel operating in the production areas.
Since 2022, the year in which a new Academy was inaugurated, employees have also received dedicated training whenever new products enter production, as recently happened with the launch of the new “Axion 9 Cmatic” super tractors and the new “Arion 6.190 Cmatic,” unveiled last November during Agritechnica. From both a technological and design standpoint, these models are intended to serve as benchmarks for all future generations of Claas tractors.
Title: Claas Group: productive and strategic investments
Translation with ChatGPT
