Agco inaugurates Training Center for South America in Campinas
With an investment of R$ 8 million, the project relies on the support from São Paulo State Government and aims to multiply knowledge
Investe São Paulo
AGCO – worldwide manufacturer and distributor of agricultural equipment – responsible for the brands Challenger, Fendt, GSI, Massey Ferguson and Valtra, inaugurated on Wednesday, February 19, its newest AGCO Academy Training Center, located in the city of Campinas (SP). The facility will be a platform for the dissemination of knowledge and technical and operational training to the networks of dealers of Massey Ferguson and Valtra in the countries in South and Central America.
The project has been receiving support from Investe SP, which has been providing assistance to the company in the contact with public and private agencies.“Brazil needs well-handled and well-operated equipment.And we are committed to help them build all necessary partnerships for this project, which has already been successful, to remain a success,” said the agency director, Sérgio Costa, who was one of the participants of the event.
The complex built over an area covering more than 3000 square meters, received investments of R$ 8 million to house an extremely modern infrastructure in terms of equipment and industrial technology to provide students the opportunity to get in touch with the latest technological innovations present in the lines of tractors, combines, sprayers and implements.
“The improvement of the teams, working in the networks of dealers of Massey Ferguson and Valtra, is a strategic point to move forward in the provision of services we offer to our customers.Agriculture has been rapidly moving towards mechanization and the high level of technologies currently implemented on major lines of machinery and implements increasingly requires preparation and technical training from professionals,” said André Carioba, Senior Vice President and General Manager of AGCO in South America. “The main goal of AGCO is to always seek the qualification of its workforce in order to always provide the best service, in addition to developing people so that we can thus contribute to the development of agribusiness to further promote personal achievement to thousands of professionals who work with our brands in several countries across the world,” he says.
According to Alexandre Landgraf, manager of AGCO Academy, the new facility was designed to be a reference in the multiplication of knowledge regarding the best practices and conducts in the use of the brands, and the main focus, at this time, is the support to the sales teams, original parts and after sales support.“Information technology has become a great ally in the dissemination of contents generated in classrooms and that now become available to a much wider range of professionals in classroom and distance courses.”
According to Landgraf, Campinas was the city chosen for the project because of the infrastructure offered.The Techno Park is strategically located, next to hotels, the airport of Viracopos and to the intersection of the main highways of the country, in addition to the proximity to the campuses of the best universities in the country:Unicamp, Unesp and USP.
“Campinas is a birthplace of agricultural technology in Brazil and a reference center for innovation.It is very nice to see a company the size of AGCO being concerned with the qualification of human capital not only from the state but also from Brazil.Only in this way we will be able to continue to have one of the strongest agricultural sectors in the world,” said Orlando Melo, president of APTA – São Paulo Agency for Agribusiness Technology, associated with the Department of Agriculture and Food Supply.
One of the innovations of the new Training Center will be television studio developed in partnership with Canal Rural [Rural channel], which will be used for distance education.The space will feature modern equipment for capturing images and multimedia broadcasting that will allow a rapid and secure dissemination of the content generated in the labs and activities that will be developed by the teams of instructors from AGCO.
“Training Brazilian farmers is a challenge. Our ultimate goal is to take this knowledge for hundreds of people to help increase rural production in the country,” said the CEO of the Rural Channel, Donário Lopes.
The structure will also include eight classrooms, laboratories for promoting adjustment tests and the verification of systems and equipment of machinery, computers, electro hydraulic, in addition to boxes for simulating practical situations of diagnosis and repairs of machinery and implements, and an auditorium for lectures, workshops and other activities of theoretical content.
Among the attractions of the new facility, a ‘live work surface’ will allow the performance of simulations on real situations of diagnosis on parts and components of AGCO Power engines.The students will also have a tractor partially disassembled for demonstrations of damages and repairs on other parts and components of machines.The idea is that the teams that undergo the training dynamics at AGCO Academy Training Center are capable of identifying and solving problems, as this is the reality of those who are on the field routine with the farmers.
The ceremony was also attended by the vice president of marketing and after-sales of Agco South America, Bernard Keep, and the technology manager of Shell for Latin America, Simone Ferreira.All participants who spoke at the event were honored with the “knowledge partner”.
About AGCO Academy AGCO Academy was developed to be the official training department of AGCO teams, being currently responsible for generating content and organizing courses for classroom distance training, addressing specific content for the sales divisions, in the sector of parts and services.Currently, the training units of AGCO Academy are located in the plants of AGCO in Santa Rosa (RS), Canoas (RS) and Ribeirão Preto (SP).
About AGCO AGCO (NYSE:AGCO) is one of the global leaders focused on the design, manufacture and distribution of agricultural machinery.To support an increased productivity in the field ,AGCO offers a full product line that includes tractors, combines, hay and forage equipment, sprayers, equipment for soil preparation, implements, spare parts and grain storage and protein production systems . Its products are sold through its five brands Challenger®, Fendt®, GSI®, Massey Ferguson® and Valtra® and distributed worldwide through a network of 3,100 independent dealers and distributors in over 140 countries.Founded in 1990, AGCO is headquartered in Duluth, GA, USA.In 2013, AGCO reported net sales totaling US$ 10.8 billion. www.agcocoorp.com