JACKSON, Minn. (DTN) -- Fendt would seem to have fair winds in its sails as it opened Fendt Lodge this week, its 16,000-square-foot North American brand home here.

While Fendt's parent company, AGCO Corp., was releasing its first-quarter 2024 financial results reporting a 12.1% decrease in net sales through March 31, Fendt offered a confident outlook for farmer customers and AGCO dealers assembled inside Fendt Lodge.

There is a reason for optimism. Fendt's North and South America sales doubled to $1.4 billion from 2021 to 2023 -- a number reached two years ahead of AGCO's expectations. "We expect that trajectory to continue to grow going forward," Eric Hansotia, AGCO CEO, president and chairman, told DTN/Progressive Farmer.

Fendt Lodge will host dealer training events, sales meetings and brand introductions while also inviting farmers to see the Fendt line in person and even let farmers drive equipment on a test track. The facility includes a history center, meeting rooms and a large conference room with a glass wall that looks down onto the assembly floor. Visitors can schedule factory tours. More than 1,000 employees at AGCO's Jackson Operations build the Fendt 900 Vario MT and 1000 Vario MT track tractors and Fendt Rogator 900 applicator.

Present at the opening of Fendt Lodge was Joe DiPietro, vice president for Fendt North America and AGCO general manager for North America. DTN/Progressive sat down with DiPietro to talk about Fendt and other issues such as supply chains. Here is the interview, with edits for context and clarity.

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DTN/Progressive Farmer: Let's talk about the newly opened Fendt Lodge here in Jackson, Minnesota.

Joe DiPietro: We wanted a brand home in North America for farmers who own Fendt equipment, farmers who would like to add a Fendt machine to their farms. There is a similar facility in Germany, that's the Fendt Forum. But if you live in the U.S. or Canada, that's a long way to go. And we want to give you a home here in Minnesota (Fendt Forum with equipment displays, store and restaurant is located at Marktoberdorf, Germany, where Fendt tractors are manufactured).

DTN/PF: What does Fendt Lodge, brand home for Fendt in North America, say to farmers?

DiPietro: It should signal to the farmers in North America that we're here for the long (haul). We've upgraded this plant, we've added capacity. We're at full employment. We want farmers to come and see that for themselves. We're not the biggest (brand) out there, but we feel like we're the best. Give us a chance on your farm.

DTN/PF: Fendt has fairly quickly expanded its equipment line in North America ... Fendt tractors, the IDEAL combine, Momentum planter, Rogator sprayer. Fendt will incorporate technologies from AGCO's new PTx technology arm. What's the long-term strategy?

DiPietro: Our pipeline of new products has been fueled by Precision Planting. Precision Planting brings the best solutions to the field, first as a (retrofit) aftermarket solution and later factory installed. We're really excited about PTx Trimble that has a full pipeline of aftermarket offerings but will also become factory installed here in Jackson, Minnesota, and other plants very soon. (PTx is Precision Planting and Trimble PTx.)

DTN/PF: What does PTx bring to Fendt's product line?

DiPietro: PTx Trimble offers onboard and offboard solutions for farmers. There is targeted spraying. There's also solutions for communications, for data management, for field management. It is some of the best technology in the world, which will now be available to every Fendt owner.

DTN/PF: When farmers tell you about their crop management frustrations, what's Fendt's answer?

DiPietro: It's about empowering them with unlimited flexibility or power, but with simplicity. (Those) are not mutually exclusive. You can offer simple solutions that unlock all the potential on a farm. Things like managing input costs, automating decision-making, moving data on and off the machine. (Farmers) deal with a lot of data, a lot of data. It is important for long-term decision-making. Maybe one day (artificial intelligence) helps farmers make decisions easier.

DTN/PF: Would you talk about Fendt's service -- maintenance and repair -- strategy?

DiPietro: Every Fendt machine in North America is sold with Fendt's Gold Star (program). It is complete parts and service, including pre- and post-season inspections of every Fendt machine for three years or equivalent hours. And we want to be able to provide that level of support on the farm ... from a mobile service truck, from a dealer. It's a concept where we look at ways to support the farmer if they don't have proximity to a brick-and-mortar store.

DTN/PF: Talk about the service trucks. Some of them take a quarter-million dollars to put them onto the road and out to the farm.

DiPietro: They have a variety of connected machines, they have route planning, they have pre-diagnostic (capability), which allow the technician to have a better probability of knowing ahead of time on how to stock that truck with parts, but also how to diagnose the machine faster when they get there. It's about uptime. And it's using some predictive analytics so that uptime is maximized on the farm.

DTN/PF: You're experimenting with expedited parts delivery services. Would you tell us about it?

DiPietro: The world has changed, right? We're all kind of used to very accelerated deliveries. So, we're using some common carriers but also some specialized carriers. We want to have accelerated parts support so that part arrives (at the farm or field) ahead of maybe even the technician. We still have a fair number of customers that do a lot of their own maintenance. So, we want to offer some flexible solutions. The days of always making that trip to the parts counter, they're probably over. We want to move the part support to the farm.

DTN/PF: With this discussion about parts, let's shift over to the supply chain. Has the chain recovered from COVID?

DiPietro: I don't think any manufacturer will tell you that that's over forever. The world fundamentally changed as a result of COVID. (The COVID pandemic showed) just how delicate the world supply chain is. Fendt and AGCO have invested in tools that allow (AGCO) to be much more capable, to have a much better view of its extended supply chain. So, that might be your first supplier, but also where they get their own materials or (who are) suppliers to them. Now (AGCO) sees this. No one is ready to wave the mission-accomplished flag. I think supply chains will continue to be something all of us have to actively manage. And I think in the next few years, you'll still see the occasional disruption.

DTN/PF: What, then, is the big lesson from COVID and supply chains?

DiPietro: I think every manufacturer learned how delicate their supply chain is, and how important supply chain visibility is. The idea that you could just rely on a single point of supply becomes a real problem, right? Our Fendt machines from Germany are brought through the Port of Baltimore. (The Key Bridge collapse) was a very tragic event. Six people lost their lives. The collapse trapped vessels inside and, obviously, is restricting entry. But we were able to adjust overnight to an alternative port on the East Coast that we had pre-arranged and pre-contracted with in the event of just such an issue, without missing a beat. This is an example of supply chain resiliency. Is this something you would have talked about two or three years ago? Probably not. Now it's a regular topic. How will we react better and protect farmers?

Dan Miller can be reached at dan.miller@dtn.com

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