President & CEO, Kuhn Group / Division President (Kuhn SAS), Kuhn SAS (Kuhn Group)
KUHN / Thierry Krier
About Thierry Krier
Thierry Krier, president and CEO of Kuhn Group and president of CEMA, participated in a conversation with Frans Timmermans, then-Executive Vice President of the European Commission, in April 2021 during the CEMA Summit. In the discussion, Krier described the farm equipment sector as moving from being "providers of machines" to "provider of solutions" and stated that companies in the sector focus on "producing more, producing better, and also doing it with less and less resources." He noted a shift in public sentiment from "agri-bashing" toward "agri-loving" due to the agricultural sector's resilience during the COVID-19 crisis. In a separate February 2021 interview, Krier outlined an expansion plan for Kuhn in Saverne, France, involving a public consultation process for revising local land-use plans to acquire approximately 30 hectares of land adjacent to the company's industrial site. He stated that if the expansion were not possible, the company would "envisager un cas de figure totalement différent plus proche du centre géographique actuelle de la grande europe," referring to a location further east than Alsace.
Transcript (21 segments)
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Interviewer0:08
Hello, welcome to Montvillers in the Pays de Saverne. Today we are with Thierry Krier, President of the Kuhn Group. Hello Mr. Krier. Hello. We are at the Kuhn site in Monswiller at the training center, the CFP Kuhn Center for Progress. Let's start with you, Mr. Krier: what is your background?
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Thierry Krier0:35
I come from an agricultural background. Since I was a child, it was my passion, my life through my grandparents. So I first attended an agricultural school in Dijon, then a business school, and joined Kuhn in 1989, initially as an intern in the United States. Then I had a 30-year career: ten years in Saverne and then 20 years in the United States for Kuhn to develop the American market. And over the last six years, I have had the opportunity to assume the presidency of the group.
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Interviewer1:09
Can you present the company Kuhn, its market, the type of equipment, the clientele that the Kuhn brand represents in the world?
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Thierry Krier1:16
As you know, we are an old company, an old brand founded just next to Saverne in Eckartswiller 192 years ago. With a long development path, first based on sites in the Saverne region, and since the mid-1980s, international development. Today, through various acquisitions of companies that were partly Kuhn's competitors, we have eleven factories around the world, a little over ten distribution subsidiaries, a little over 5,000 employees, and a little over one billion euros in turnover worldwide.
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Interviewer1:53
What is the history of Kuhn with Saverne, with the Pays de Saverne?
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Thierry Krier2:00
So in a way, it could be considered a love story between Saverne and Kuhn. In our sector of agricultural machinery, we are one of the major players, especially in our specialty field of agricultural equipment. Saverne and Kuhn: Saverne and the whole world know the association of the two names. Saverne is important to us; it is our roots, our history. The Pays de Saverne, initially in 1828, a forge in Eckartswiller, an installation in Saverne on the historic site which is still today the group's headquarters in 1864 if I remember correctly, and then considerable development on the historic site, and since the 1990s on the Banc de Tambour and Monswiller.
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Interviewer2:56
We often hear about an economic lung to describe Kuhn in the Saverne region. What is your point of view? Most economic studies generally indicate that for one industrial job, there is a dependency of about 3 or 4 service jobs as a corollary. So if we add it all up, in the town of Saverne, which has about 12,000 inhabitants today, or the Pays de Saverne, which must be 30,000 to 35,000, Kuhn would represent 6,000, 8,000, maybe 10,000 direct and indirect jobs.
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Thierry Krier3:32
I think what is more important is to know not only the mass of jobs involved but also the quality of jobs. If I had to list the job categories, there are probably dozens on the Saverne bank, all kinds of jobs: skilled workers for the vast majority, of course, a lot of senior technicians, we probably have 200-300, maybe 200 engineers as well in production, research, development, testing, product evaluation. And there, we are quite proud within the Kuhn Group to offer 2,000 quality jobs in the region.
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Interviewer4:17
The company Kuhn has been expanding regularly, and for 20 years especially on the site of La Faisanderie in the Pays de Saverne. Can you trace the history of Kuhn on this site?
