Valtra is a manufacturer of tractors and agricultural machinery and forms part of the AGCO Corporation. Valtra tractors are manufactured in Suolahti, Finland, and Mogi das Cruzes, Brazil. Valtra's products in the Brazilian market also include combine harvesters, sugar cane harvesters, self-propelled sprayers and seed drills.
Valtra's roots go back to the Finnish State Rifle Factory founded in Jyväskylä in 1928 and the Finnish State Artillery Factory, which moved from Helsinki to Jyväskylä in 1939. Following the Second World War in 1945, the former defensive weaponry plants owned by the Finnish State were combined under a new organisation, the State Metal Works (Valtion Metallitehtaat), the name of which was then shortened to Valmet. Following the war, the artillery and rifle plants were converted to produce goods for war reparations and civil use, although the rifle plant also continued to produce military and civilian weapons until 1992.
Subject ID: 85145
MoreValtra is a manufacturer of tractors and agricultural machinery and forms part of the AGCO Corporation. Valtra tractors are manufactured in Suolahti, Finland, and Mogi das Cruzes, Brazil. Valtra's products in the Brazilian market also include combine harvesters, sugar cane harvesters, self-propelled sprayers and seed drills.
Valtra's roots go back to the Finnish State Rifle Factory founded in Jyväskylä in 1928 and the Finnish State Artillery Factory, which moved from Helsinki to Jyväskylä in 1939. Following the Second World War in 1945, the former defensive weaponry plants owned by the Finnish State were combined under a new organisation, the State Metal Works (Valtion Metallitehtaat), the name of which was then shortened to Valmet. Following the war, the artillery and rifle plants were converted to produce goods for war reparations and civil use, although the rifle plant also continued to produce military and civilian weapons until 1992.
The first Valmet tractors were manufactured in 1951. The prototypes and first 10 tractors were the result of cooperation between the artillery and rifle plants, after which tractor production was consolidated within the rifle plant in Tourula, Jyväskylä. The first tractors actually used parts of cannon barrel for their subframes.
The first tractor model was the Valmet 15, the model number indicating its horsepower. The tractor was designed to replace horses on small Finnish farms and in the forests. The upgraded Valmet 20 model followed in 1955.
The Valmet 33 D model was launched in 1957 with a modern diesel engine and the fuel tank located between the clutch and the gearbox, which became a trademark of Valmet and Valtra tractors. The protected position of the fuel tank also made it particularly well suited to forest work. The displacement of the three-cylinder Valmet 309 D engine was 2.7 litres, and it produced 37 horsepower (28 kW). The engine was very modern for its time. It had excellent cold start properties and featured liquid engine cooling, wet cylinder liners and direct injection.
By the late 1950s Valmet exported several hundred tractors a year to Brazil. The Brazilian government planned to nationalise tractor production, however, and announced a bidding competition for establishing factories there. Valmet's factory project was approved, and production began rapidly in 1960 starting with the Valmet 360 D model.
Tractor cabs became more widespread in the 1960s, especially in the Nordic markets, due to more stringent safety regulations and comfort requirements. The original Valmet factory in Tourula, Finland, could not assemble tractors with cabs due to the low ceiling, and the factory area near the expanding centre of Jyväskylä began to be too small. Accordingly, tractor production moved in 1969 to Suolahti, where the state owned an industrial site. Transmission production followed in 1975 following the construction of a new plant on the site. Marketing and engineering operations moved to Suolahti in 2005 and 2006.
Subject ID: 85145
Subject ID: 85145