How many combine independants are left???

[Woodbeef]

I was just wondering,how many independant combine manufacturers are left worldwide?

[JoeinTX]

  Well, not many....... You have Sampo Rosenlew of Finland who is doing well on their own.  Then of course Claas.  Don Roque of Argentina seems okay and look to have a good machine.  The two other Argentines, Bernardin and Marani, are still in production but have nearly identical corporate addresses so they may be tied together somehow.  The DON, or now Rostov-on-DON, is still kicking but just barely.   The last I read they were making around 800 or so machines a year (down from 10000+ at their height) but were anticipating a growing need from Russian and Commonwealth farmers and thus planning on building around 2000 units in the future.  The only problem is that most Russian farmers can't buy new, even DONs, and what money is being leant to them is almost exclusively for Western machines.  It is hard to say whether they will be around in another year or two???  There are a few Chinese and Indian companies making Mini-harvesters and threshers that I have found but nothing that compares to Western makes.  So it seems that most everything worth mentioning is green (JD, Class, Deutz, Fendt). or red (CaseIH, MF, Marani, Don Roque), silver (Gleaner, DON), yellow (NH, Sampo) or blue (Bernardin).  

[orange]

Don are actually Green now, a few years ago they where orange. Also they are working on a new model which has a CAT motor, interesting
Also there is Niva combines and Unisy in Russia
and in Ukraine there is a copy of the Claas Dominator 8 series made under license, but produced in blue and white, sorry I can not remember the name

[[e-mail]]

Is this blue and white combine a Fortschritt ?
Well i don't know if i write correct the name.

[orange]

No it is not Fortschritt, but a Claas in blue and white, I will try and find out more

[[e-mail]]

The Ukranian Claas combine is at this site. www.aginukraine.com/UkrCTT/lan/index.html if it works. Probably aginukraine.com would get to it. I think the Valtra or Valmet engine site had a picture of a LAN which was a Forschritt design which probably had to be replaced after CIH bought the combine.

[orange]

Good man Red Painter, LAN thats the name
Now I will be able to sleep tonight, thanxs ;D
They have been building these since 97 at least,

[[e-mail]]

Glad to help especially if it helps you saw wood tonight. Try this site for that Forschritt LAN .   www.sisudiesel.com/Company/1_7.htm  

[kenjar]

I beleive Duro Dakovic are still made in Croatia. I think they are Deutz-Fahr copies. What about Bizon of Poland? Oh yeah, they're part  of CNH.

[orange]

I was under the impression that NH had taken over Bizon and that NH TC combines are to be produced there soon,
Is the CF80 still being produced in Germany

[[e-mail]]

I'm afraid Argentine combine production is in trouble. I found a few sites, most of which I can't find now since I only have the computer translation which is in itself hard to figure out. So what I have to say may not be correct, but this is my best understanding from the translations and my poor memory.
Anyway from what I could figure out in the year 2000, Don Roque (who used to build the Vassalli 1200 and 1500 at onetime), Bernardin, and Marani brands were still being producted. Locally produced combines were 24.8% of the market (173 cosechadoras). In 2001 (January to September I guess) Argentine combines were 18.4% of the market-(94combines). Brazilian combines went from 53.2 to 67.6% in that part of 2001. I guess this is due to Brazilian currency devaluation and bank interest rates and maybe other factors. If I remember right until recently Don Roque was in regular production and the other two companies still produced some combines. But it sounds like Don Roque is now in bankruptcy and may open for some production in March but the company may be sold. Can independent's survive the big multinationals? The Don Roque looks like a nice machine.
I also found this site for any historian:  www.agriculturadeprecision.org/cfi/Mercado%20Cosechadoras%20I.htm   If it works it will give a history of Argentine combines which can be translated using the Alta Vista translator(Babelfish). It lists up to 15 combine manufacturers who used their own designs and reached their height of production in the years between 75 to 85. From 85 to 90 with the increasing soybean culture and increased corn and wheat yields, larger combines with approximately 1.20 to 1.50 meter width appeared. I think German built 5 walker machines were sold there, but now John Deere sources combines from the former SLC factory building German style combines and the US.  (Once in the early days when combines were built under license, the SLC were orange and looked like the John Deere 55 though later machines were green)

[[e-mail]]

Here's another combine manufacturer (India?) . Check it out.    www.ksagrotech.com/  

[JoeinTX]

 Ah......Very interesting.  What the h*** is up with these "upper tractor mounted" combines?  I'm not knowledgable on everything, but I've never seen anything like that.  Why?

[orange]

I suppose it is so that they can "un bolt" the power unit stick the wheels back on and then they have a 100+ hp tractor,

[[e-mail]]

That's probably right, but how would they get it up and down? Maybe a ramp or hoist I guess. Seems more work than it's worth if you mount a tractor for double use like that so high. Australia used to have one where you'd b back your tractor under the back of the machine (offset I think), hook up and use the drive axle as chain drives for the front combine wheels and the front tractor wheels for back steering wheels of the combine (header) if I remember right, and of course there was  the danish combine mounted on the side of the tractor like Ferguson's design (can't remember the name). Both those were good in that the tractor didn't leave the ground to be used as a power source.