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Krone Cancels Plans to Relocate to Indiana
USAgNet - 08/18/2017

Germany-based hay tool manufacturer Krone announced in March that it would be relocating its North American headquarters from Memphis, Tenn., to Shelbyville, Ind. At the time, Krone said Shelbyville offered a more central location and better access to the largest portion of Krone's customer base.

Construction had originally been set to start this past spring. However, Krone has since canceled its relocation plans, citing the down ag economy that is driving a need to reprioritize Krone growth strategies.

During an interview with Ag Equipment Intelligence, Krone president and CEO Tommy Jones said the decision reflects a change in strategic direction for the company. "When you're talking about making a large investment and you've got a down market and some political uncertainty, maybe building an office building is not our best investment right now. Maybe we should be investing in people and products.

"That was really the decision, a change in direction from a new North American headquarters to investing in people and products. That decision may be different 5 or 10 years from now, but in today's climate, that seems like the best place for Krone to be investing their dollars," he said. "One of the things that we've talked about for awhile and this is still something that we need to think about is that we ship a lot of product from Germany to North America. And as we look long term, not 2 years, but 5-10 years ahead, should we consider some manufacturing in North America?"

Jones stressed that while the rowcrop side of the ag economy is starting to improve, hay and forage is still continuing to decline with no end in sight. In the fiscal year 2016, Krone reached $600 million in total sales, with North American operations accounting for 20.5% of revenues. Those are the highest agricultural equipment revenues in Krone's 110 year history.


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