Argo Tractors head office in Kempton Park
Photo by: Creamer Media's Marleny Arnoldi
Agricultural vehicle supplier Argo Tractors South Africa (Argo SA) has inaugurated its new head office, just off the R21 highway, in Kempton Park.
The 16 000 m2 premises hosts a 6 000 m2 building, which includes office space and a 650 m2 showroom, as well as a 100 m2 training facility. About 2 300 m2 of space is dedicated to assembly, while 2 000 m2 is designated for spares.
MD Godfried Heydenrych told stakeholders during a launch event of the new headquarters that the semi-knocked down (SKD) assembly area has between 12 and 16 bays, which can produce 2 000 units a year.
The SKD Landini and McCormick tractors originate from Italy and India, with the parent company Argo being headquartered in Italy.
In turn, the spares area holds about 95 000 line parts at any given time, with about 355 000 items dispatched daily.
Argo SA plans to hold 400 tractors on site, for quicker delivery to customers.
It supports the markets of South Africa, Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Heydenrych pointed out that the new premises was much more efficient than the company’s prior premises, promising reduced downtime and quicker order turnaround for customers. The company spent about R100-million on building development.
The company plans to install solar photovoltaic capacity at the building soon. It has already installed an 18 000 ℓ/h borehole for water independence from the municipality if needed.
Argo SA is optimistic that its new premises will help to further increase its market share, which has grown from 21% in 2020 to 27%.
“The new operational site will be dedicated to displaying high-performance products designed for modern agriculture and is home to an advanced training centre to ensure continuous development of the necessary technical and application skills within the dealer network,” states Heydenrych.
He adds that the company also offers a demonstration field that is a few minutes’ drive away from the offices, to allow customers to personally experience the Argo product range.