2006

The first of its kind at our current facility, the CLAAS North American Suppliers’ Day held on February 21, 2006 proved itself successful to the attendees from CLAAS, both in Omaha and Worldwide, and to its 56 suppliers in attendance from 38 different companies.  Although the attendees traveled from a variety of locations throughout the United States, the majority are located within 300 miles of the facility.  Two gentlemen making the longest journey were Roland Sobisch, the Purchasing Manager for CSE, and Rüdiger Feldkamp, the Lead Buyer at CSE.  Both men flew in from Harsewinkel to spend the week at the Omaha facility, specifically to partake in the Suppliers’ Day. 

The day-long event was orchestrated by Maury Salz, Technical Manager of Claas Omaha’s Engineering, Purchasing, and Facilities departments and his team with the intentions of updating key suppliers on the direction of Claas Omaha and Claas Worldwide.  The purpose was to open the lines of communication, and notify the suppliers of the expanding mutual opportunities with Claas across the globe.  

Kicking off the event with a welcome was Maury Salz, who introduced those in attendance, provided a brief overview of the suppliers at hand, and discussed the past, present and future of the company, namely that of its Purchasing and Procurement Methods, highlighting its growth and expansion.  

Following Maury, Jan-Peter Bluhm, North American Manufacturing Manager, presented a few slides featuring the changes taking place in the manufacturing department, emphasizing the future manufacturing strategy for Combines in North America.   

Roland Sobisch, further talked about the purchasing strategies of Claas, expanding Maury’s discussion to that of Claas Worldwide.  The focus of Roland’s presentation was to provide an outlook into the future of the purchasing strategies of Claas.  The fundamental idea behind this is a move toward proFIT which is a set of global, cross-functional teams intended to improve the current purchasing strategy.  This means that we will now look to form a strategic partnership with our North American sourced suppliers, providing increased business for them through each of our global locations, not only those in North America.  

After lunch, closing remarks were given by Maury to discuss the day’s events and to thank those for participating. Over the course of the day, the groups also eagerly partook in a plant tour, a Ride and Drive by the CLAAS AcademyNorth America, and a session to address any questions that the suppliers may have.