Home » Issue 19-2019 » Company insights » Centre of excellence: R & D Crop Care in Landau

Centre of excellence

The bigger part of the HORSCH R & D team is located at the company headquarters at Sitzenhof. The plant protection experts, however, have their offices at the HORSCH LEEB site in Landau upon Isar. terraHORSCH visited the R & D team in Landau.

The plant protection sector clearly is a growing market for HORSCH. Since the foundation of the HORSCH LEEB Application Systems GmbH the investments in buildings and production halls especially at the site in Landau were considerable. The administration and also the R & D team were still located at the former Leeb headquarters only a few kilometers away in Oberpöring. In the course of the fourth extension of the production facilities within ten years an office building was added in Landau that now is housing the R & D team. This is where we meet Florian Zink. Until some time ago he was simply called Department Manager R & D, today his exact title is “R & D Department Manager - Engineering BU Crop Care“. He explains what is behind it: “The plant protection sector has always been a relatively independent profit centre, with a R & D, purchasing, production and service department. This is very advantageous as certain sectors that are necessary for a dynamic development thus are combined and clearly assigned. There are less capacity problems and, what is most important, everyone concentrates on one topic: plant protection! Therefore, we are able to react fast and flexibly. The way of thinking is almost like in a start-up company.” This experience was the basis for the idea of the Business Units (BU). This structure will now be transferred to other product sectors at HORSCH.

Florian Zink has been working for Leeb since 2007. He is a mechanical engineer with an agricultural background and he wrote is final thesis at Leeb. “In 2013 we only were six people in one office. We did neither need rules for communications nor a lot of processes. Everyone was able to work in a concentrated way, but still automatically got everything that was going on. Theo Leeb was in the office next door and the door to his office was always open. It was very efficient. With the growth of the company, the number of colleagues grew, too. The offices were extended and we formed teams for special sectors. To minimise the need for communication, we imposed rules for certain things on ourselves, e.g. a colour code for our water hoses. Thus, everyone sees at once what’s what, does not have to ask and any confusion is prevented. The more a sector grows, the more important it is to introduce some rules. We summarised all that in a “Developers‘ Guide“ – but in a very pragmatic way, not as an end in itself.“

Take decisions

Two years ago, a team leader structure was introduced. At that time the department consisted of 17 employees. Florian Zink was the sole contact for quite a lot of things. With the new structure it was possible to split up the tasks. “It is most important for our co-operation that we all have the same basis. Everyone knows how the other one thinks. We trust each other. And we all know exactly what makes our boss, Theo Leeb, tick and which experiences he has. You can see this in our products – the customer immediately recognises the HORSCH LEEB DNA. And not only with regard to design and handling. It also is about special ideas and functions. In large corporate groups, but especially if product groups are bought in addition, this often is no longer the case.” One thing is very important to Florian Zink and his team leaders: “Every employee is to take decisions in his area of responsibility. Otherwise we would only spend our time in meetings.“

Florian Zink knows it first-hand: “I was soon allowed to take on responsibility“, he says. “While I wrote my diploma thesis I, together with the colleagues, worked on the first stages of BoomControl, after my graduation on a new boom generation including a control system. The next step was the GS 6000 and the first project I was completely responsible for was the HORSCH Leeb GS 8000.“

Currently the department employs 31 people. They are mainly mechanical engineers, technicians or mechatronics. The six teams are divided in the following product groups: self-propelled sprayers, trailed sprayers, boom and components, electrics, electronics as well as testing and product management. The latter also is the interface to the product marketing.

“The product marketing actually is located in the marketing department in Schwandorf“, Florian Zink explains. “But we need someone on site who acts as our communicator. In the past years we had quite a few milestones: e.g. the LT as the first machine with a polyethylene tank, new electronics and an immense market potential. And it is very important to communicate this correctly within the company. Moreover, via our own product management we directly get the information from the market, can keep a close contact to the customer and develop a feeling for the market.“

But how does the team proceed in practice when it comes to developing new products? Florian Zink describes the process: “Of course, we know the position of our machines in the market respectively where there is a demand. Together with Theo Leeb we exchange our experiences and opinions about which projects are to be prioritised. Though always without a definite starting date. As soon as we get the go, we draw up a rough concept to see if the ideas can really be put into practice. This happens fast and promptly. The next step is to extend the circle. Our management for example brings in key customers right from the start. It always is our aim that technologies can be broken down to other machine sizes without having to design everything again from scratch – sort of a modular kit. But we still are free to follow up ideas and visions and we often discuss with Theo Leeb and Michael Horsch. And this adds to finding even better solutions. This culture of a dynamic advance was particularly evident when HORSCH and LEEB merged. There was no messing around, we immediately started to move forward.“

Q-Gates

Synergies between Schwandorf and Landau are used consequently, for there quite simply are things that do not have to be available twice in one company, i. e. the circular test plant or the hydro-pulse plant at Sitzenhof. “Our products do not overlap in many respects, but there are things they have in common“, Florian Zink points out. “If the colleagues work on a project with liquid fertiliser we can provide our know-how. But when it comes to welding connection, we benefit from the specialists in Schwandorf.“

“As several departments are involved in the development of new products, we work with so-called Q-Gates“, Florian Zink explains. “It might be that one department advances faster and the other departments cannot keep up the pace. With our system we make sure that at the serial start the optimum quality is available for our products. Q-Gate 1 is passed as soon as we are ready to build a prototype. All parts lists are completed and all necessary parts have been provided by our purchasing department. The prototypes are assembled by our test team and the responsible engineers supported by the colleagues from the production department. Thus, we engineers have the chance to remain close to practice. And that’s important. The prototype stage corresponds to Q-Gate 3, 4 and 5 (pre-series) and in stage 6 every department involved has to confirm that we are ready for serial production. The reason is that in the pre-series stage we might not have completed all possible equipment options. They are added subsequently. At the start of the serial production the maturity level of the machines has to comply with all our quality parameters. Our department works hand in hand with the purchasing, production, quality management and service department. The latter is particularly important as for new products it makes sense to involve the service department right from the start. The assembly teams, too, are involved at an early stage. We discuss how the products will fit in best in the assembly lines and we get impulses how to facilitate assembly. Thus, we combine the expert knowledge from all departments. The objective is: We have to work on a new product until everyone is satisfied.“

Impulses from practical experiences

There is one thing that does not fit in with so many similarities and networking – at least at first glance: HORSCH in Schwandorf and HORSCH LEEB in Landau work with two completely different design programs. The reason are the products themselves. According to Florian Zink the CAD program they use perfectly matches the HORSCH LEEB products and their design: “We purchase larger components like cabin or engines from external suppliers. This means that we receive high amounts of data that our program can handle really well. The requirements for HORSCH machines are quite different. A standardisation might have some advantages. But for us, the most crucial arguments are having a perfect tool for the respective requirement and the corresponding performance. Load simulation for example is integrated in our program. Thus, we do not have to import data. In both cases, the programs are supported by the specialists of our own IT department in Schwandorf. This constellation is perfectly in line with our company philosophy. The pursuit of the optimum requires flexibilty.“

There are a lot of small components that lead to the success of a product. The objective HORSCH and HORSCH LEEB have in common is the satisfaction of the customer. And the R & D teams often create the basis. And despite all systematics and regulated processes: A lot of impulses still come from the owner families. For they themselves are deeply rooted in agriculture.