The Abilene Reporter Chronicle reports that Great Plains Manufacturing partnered with European sister company Kverneland and Kubota Tractor Corp. to hold a grand opening for its new hay and forage assembly location on Sept. 27. The facility, which is located north of the current Great Plains Manufacturing location in Abilene, Kan., will be used to assemble Kubota hay equipment, the article says.

“The benefits really get to our customers and to our dealers," says David Disberger, president and CEO of Great Plains Manufacturing. "What we are able to do here is, number 1, is to take hours from our dealer where they have to find support and help to make this happen. We can now put that here and be more efficient with our time and reduce the dealers efforts. We can also drive more consistent quality with the shipment of these products because we will be doing so many of them everyday as opposed to doing one-offs that our dealers would have to do.” 

The facility started out building swathers, and by the end of 2023, Great Plains will add assembly of round balers, the article says, adding that in coming years the company will expand into building other Kubota hay equipment, such as rakes and tedders. The facility currently has 5 employees but is looking to expand to 12-14 employees with more expansion in the future.

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