Located at its Lingen site, in Germany, the Future Lab validation complex not only allows the company to rigorously test its farm machines, but also put supplier components through their paces before they are installed in a Krone product.
The 4,000m² building houses three large-scale test benches; two for servo-hydraulic system testing and another for measuring performance levels. Plus, there are also test rigs for components, assemblies, electronic systems and software applications.
Another test bench is dedicated to transmissions, which are subjected to lifespan tests before they are built into a Big X forager, BigPack baler or Premos pellet harvester.
“The premises also provide us with excellent opportunities to explore new spheres such as autonomous driving,” comments Bernard Krone, chairman of the Krone Group supervisory board.
These indoor facilities are complemented by an approx. 1.1km outdoor test circuit. With inclines of up to 18%, it is used for homologation, software application system and driving tests.
Built in just under a year at a cost of around €20m, the Future Lab covers around 13ha. Some 30 staff work at the new facility. All energy used for heating the building is generated using waste heat from the test benches. Some of the electricity is supplied by solar panels.
