PÖTTINGER FAMILY TRADITIONS: Innovation, Dedication, Authenticity

Published on Thu, 12/10/2015 - 2:07pm

By Maura Keller

The family business has long been a staple in the world economy and for the Austria-based Pöttinger family, owners of the Pöttinger company, which develops innovative farming technologies, the family-run business has proven to be a successful entity for the worldwide farming industry for almost 145 years.

It all began in 1871, at a festival in Linz, Austria when Franz Pöttinger, a clockmaker, received a bronze medal for his forage cutting machine. That same year the Pöttinger company was founded and has been serving the agricultural technology industry ever since.

Nearly 40 years later, in 1909, Alois Pöttinger took over from his father Franz and continued innovative, pioneering developments such as the self-propelled hay rake in 1960, which earned Pöttinger an international reputation. Since that time, Pöttinger has been involved in developing the loader wagon, tillage and soil preparation technology, as well as seed drill technology.

In addition to the ongoing expansion of the product range in the grassland, tillage and seed drill sectors, Pöttinger has invested in internationalization over the years: with a total of fourteen subsidiaries and three production locations, the Austrian family-owned company is represented all over the world.

Since 1991, Pöttinger has been run by the fourth generation of the family, Klaus and Heinz Pöttinger.

“At Pöttinger we have been working for the success of our customers for almost 145 years,” say managing directors Heinz and Klaus Pöttinger. “As a family-run business we strive for fair partnerships and reliable, sincere business relationships. As a family-owned business, Pöttinger takes its responsibility towards future generations and the environment very seriously: “it is our duty to develop agricultural technology that supports all aspects of farming into the future. After all, everyone needs agriculture. And we are dedicated to agriculture.”

Family companies are often kept intact by a sense of family legacy, a sense that the family heritage has an essential worth of its own. At Pöttinger, they really strive to keep the history and the family-oriented aspect of the business at the forefront. When the business carries your family name, it means something.

“Pöttinger is a partner you can count on: innovative, dedicated and authentic,” says Heinz Pöttinger. “The farmer’s success is our objective. We want to make work easier for our customers and increase their quality of life as a result. We do this by providing tractor-mounted, implement-mounted and trailed implements for use in hay and forage harvesting, tillage and drilling technologies as well as the associated services.”

The importance given to people — both customers and employees — at Pöttinger is paramount. The family recognizes that focusing on their most important assets, their employees, ensures that the highest standards are maintained when designing new products.

“Since our employees have their roots in agriculture, they know what is expected of agricultural machinery from their own experience,” Klaus Pöttinger says. “A combination of employee expertise and unswerving customer focus is our basis for devising professional solutions.”

At Its Core

Since its founding, Pöttinger has worked hard to provide leading-edge agricultural equipment to farm operators — both big and small. And their products and services can be found throughout the world. Today, Pöttinger has subsidiaries in Valparaiso, Indiana; and Saint-Cesaire, Quebec, Canada; as well as spare parts warehouses in Valparaiso, Indiana; Lemoore, California; Saint-Cesaire, Quebec, Canada; and Brandon, Manitoba, Canada.

According to Marco Otten, North America area sales manager at Pöttinger, the company’s core products have always been the hay and forage equipment, however during the past few years Pöttinger has been gaining ground with their tillage equipment.

“Hay and forage has always been the core product line for the company — not just in North America,” Otten says. “But especially among the large custom operators and large dairy farmers, our triple-mower combination is a known brand throughout the industry. These machines have laid the path for other products of our line, such as rakes and tedders, but also the tillage equipment.”

This year, Pöttinger is introducing the NOVACAT S10 mower, which is a lightweight but very durable triple-mower with a cutting width of almost 32 feet. As Otten explains, it is the narrow version of the NOVACAT S12, which is the largest 3-point mower worldwide with a cutting width of up to 37 feet.

“This model was introduced two years ago in North America and has proven its worth over the past two seasons,” Otten says.

In addition, Pöttinger also has recently introduced the HIT 6.80T, a new 6-rotor tedder that is a trailed version of the 3-point machine, which has been introduced in 2014. This unit also has the new robust DYNATECH rotors designed for tough conditions with tine savers standard and asymmetric tines that sweep up all the crop and features HYDROLIFT for more clearance when turning on the headland.

Also, the TOP 842C Rake is a direct replacement of the TOP 852C from last year and features a newly designed center delivery rake with a raking width of up to 28 feet and includes the new TOPTECHPLUS rotor with replaceable tine carrier arms including tine savers standard as well for consistent shaped windrows. The product comes standard with a proven MULTI-TAST setup to reduce the ash content in the windrow, up to 25 percent.

“We also updated our line of self loading silage wagons, including our new EUROPROFI Combiline wagons that were introduced in 2014” Otten says. “This year we are adding the new generation of FARO and TORRO wagons, featuring more knives and increased torque rating for handling the toughest crops and the increasing HP of the tractors.”

So what makes Pöttinger’s products truly stand out? Quite simply, the company designs equipment with the customer in mind and the goal of providing customers with durable and high-quality machines, all of which feature a two-year full warranty.

“This level of quality ensures productivity but also efficiency at the end of the day,” Otten says. “The cost of running equipment is getting more and more important, which means machines need to be built strong while not adding excessive weight. With that end goal, we’ve been able to create a line of equipment that fits the small farmer up to the larger custom operators.”

In addition, Pöttinger brings decades of experience and expertise that is clearly illustrated in the knowledge and service that they provide to their dealers and end customers.

“Being a smaller setup operation in North America means that our people wear several hats — from being the product support person to the sales person,” Otten says. “This is not only the case for the people on the road, but also for our office team. They know all assets and aspects of our business within our lean organization, which provides a huge benefit to the dealer and end customer.”

While Pöttinger’s core market area has always been the Northeast and Midwest, serving the traditional dairy market, the company has also made efforts in the past years to expanding their sales area into the Southern and Western regions — not just in the United States, but also Canada.

“Our growth is starting to show its momentum,” Otten says. “And we see that as big opportunity for the future.” For more information about Pöttinger and its products visit www.poettinger.us, send your email to sales.us@poettinger.us or call toll-free: 888-943-3009.