New Holland Zedelgem Plant Celebrates 120th Anniversary: Advancing Next-generation Harvesting Technology
02 October 2026, Zedelgem: New Holland is celebrating the 120th anniversary of the Zedelgem Global Centre of Harvesting Excellence in Belgium, a strategic hub for the development and production of combines, forage harvesters and balers exported worldwide.
For 120 years, every generation of harvesting equipment built in Zedelgem has answered the challenges of its time: increasing productivity, improving grain quality and operator comfort. Today, that journey continues. New Holland is accelerating investments in advanced manufacturing, automation and next-generation harvesting technologies, to deliver the industry’s most advanced harvesting lineup. Today’s flagship CR11 Twin Rotor Combines increase productivity, reduce grain loses to near zero and deliver up to a 15% improvement in Total Cost of Ownership.
After 120 seasons, New Holland’s commitment to helping farmers maximise crop yields and quality through the expertise and technologies that continue to shape the future of harvesting remains steadfast.
120 years of harvesting innovation
The Zedelgem facility traces its roots to 1906, when Leon Claeys founded an engineering business on the site, and started to build threshing machines, beginning a harvest equipment legacy that endures today. In 1952, Claeys launched the MZ, Europe’s first self-propelled combine harvester, and 12 years later the Claeys business was purchased by Sperry Rand, the then owner of New Holland. In 1991, New Holland came under Fiat ownership, and the current New Holland brand was formed.
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Today, the Zedelgem facility is New Holland’s Global Centre of Excellence for Harvesting Technology, and its heritage is at the heart of its continued strength in harvesting expertise and innovation.
Across 36 hectares, the Zedelgem team of 3,000 employees design, test, manufacture and market CX conventional and CR Twin Rotor combines, FR Forage Cruiser self-propelled forage harvesters and the New Holland BigBaler range. The site has a strategic role within New Holland’s focus on the global harvest needs of agriculture, exporting to some 130 countries.
Zedelgem is also the global production site for the world’s highest capacity combines, the New Holland CR10 and CR11 Twin Rotor flagship models, with up to 775hp and 20,000 litres’ grain tank capacity, plus electronic monitoring and connectivity that incorporate the very latest in AI and automation technology to maximise performance and efficiency and deliver outstand productivity.
Advancing next-generation harvesting technology
Today in Zedelgem, New Holland develops harvest technologies that blend mechanical performance with digital intelligence to meet agriculture’s growing demands. A €150m five-year investment to expand the site’s R&D and production capabilities began with the complete redesign of the assembly line and logistics area to support CR10/11 production.
New automatic guided vehicles (AGVs) have enhanced manufacturing flexibility and efficiency, enabling machines to be configured to customers’ specific requirements. These developments allow the plant to manage increasingly complex products while responding more precisely to individual customer needs.
An advanced virtual engineering environment also enables new machine concepts and solutions to be evaluated before physical implementation. In this immersive setting, engineers can assess functionality, ergonomics and user interaction, while involving customers early in the development process to gather feedback and validate solutions. This helps accelerate innovation and improve the overall user experience.
The scale and complexity of Zedelgem’s operations are reflected in the figures. Each year, the plant processes 157,000 tonnes of steel to manufacture New Holland combines, forage harvesters and BigBalers. Behind every machine are thousands of components, specialist skills and advanced technologies: a CR11 combine alone comprises approximately 11,000 individual components, incorporates 75 newly patented technologies and requires around 500 production hours to build. These figures demonstrate the manufacturing scale, engineering expertise and capacity for innovation that Zedelgem brings to farmers worldwide.
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