Last year was an important one for the Dutch manufacturer, which not only celebrated its 70th anniversary but also launched the A5, the next generation of Astronaut milk robot.
A significant contribution to last year’s positive results came from Europe and Asia, while lower milk prices slowed the North American market. The company also started up business in new markets such as Greece, Hungary, Taiwan, Uruguay and Argentina, and continues to explore new markets, the latest being the opening of a new office in China.
According to Lely CEO Alexander van der Lely, the increase in the financial results is clear proof that the sale of the company’s grassland machinery activities to AGCO in 2017 was a good decision. Lely’s R+D efforts (6.0% of annual sales) are now 100% focussed on developing new automatic dairy farm solutions, like the recently unveiled Orbiter, a system to process milk on the farm.
With a record high order book, the outlook for the rest of this year is promising. More new products will be launched in 2020 to allow the company to further strengthen its position as a leading dairy farm supplier of robotics and farm management data.
