Valtra celebrates 30 years of cooperation between Volvo BM and Valmet
October 16, 2009
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 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.