REGINA – Case New Holland is painting all of its Flexicoil and planter equipment in the same New Holland blue.
Mergers and acquisitions over recent years have narrowed the number of owners in the world’s agricultural implement market.
What were once the brands and colours of Braud, Case, Claeys, Fiat, Flexicoil, Ford, International Harvester, New Holland and Steyr are now the modern CNH.
The company has picked one colour to help build brand identity in its planting tools.
The former grey and red field tools and pull-type sprayers will now bear the blue paint scheme, with only a small logo to identify the former lines, next to the larger New Holland signature.
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“A farmer can now have an entirely blue lineup of equipment in the field,” said Kevin Dow, of CNH’s planting equipment operation at Saskatoon’s former Flexicoil plant. Since acquiring Flexicoil five years ago, CNH has moved all seeding equipment manufacturing to the Saskatoon plant.
“We’re now building planters for the corn industry in Saskatoon and that has meant more work and a workforce that is back up to old numbers,” said Dow.
Rough waters for short-line implement companies had seen Flexicoil expand and retract in recent years. But the spread of corn production to new areas of the United States has been good for the Saskatoon operation, Dow said.
“Corn is moving into North and South Dakota and the industry is changing in the Midwest,” he said.
A pent up demand for larger equipment as American farm size grows has meant that the bulk-fill design of seed tanks pioneered by Flexicoil is showing up on row-crop gear, along with the computer controls and software of the minimum and zero-till equipment.
“We’ve merged more than the names and paint. Software from (Case and International Harvester) DSS systems and Flexicoil are now part of technology transfer to our Brazil plant.
“We see CIH openers on planter bars. It’s everywhere.”
Allen Rider, North American president of New Holland’s agricultural business, said the company has replaced “90 percent of its product line in 36 months.”
The colour change “shouldn’t be much to deal with in the face of that kind of change. Farmers will be better able to identify our products in the field and we are better able to build our brand,” he said while attending the Western Canada Farm Progress Show in Regina last month.
Company officials say there is bound to be some confusion in the marketplace, especially as the grey and red of Flexicoil will still be around for Agco and CIH dealers that can’t or don’t sell New Holland brands.
“For those dealers where we have that contractual relationship, they will still be getting the same equipment that is now blue with the heritage grey colours and logos,” he said.
Australia will no longer receive any of the once popular grey field machines. Short-line dealers there that carried Flexicoil were already linked to New Holland and CIH.
CIH seeding machines that are red will remain red, including the Concord brand and, like the Flexicoil gear, retain a heritage reference such as the familiar Steiger name on the larger tractors.
New Holland combines will remain yellow, having forgone dark orange several years ago. Forage gear retains an orange and yellow scheme with greater emphasis on the orange.
