KUHN holds successful expo in Toowoomba

There are plenty of farming field days around Australia where hundreds of brands gather in one place to display their wares, but it’s not often you come across an event solely dedicated to one brand and its products.

In late July, with the benefit of perfect winter weather, KUHN Australia loaded around 50 machines from its diverse range and headed to south-east Queensland for the 2023 KUHN Expo.

This was the fourth such event to be staged by KUHN, with the last one having been held in 2020.

Since then, the range of KUHN products has grown and been joined by some new and advanced models including the FC 13460 RA mower conditioner and VBP 7190 Series baler wrapper combo. Both made their official Australian debuts at the Expo.

The Expo was held on a grazing property outside the rural city of Toowoomba, with space to display a wide array of KUHN products and hectares of lush growth where equipment was demonstrated.

The event ran over two days and attracted more than 350 guests that included machinery dealers from throughout Australia as well as KUHN customers.

Attendees were able to observe at close quarters machines being used to cut and bale product, spray, spread and mix feed.

“The expos allow us to bring together our dealers and customers in a relaxed environment to network and experience KUHN’s range of equipment,” KUHN Australia Managing Director, Bruno Fetiveau, told farmmachinerysales.

“They are the highlight of our calendar and I am already looking forward to the next one.”

Sourcing, transporting and displaying the array of machinery presented a major logistical challenge, but returning the items was less of an issue thanks to some creative thinking.

KUHN held a silent auction during the event that allowed visitors to place sealed bids on 22 of the machines that were shown. Successful bidders were notified on the final day of the event so they could arrange to have their new acquisitions transported directly to their properties or business premises.

A proportion of the proceeds was allocated to help the work of ‘Are You Bogged Mate?’, a mental health program for men in rural Australia founded in 2018 and led by Mary O’Brien.

Fetiveau said the success of KUHN’s Expos is heightened by the presence of the company’s product specialists from Europe.

The experts were on hand to attend product workshops and explain in detail the capabilities of featured machines to attendees.

“This was our fourth Expo,” Fetiveau said. “During my 13 years in Australia we have run one near Avalon Airport in Victoria in 2015, one at Cowra (NSW) in 2017 and another in 2020 at Naracoorte, South Australia, just before the pandemic struck.”

“Each time we have made it our goal to deliver significant customer and dealer experiences. To help achieve this, we have on hand people who bring with them exceptional knowledge of the equipment and experience of KUHN production.”

In addition to seven factories and a spare parts facility in Europe, KUHN also operates two plants in the USA and two more in Brazil. Worldwide, the company has over 6000 employees.

KUHN’s product slogan for its range of large-format mower conditioners is ‘Winning The Race Against Time’, and while efficiency has always been an important factor in the company’s development of new farming equipment, it takes a wider view.

“The entire farming equipment sector is striving to build machines that improve productivity,” Fetiveau said. “At KUHN, we concentrate heavily on reliability and ease of operator use as well.

“We build machines that are durable and easily maintained while also giving our users access to high levels of parts availability and dealership support.”