Row-crop country might be 1,000 kilometres away, but corn and soybean seeders are soon to become an important part of the product mix at Flexi-Coil.
The new products are the result of CNH Global’s decision to centralize its seeding technology operations at the Saskatoon plant.
CNH announced last week it will close its Concord seeding equipment maker in Fargo, North Dakota, and lay off about 100 people.
Darrel Schindel, a spokesperson for Flexi-Coil, said as the implications get worked out, the consolidation should mean more activity and more employees at the Saskatoon plant.
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“We’ll know a lot more over the next six months what it will mean as far as growth in jobs is concerned,” Schindel said.
The big picture
The news was part of a larger announcement by CNH Global of several plant closures and consolidations resulting from Case and New Holland working out their merger.
While the Fargo plant will close, the early indication is that the Concord brand will continue to be used on products sold at Case dealerships while Flexi-Coil will be the brand at New Holland dealers.
Schindel said Flexi-Coil had been building row-crop equipment for a couple of years, applying its air carts to row crop equipment.
“Now with the addition of the Case line, that will give us the ability to produce conventional box-based row-crop equipment. In October we will be building the Case row crop drill.”
He expects Flexi-Coil engineers will work on more ways to apply its air technology to row-crop planters.
In the mid-1990s, the company enjoyed a sales boom that caused its staff to balloon to about 1,700. It has since downsized and now employs about 576 people.
Case will close its Concord plant, but it will maintain its tractor plant in Fargo.
The company will close its combine plant in East Moline, Illinois, and tractor production facility in Racine, Wisconsin, with both closings coming no later than 2004, Racine-based CNH said.
CNH said it plans to consolidate production of combines for the Case IH and New Holland brands at the company’s plant in Grand Island, Nebraska.
The manufacturing site for Case IH and New Holland row-crop tractors will be at a North American location to be named later.
In Europe, the company has sold a component plant in Hattingen, Germany, and recently announced plans to close a facility in Kissing, Germany by September 2000.
The company also closed the former New Holland headquarters near London.
These moves, together with previously announced actions, represent about 5,000 job cuts out of a planned 7,200.
The company had 36,000 employees before the cuts began.
CNH plans to cut costs annually by about $500 million (U.S.) by 2003.
