„An update for a successful product is not easy“

A successful machine update – how does it work?
Philipp Horsch: The objective of an update basically is to improve a product (functions, assembly etc…), to tidy it up, i.e. to optimise the equipment, reduce weight if necessary and to react to new requirements from the market, thus from the customer. Within a product life cycle a product tends to develop towards more complexity. The reason is the constant extension of options etc. And there is the risk that it for example becomes more and more expensive and untidy. Suddenly you notice: Some things would not have been necessary. In this case you simply have to get rid of old habits, think in a new direction and start anew! Thus, it notably is about “tidying up“ a product – this is what we at HORSCH always keep an eye on. This is what we did with the Pronto 3-6 DC. First of all: It is very difficult to improve such a successful product like the Pronto DC further respectively update it. For on the whole there are no problems with the machine, i.e. from a technical point of view there is little requirement for improvement. Already ten years ago, we thought about updates and made several attempts to change the Pronto. However, we did not succeed as the modifications rather increased the weight or the costs and there quite simply was no added value for our customers. We did not want to change the functionalities as the product is rather sophisticated. The functioning, the weight ratio – everything is perfect. So in this case it is rather difficult to beat the original.

How do you proceed with such a machine update from a strategic point of view?
Philipp Horsch: Because of the difficulty to update such a product we changed and adapted our strategy for the Pronto 3-6 DC. We decided against making a big update every few years, but to continuously work on smaller things and to improve them. About three years ago, we slightly adapted this approach as we wanted to proceed strategically and still felt the need to change something big. This is why we divided the machine into two parts: the foundation, i. e. the chassis, tillage tools, packer and seed coulters. The second part includes everything above the chassis: the hopper, pneumatics and electronics. First of all, we concentrated on the upper part. This proceeding was even more spurred by the fact that several important components of the upper section like electronics, metering systems, distributor systems after several years of development are now ready to be rolled out.
As I already mentioned, before this big update step we constantly had already carried out smaller modifications at the Pronto DC. An important example is the TurboDisc 3 coulter we already launched in 2019. This was realised immediately to provide the farmers with a benefit. So again and again we carry out modifications at products for which we do not want to or cannot wait for bigger updates, but realise them promptly.

What has been updated at the Pronto 3-6 DC?
Mathias Schneider: We deliberately decided on a simplification. And we attached great importance to tackling one topic after the other. This is why we first concentrated on the first part above the chassis. Let’s take the MiniDrill as an example: We originally had a vast variety of solutions for the third component. For the MiniDrill there are clear rules. We can cover the topic of a third component in the machine with one solution and even have the option to place seed or granulate in different spots.
Moreover, when we developed the first Pronto, we introduced a design language we have been keeping up stringently for 15 years. Among others it defines the shape of our hoppers. With our approach to deal with the upper and the lower part separately we first of all took a look at the hopper components with all mounting parts. We quickly noticed that we have far too many hoppers. So, within the scope of the new design language, we reduced our hoppers to four basic types: a small and a large single hopper as well as a small and a large double hopper. These basic hoppers, however, are not only used in our Pronto line, but also in our other compact machines like Avatar, Sprinter, Focus, Maestro etc. Thus, we can achieve an additional clarity with regard to design to keep the costs at a constant level.
We also tackled the topic of the packers. Especially for the Pronto 6 DC we now rely on a larger 18-inch packer. There are two reasons: we achieve excellent results on extremely sandy soils, and we are still allowed to go at 40 km/h on the roads in Europe.

How do you assess what is to be optimised respectively improved?
Mathias Schneider: From the different markets we again and again get ideas with regard to equipment features. We analyse them and discuss if and how we include them in a serial machine. Moreover, you again and again have to review existing equipment and define a clearer structure for the markets. The feedback of our customers is very important in this respect as they work with our machines every day. The revision of the fan for example is based on requirements from our customers. The fan suction was moved to the upper part of the hopper to protect it from dirt and dust. The calibration situation, too, was significantly improved with a new concept and now is more user-friendly. As a design feature of the new hopper line, the work lighting was integrated in the machine to allow our customers to comfortably work at night. Moreover, in the future we will offer different expansion stages of SectionControl to meet the requirements of the practical experts.

A look ahead into the future:
Mathias Schneider: One of the next steps will be to revise the foundation. The objective, however, is not to change the functions and the tool order, but to reduce weight, to improve the handling and – most important – to keep the costs at a constant level. Moreover, we want more consistency for the lifting and lowering system, i. e. how the frame including the chassis and the coulters are lifted and lowered. This means: in the future we want to assimilate the Pronto 7-9 DC to the Pronto 3-6 DC as this system simply has proven its worth in the market.