For 15 years, the US agricultural technology group AGCO has its European headquarters in Neuhausen am Rheinfall. The team of around 100 employees oversees AGCO's various agricultural machinery brands for the European market and the Middle East.

AGCO, the world's third-largest manufacturer of agricultural engineering technology, decided in 2007 to set up a headquarters for the European market and the Middle East. The choice fell on the Canton of Schaffhausen. The location is centrally located with great connections to the important production sites in Europe. Here they already knew the Schaffhausen GVS - the main importer for the Swiss market - and here they also found an international environment in which the future team could feel at ease, explains Frédéric Devienne. Devienne himself built up the location as Vice President and regional leader. In Neuhausen am Rheinfall, AGCO looks after brand management, strategy development, purchasing, aftersales, sales and marketing for Fendt, Valtra or Massey Ferguson agricultural machinery. Central functions such as finances and HR are also located there.

Convinced of Schaffhausen as a location

15 years after the company was founded, Frédéric Devienne and Torsten Dehner, Senior Vice President and general manager for Fendt and Valtra, sit at AGCO's headquarters in Neuhausen am Rheinfall and look back on the initial days. Both have helped to form the AGCO team. Together with the team, they have developed the new European headquarters into a central part of the entire concern. "In the meantime, our Schaffhausen headquarters generates around 50 per cent of sales with its activities in Europe and the Middle East," explains Frédéric Devienne. "We feel really comfortable as AGCO in the Canton of Schaffhausen. We appreciate the business-friendly attitude, the exchange with the Business Promotion, the government or the authorities very much. As a company, we have found ideal conditions here." As the next step towards a successful future, AGCO is inaugurating a new office world for the team of around 100 at its headquarters in Neuhausen am Rheinfall. In a collaborative working environment, they want to work together even better and develop new ideas for the AGCO brand world. "Together with the team, we are looking forward to this opening and further successful years in Schaffhausen," both explain.