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Thierry Krier4:28
The origin of Kuhn's development on the Banc de Monswiller-Steinbourg dates back to the mid-1990s. We started from the observation that a factory located in Saverne, close to the city center, surrounded by the hospital on one side, the national road on the other, and the railway line, the site, which is over 20 hectares in Saverne, was completely saturated in terms of buildings and capacity. And we obviously noted a considerable increase in the size of agricultural machines in our sector, and the landlocked site of Saverne could no longer meet this need. So in two phases, we developed a new industrial site on the Banc de Monswiller-Steinbourg. The first phase in 1996 led to the construction of Kuhn's European spare parts platform. Then in a second phase in 2008, with a second land purchase, we built the assembly site for large machines, which is currently in an expansion phase, and also this training center, exhibition center, the Kuhn Center for Progress.
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Interviewer5:45
I read in the DNA the article about the opening of a public consultation. Can you explain the extension projects of Kuhn on the lands of La Faisanderie? What type of building, for what functionalities?
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Thierry Krier5:56
We have with the PTR of the Saverne region a procedure underway for public consultation, so that we hope to be able to achieve a revision of the land use plan in the region. And as far as Kuhn is concerned, the acquisition of a forested land of about 30 hectares located right next to our current industrial sites. What is important to note, I think, in this context, is the situation of this forest tip that continues with our current site, and also its origin. You see, today a modern industrial site, being good neighbors is important to us. But the starting point was not at all that; it was actually a military wasteland, a mobilization center that was abandoned, a mined field that we took over from the state in two phases, then developed and cleared of mines. Today we are at the limit of what we can do on the current site, so it was important for us to be right next to the current factories, which is very important for us.
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Interviewer7:19
What will be the environmental impact of this new construction project on the modular site and on this planned plot?
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Thierry Krier7:25
On the environmental level, we have spent a lot of time with specialized companies and also with local authorities to determine the state of the fauna and flora on the plot concerned. We have initial outlines of what the development would be. We are talking about a forest tip of about 34 hectares at this stage. About 25 hectares, I think, would actually be developed, the rest would be preserved, with wooded buffers around the periphery of the site and also some corridors that would allow the present wildlife to move across the plot. All of this, obviously, in the same spirit as what we have done on many other projects, especially here in Monswiller-Steinbourg, trying to integrate our buildings and our industrial footprint into the landscape as best as possible.
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Interviewer8:22
Can you remind us of the stakes, the investments, the jobs involved in this extension project?
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Thierry Krier8:28
In fact, since our establishment here in 1996, we have invested about 100 million euros on the Banc de Monswiller-Steinbourg and created about 200 jobs. On the new plot, we envisage exactly the same development in terms of industrial occupation of the plot, in investment: between the R&D center, an extension for the spare parts building, an assembly extension, and a robotic welding workshop. We would also have an envelope of about 100 million euros over probably 5 to 6 years, and the creation of 200 jobs.
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Interviewer9:09
A global group of 5,000 people with 11 factories on three continents undoubtedly has opportunities in many countries around the world. What motivates the shareholders to continue investing in Grand Est, in the Bas-Rhin, particularly in Saverne, Monswiller, and Steinbourg?
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Thierry Krier9:25
Fundamentally, we are very happy to be here. The commitment of our employees is very important. There is a relationship of trust with local elected officials and the community in general. We offer quality jobs, as I mentioned earlier, at least we have that perception, and the environment gives back to us as well. So we want to continue this adventure. And with the size of the products, it is very difficult to consider an industrial site anywhere other than in very close proximity. So today, our objective, also thanks to the mobilization of local elected officials, is to invest again in Monswiller continuously, building on what we have already done. If that were not possible, which we would regret, we would have to consider a completely different scenario, closer to the current geographical center of Greater Europe, that is, much further east than Alsace.
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Interviewer10:28
Last question: nothing is ever acquired for a company, even after 200 years of existence. Are you still supported in your fight by elected officials, by agricultural representatives, by the inhabitants of Saverne, the Pays de Saverne, Monswiller, and Steinbourg?
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Thierry Krier10:42
Oh yes, absolutely. On this point, there is really no doubt. As I said, we try, we strive to be good neighbors. As Kuhn, we try to stay very, very far from any political debate, but we have excellent relations with all of these stakeholders. Yes, it's very clear. Their support, I think, is unconditional. However, the project itself remains very complex because we have a plot that belongs to the state, to the public domain. There are studies to be done. It is a process that began almost five years ago and will probably take another three or four years so that, if all goes well, we can occupy the land and see these buildings that we dream of today come to life.
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Interviewer11:32
We were in Montvillers in the community of communes of the Pays de Saverne with Thierry Krier, President of the Kuhn Group. Thank you, Mr. Krier, for this interview. Thank you, Mr. Gare.