TRADE AND MARKET I NG Christoph Grimme office building 1,400 square metres, took much longer than originally planned. ‘In that domain too, things in China are different from what we’re used to in Europe’, the young entrepreneur has already experienced. For a variety of reasons, construction workers are sometimes difficult to find or not available at all for longer periods and the supply of materials would stop from time to time, as we heard from the Dutch location manager Bert Treffers prior to the interview. Equipment as we used to build it In the spring of 2018, Grimme junior was finally able to cut the red ribbon in the presence of his parents Franz (72) and Christine during the opening ceremony. ‘We’ve invested approximately 13 million euros in this facility. We produce all the potato machinery here that China can use. The way we work here is partly similar to what we do in our Spudnik factory in America. We manufacture machines here like in Damme, but often simplified and adapted to local demand and growing conditions. These are the smaller machines for the second segment, as we call it. These are harvesters for growers who have the money to mechanise the cultivation. For them, we make machines such as windrowers with or without bags. This is in fact the equipment that we used to build in the past. And yes, we did get some old drawings out of the cupboard’, laughs Grimme. ‘For the top segment, the larger growers India. The only difference is that we’ll give ourselves more time to get started in India. Our China adventure has taught us to be careful. We’re certainly going to make it there, because they’re growing millions of hectares of potatoes ‘We’ll give ourselves more time to get started in India. Our China adventure has taught us to be careful.’ that you also have here, just think of the American companies that are active here such as McCain, we simply deliver the larger machines from Damme. And now on to India And now the future plans for Europe, what about them, is the next question? But that was apparently a little too early. After China, Grimme has yet another major plan ready: ‘The India project’. And that’s something he would love to talk about in his tireless tempo. ‘We’re also active in India and we want to set up something similar to that in China. It’s the same story, it’s far too expensive to ship machinery from Germany to in India and there are enough growers who can invest in mechanisation.’ Full service, that’s what it’s all about now ‘Let me now turn to the question of our plans in Europe’, Grimme returns to the earlier question. ‘A main theme is digitisation. And then not so much about the operation of our machines, because that’s already well organised, but more with a focus on service, after-sales and financing. Not separately, but as a total, full service package as it’s called in economic terms, that’s what’s it all about now. So you not only purchase a machine that you can configure digitally yourself in advance, but you also get the opportunity for financing, and easy and immediate access to parts. For example, your machine and also its components are already in the system. So you don’t have to search among parts of other machines if you need a spare part. We didn’t come up with this ourselves, but it’s a question that came from our customers here in Europe. Before buying a harvester or planting machine, they want to know who the dealer is, what his service is, and whether he can get parts quickly if necessary. We want to meet these demands and have developed a digital package for this purpose.’ Schmiede.one In the centre Christoph, Christine and Franz Grimme and far right, Bert Treffers during the opening ceremony of the factory opening in the Chinese Tianjin. The development was carried out by software company Schmiede.one, based in Düsseldorf, which Christoph Grimme founded personally a year after joining the family group. ‘You can regard 6 Potato World 2019 • number 1 Pagina 5

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