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Kubota's Technology Supports Precision Farming

Marketing in Europe

Strategic shift in the European market Enhancing the brand recognition

Dai Watanabe
Kubota's Managing Executive Officer and concurrently the General Manager of the Agricultural Implement
Division, CEO & President of Kverneland AS, and President of Kubota Holdings Europe B.V.

As mentioned earlier, in 2015, Kubota made its full entry into European upland farming market in France by commencing manufacturing and sales of the large tractors :M7001 Series. Kubota is also developing the market for smart farming in Europe by offering solutions that combine the M7001 Series with implements supplied by KVG. More recently, Kubota has launched a new strategy to drastically change its approaches to the European market. In October 2017, Kubota Holdings Europe B.V. was established in the Netherlands with a view toward achieving optimal results in the machinery segment in Europe. Since the establishment of Kubota Europe S.A.S. in France in 1974, Kubota has steadily expanded its European machinery business in France, Germany, the U.K., and in Spain by establishing subsidiaries that manufacture and distribute farm machinery, construction machinery, and engines. This new initiative marks an aboutface for its European marketing strategy, since the business in managed by segment, rather than by country as it was in the past. The president of this new company is Dai Watanabe: Kubota's Managing Executive Officer and concurrently the General Manager of the Agricultural Implement Division and also the CEO of KVG.

“The reason of establishing this regional headquarters for our machinery business was to increase the efficiency and viability of our organization in Europe by aligning all of our business units together,” he said. “We are looking closely at European upland farming market, but the hard truth is that, as a newcomer to the market, recognition of Kubota brand is not very high. In European market, the Kubota brand has gained wide recognition for distinctive compact tractors, but the main player in the upland farming market is large tractors. For that reason, our immediate task is to increase our recognition by promoting sales of the M7001 Series. Therefore, we are working to empower the Kubota brand by reorganizing our sales network as ‘borderless'.”

  • Left: Automatic operation; Right: Manual operation. The operator on the right seems busy checking monitors while also steering.
  • A series of operations from grass collection to packing/discharging by the baler is performed seamlessly upon command from the terminal and vehicle controller by the driver's seat.
  • A series of operations from grass collection to packing/discharging by the baler is performed seamlessly upon command from the terminal and vehicle controller by the driver's seat.
  • A series of operations from grass collection to packing/discharging by the baler is performed seamlessly upon command from the terminal and vehicle controller by the driver's seat.

Introducing smart farming to the European market through the “tractors + implements” solution

Now that a new organizational setup is in place, efforts to expand sales in the smart farming market are being orchestrated by the farm machinery segment, which offers the combined solution of “tractors + implements,” rather than offering them individually in each national market. The powerhouse behind this strategy is the EU Agricultural Business Unit, which is a cross-functional team of members from Kubota's business units in Europe. Mickaël Provost is the product manager responsible for the introduction of tractors for farming use. Based in France, he currently plays a prominent role in promoting sales of the M7001 Series for the entire European market by reengineering regional sales strategies.

“Since its release in 2015, the M7001 Series, which comprises the first large tractors from Kubota, has seen steady growth in sales. We often hear our users say that the M7001 Series is simple and easy to use, and offers high operational efficiency. They also say they like its good compatibility with implements and its excellent operability.”

Their approach to the smart farming market in Europe has already begun with the “M7001 Series tractors + implements” combination. It is equipped with a section control function for prevention of double spraying, a variable rate control function for determining the amount of fertilizers and other materials being fed depending on the soil conditions, as well as an auto-steering function for automatic operation. All of this has been made possible through ISOBUSenabled data communication between tractors and implements.

The “Kubota Farm Solution” for any farm management issue

“Emphasizing Kubota's originality is important,” says Andreas Kaczmarczyk, Marketing Manager of the EU Agricultural Business Unit. “Whether it be in upland farming or precision farming, Kubota is a newcomer in the European market,” he noted. “So, the crucial question is, how we can distinguish ourselves from the other players who arrived before us? Our approach to this involves helping our customers to resolve their problems by offering a ‘Kubota Farm Solution' package, which includes a tractor, implements, applications, and service contracts. The important thing here is to understand what customers need and deliver what they want. They wish to know how much benefit they can expect from smart farming. In other words, our customers are interested in the outcomes of technology, rather than the technology itself. ‘Go to Market' is our slogan for this initiative. We hope to satisfy customer needs by living up to the ‘Priority Onsite' principle.”

As a liaison between Kubota and KVG, François Julienne is taking the lead in promoting smart farming. He is a former KVG employee who became involved early on in the smart farming business of tractors + implements.

“Precision farming and smart farming not only reduce the costs of farm operations, but benefit farmers, since they no longer have to depend on their own experience and intuition,” he said. “As such, I believe that the introduction of smart farming will be accelerated. For Kubota to be chosen by customers as each player competes in terms of product development, we must definitely enhance ease of operation and comfort for operators who are on the frontline of smart farming, and improve the level of process automation. What we want to achieve are total solutions that customers find reasonable and easy to use. We will pursue simple yet unique solutions going forward.”

  • ISOBUS-compliant connector – a crucial data link between tractors and implements

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