New Holland Tractor History
New Holland, a division of CNH Global and owned by the Fiat Group, manufactures tractors, combine harvesters, excavators and backhoe loaders. With offices in Burr Ridge, Ill., and Amsterdam, the company employs tens of thousands of workers. Since its inception in 1895, it was involved in several major mergers, including with the Ford Motor Co. in 1986 and the Fiat Group in 1991.
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Origins
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New Holland was an innovator in farm equipment and machinery dating to 1895, when the New Holland Machine Works was founded by blacksmith Abe Zimmerman in New Holland, Pa. A Mennonite, he established a prospering machinery business serving fellow Mennonites and other area farmers. He built gasoline-powered engines that resisted freezing in harsh weather, a stone crush, wood saw and a livestock cob and feed mill.
Difficult Years
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New Holland Machine continued to build stand-alone engines, farm equipment and other farming and machinery implements. But the Great Depression pushed the company to the brink of extinction in 1938. Yet in 1940 the company developed the Nolt mobile pickup hay baler, which kept the company afloat. New Holland then changed its direction to produce forage harvesters and spreaders.
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Sperry Corporation
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In 1947, the Sperry Corp.--a manufacturer in navigation systems and a key player in building bomb sights and radar for the B-17 and B-24 bombers during World War II--acquired New Holland to form a Sperry-New Holland Agricultural division. By 1964, it had developed an automatic bale wagon that could retrieve baled hay from fields and a haybine that conditioned hay while mowing.
Road to Tractors
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In the 1960s, Sperry-New Holland continued its focus on farm implements rather than tractors and bought an interest in Claeys in 1964. Claeys was a major combine builder in Europe. Within 10 years, Sperry-New Holland was the fifth-largest farm equipment manufacturing company in the United States, making it attractive for acquisition by a company interested in expanding Sperry-New Holland's innovative technology to tractors.
Enter Ford
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The Ford Motor Co. entered the picture in 1986. Ford had been manufacturing tractors since 1907 and was largely responsible for producing an affordable mass-produced tractor that revolutionized farming. It was looking to expand its farm equipment division and purchased Sperry-New Holland to create Ford-New Holland.
Tractors
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Now building tractors with a large presence in the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe, Ford-New Holland bought the Versatile Tractor Co. in 1987. But the relationship with Ford didn't last long. By 1991, Ford was in negotiations to sell Ford-New Holland to Fiat.
Fiat
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Fiat was a natural buyer with vast experience in tractor manufacturing. It produced its first tractor, the Fiat 702, in 1919. It continued with a sturdy line of tractors while conducting a series of mergers, including one with an Ankara, Turkey-based tractor company. It also developed an earth-moving machinery division. Fiat acquired a majority interest in Ford-New Holland and changed the name back to New Holland. In 1999, New Holland was merged with Case Corp. to become Case-New Holland, which became CNH Global.
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Resources
- Photo Credit CNH Global
