Krone
The Krone Group belong to the leading producers of commercial vehicles and agricultural technology worldwide. Underneath the umbrella organisation ‘Bernard Krone Holding GmbH & Co. KG’ there are in total 3 further companies: the automobile factory Bernard krone GmbH, the machine factory Bernard Krone GmbH and LVD Bernard Krone GmbH for the areas of sales and service. The main production quarters of the Krone Group are in the German Emsland in Spelle and Werlte. Krone manufacture their modern and efficient forage harvesting technology for cheap prices in these 2 towns. As the long standing market leader in round balers and disc mowers, Krone is still convincing in the production of high quality agricultural machines and herewith gives an insight into over 100 years of company history. In 1906, Bernhard Krone, after whom the company is named, opened a blacksmiths in Spelle which soon, with the help of his son, expanded to become a factory. The family was getting closer to producing their own agricultural machinery which was at first specialised for the root-crop business and soil cultivation. After the war the production was expanded to ploughs and trailers. Manure spreaders, tipping wagons and loading wagons followed so that the assortment of Krone machinery became very varied. In order to optimise the range the Krone Company decided in 1990 to turn away from the production of soil cultivators and to rather specialise itself on the production of forage machinery. Today, the whole Krone product line is comprised of disc mowers, circular hay rakes, circular tedders, loading and regulator wagons as well as large packet and round balers. However, the Krone assortment is especially distinguished by its self-driving tractors Big M and Big X. The concept of self-driving agricultural machinery goes back as far as 1984 when Krone began with the production of the self-driving engine Trac TT. This new machine, which was fitted with power take-off at the front and rear, could be attached to other machinery and could then quicken the soil cultivation tasks on the field. The disc mowers, Big M and Big X, were introduced at the end of the 90s as the optimised successors of the first self-operating machines. Whilst Big M could convince with its optimal work on small fields due to its manoeuvrability, Big X was valued for its high-performance of 700Ps. The name Krone stands for tradition and effective agricultural work but also for its innovative product range. A study carried out in 2007 by the trade journal ‘Eilbote’ and the University of Hohenheim showed that in the category of forage machinery the German dealerships are the most satisfied with the Krone Company.