It was OEM Off-Highway's first trip to Agritechnica (long overdue, I agree) and definitely NOT its last. The biannual show, hosted in Hanover, Germany at the Messe exhibition grounds was inspiring, massive and filled with innovations in every hall...all 27 of them...
It is safe to say that Agritechnica will be a part of the permanent trade show circuit for OEM Off-Highway from now on. If you missed the show, or just have an interest in what was announced, launched and discussed, our January/February 2014 issue will have a post-show section with products and press news for you to peruse, but you can find a lot of it online now. Just go to www.oemoffhighway.com and search "Agritechnica 2013" to find products and news from the show.
I spent a lot of time with different OEMs talking about new machines and technologies, but found myself most drawn to the New Holland methane-powered concept tractor (pictured) and the revolutionary new tire design PneuTrac (product info, 11222684) from Mitas. See more pictures from the show on OEM Off-Highway's Facebook page in the Agritechnica photo album at www.facebook.com/oemoffhighway.
One conversation that I heard over and over again in many different forms was smart technology on farm equipment. The agricultural industry is frequently one of the fastest adopters of cutting edge electronics, often assumed to be due to the direct return on the investment to the equipment owner/operator. This topic of course stretches far beyond agriculture into every other off-road industry, and is the exact reason why OEM Off-Highway recently launched its new Smart Center column (see page 34 for this issue's Smart Center column on a vehicle autonomy system).
Of course, the November/December issue always has the results of our annual Top Ten New Products award winners, so make sure to check out page 26 to see this year's results. The product winners are the top performing products in our online product database, the Component Directory (www.oemoffhighway.com/directory) and this year we see a strong interest in lighting, oils/lubricants and axles. Congratulations to this year's winners!
