Farmall 40CVT vs New Holland Boomer 40 CVT?

[mojoinco]

I doubt the GA plant was much of a manufacturing facility. From an article on the GA plant closing: The plant has less than 100 employees. My suspicion is that it was designed for the most minimal of assembly to satisfy import & tax regulations and to make shipping expenses reasonable (shipping a fully assembled tractor overseas would take too much room versus it coming over in knock down form). Still that was 100 jobs.

Also, thank NAFTA for the move to Mexico. The plant is a joint venture with a Mexican company that already makes a lot of components for other companies.

In other news: Fiat Industrial boosts U.S. focus with CNH merger | Reuters
That is mostly a paper shuffle. Titular ownership in the US (via NYSE stock), but headquartered in the Netherlands.

 

[jinman]

I doubt the GA plant was much of a manufacturing facility. From an article on the GA plant closing: The plant has less than 100 employees. My suspicion is that it was designed for the most minimal of assembly to satisfy import & tax regulations and to make shipping expenses reasonable (shipping a fully assembled tractor overseas would take too much room versus it coming over in knock down form). Still that was 100 jobs.

I agree that 100 employees is not a huge number, but if you are one of them, it's devastating. The building there was 64.5k sq ft and was for sale for $1.8 million. I don't know if it sold, but attached are pictures of the empty facility after CNH vacated it. I think having a central facility for assembly and final testing and repair of new Boomers was a very good plan for buyers. The people became very skilled at their jobs and delivered a consistent product. When dealers do their own assembly, I'm not sure you get the same levels of expertise across all models/sizes. The assy plant in Mexico will probably turn out a good product too. In the meantime, I hope NH doesn't lose too many customers because they don't make a tractor like people are wanting to buy. This move surely gave a foot in the door to brands like Mahindra, Kioti, and others who moved in to fill the voids at NH dealerships.