Lemken ended its 2020 financial year with sales at an almost unchanged high level of 365 million euros. The company said demand was particularly high for seed drills and hoeing technology. The new year has also started well with very good levels of incoming orders.
“We’re happy and grateful that we were able to maintain our production throughout the past year without placing the health of our 1,631 employees worldwide at risk,” CEO Antony van der Ley added. “We’ve achieved our ambitious goals for both sales and results and are very satisfied, even though we exited the field sprayer sector.
“We’ve also been able to bolster our service for specialist dealers, farmers and contractors at the highest level. We managed the challenges of Covid-19 well by providing many smaller-scale demonstrations and digital offerings. However, we would certainly be delighted if we were able to have face-to-face contacts and events again soon so that we can demonstrate the benefits of our methods on the fields for everybody to see.”
Last year Lemken took a clear decision on its future direction by stopping field sprayer production and focusing its strengths fully on the manufacture of modern precision hoeing technology. This has already yielded initial success: Lemken subsidiary Steketee has distinguished itself as an innovation factory and increased its sales by 30 per cent. Its product portfolio includes customisable hoeing machines that support highly economical weed control thanks to camera-controlled individual plant detection. The new fertiliser spreaders that Lemken offers in a wide range of models to service very diverse operating conditions have also been established successfully on the market.
Sales in the German home market have remained consistently high, although international sales dominate with a 77 per cent share of the total. In 2020, the company’s largest markets included France, Russia, the USA and the United Kingdom, with substantial increases in sales for the last three of these countries.
The family-run business is very optimistic for 2021, given the high levels of incoming orders. In view of the high growth expectations, Lemken invested in state-of-the-art assembly processes in the company’s Haren factory that has been completely set up for the manufacture of seed drill technology since the beginning of the year. New market offerings include the hybrid cultivator Koralin 9 for ultra-shallow tillage, the compact cultivator Kristall for working widths of up to 10m and the new OptiStone overload protection for ploughs.
In the seed drill segment, Lemken has started manufacturing the updated Saphir and Solitair models, including a double tank/hopper (for more seed or fertiliser), the Solitair 23 front tank with ISObus control and the 6m wide Solo seed coulter bar with independent chassis. Among new products to be introduced are a large-scale seed drill and extended precision drilling technology with the Azurit and its innovative DeltaRow technology.
Lemken is additionally firmly committed to digitisation and networking, offering solutions for precise field work and smart data management. The iQblue connect system, which was been recognised by the German Agricultural Society (DLG) with an innovation award, will be the first accessory system on offer that intelligently automates the operating functions of tillage implements via the tractor controls.
