Massey Ferguson is celebrating the production of the one-millionth tractor at its Beauvais plant. This milestone coincides with the company’s 175th anniversary, although MF has only been manufacturing tractors on the site in Northern France since November 1960.
The vice president and managing director of MF EAME, and president of Agco in France, Thierry Lhotte, presented the tractor – an MF 8S.305 Dyna-VT – to Brittany-based arable farmer and contractor Thierry Aubrée.
“On behalf of all our employees and dealers, I want to thank our customers for their steadfast trust,” Mr Lhotte said.
MF’s vice president for manufacturing at Beauvais, Boussad Bouaouli, emphasised employee commitment on the Beauvais MF campus development.
“Since 1960, there have always been people who kept the site moving, always with the right farmer-first focus to address challenges of the times and, above all, with a clear view to the future,” he said.
Beauvais started off with production of the MF 825 in 1960, and since then the site has grown continuously, producing iconic tractors driven by innovation. These include the MF 3000 Series in 1986 that was the first tractor with onboard electronics, and the MF 8600 in 2008 that introduced MF’s efficient power concept to reduce environmental impact with the first use of SCR technology on an agricultural machine.
More recently, Beauvais became home to the MF 8S Series in 2020, which went on to be named Tractor of the Year 2021.
The site has seen innovative developments in recent years, including implementation of Lean Manufacturing practices, expansion of the Beauvais 2 cab assembly line and a logistics center, and a Tractor Customisation Workshop.
The facility produces many of the brand’s most popular tractors, including the MF 4700 M, MF 5700 M, MF 5S, MF 6S, MF 7S, MF 8S and MF 8700 S Series. Up to 100 tractors can be produced and shipped daily to dealers in more than 70 countries.
