CLAAS Group broke ground this past Friday on a research and development center on the southwest corner of its existing Sarpy County property near 132nd & Giles Road.
The 44,800 sq. ft., advanced R&D Center is needed to ensure CLAAS’ prototypes meet the demands of North American farmers and the fields they farm. The space will be more than 25 percent larger than the temporary off-site shop currently used for research and development.
Completion is planned for fall 2026.
Based in Harsewinkel, Germany, CLAAS manufactures LEXION combines for North American farmers at its Omaha plant. Omaha also serves as the company’s North American headquarters. Since the plant opened in 2001, it has manufactured 10,000 combines.
In addition to the future R&D center, the family-owned, global ag equipment company’s Omaha campus includes a 162,000 sq. ft. manufacturing plant and the recently added CLAAS Training Academy. More than 250 CLAAS employees work on the campus.
“CLAAS is fully dedicated to building ag equipment that enables North American farmers to be the best in their fields – and that includes the corn and soybean fields of the Midwestern U.S., the wheat and canola fields of the northern plains and western Canada, the rice fields in the Mississippi River Delta and beyond,” CLAAS said in a press release.
The plans feature two stories of office space, an expanded room for instrumentation, greater utilization of space for logistics and an internal, heated wash bay. The facility will also provide greater physical and electronic security measures for protecting critical intellectual property.
The new CLAAS Research and Development Center will be the hub for all North American testing activities. While much of the testing will take place on farms throughout the country under various soil, weather and crop conditions, the analysis of those tests will be interpreted by engineers working in the new facility.
CLAAS stated that approximately 40 percent of the components used in its LEXION combines are made in America.
Photo courtesy of CLAAS if America
