This news article was originally written in Spanish. It has been automatically translated for your convenience. Reasonable efforts have been made to provide an accurate translation, however, no automated translation is perfect nor is it intended to replace a human translator. The original article in Spanish can be viewed at Valtra celebra 30 años de cooperación entre Volvo BM y Valmet

Valtra celebrates 30 years of cooperation between Volvo BM and Valmet

16/10/2009

October 16, 2009

East autumn Valtra celebrates the 30th anniversary of cooperation between Volvo BM and Valmet, and is that three decades ago that Valtra (formerly Valmet) acquired Volvo BM tractor Division.

The agricultural machinery market is saturated at the end of the 1970s, and Volvo BM made a strategic decision to focus on construction machinery. In March of 1978, Per Gyllenhammar, managing director of AB Volvo, invited to negotiate to the director Manager of Valmet, Jaakko Ihamuotila and as a result of these negotiations, on November 14, 1978 was published a declaration of intent. The final agreement was signed on October 1, 1979. This cooperation agreement marked the largest industrial Alliance of all time between Sweden and Finland.

The agreement led to both sides. Volvo BM left the agricultural business, but continued to provide cabins and components of transmission to Valmet, favoring a smooth structural change in the production. Valmet entered into new market areas, being the largest in Scandinavia, the Netherlands, France and other markets. Valmet could increase its volume of production in the Finnish Suolahti plant, and the conditions also favored the Linnavuori (now Agco Sisu Power engine factory.

The new tractor developed overall, Volvo BM Valmet, benefited from the best of both. For example, the cockpit was developed in close collaboration with the factory of cabin Volvo BM in Hallsberg and the new Valmet Serie D engine by Linnavuori Valmet factory. The design was due to Volvo Product Design of Gothenburg, led by the legendary Chief Designer Jan Wilsgaard, who was in charge of the design of the Volvo vehicles from Volvo Amazon to the 700 series.

The first Volvo BM Valmet tractors were presented to the press in Eskilstuna in May 1982 and production began at the plant in Suolahti, Finland, at the end of 1982.

The most important result of the cooperation was the process which merged two industrial cultures, the values of quality and safety of Volvo combined with innovative and precise methods of manufacture of Valmet. The fundamental principles of marketing were Scandinavian quality, reliability, flexibility and respect to the client.