Ticker symbol: AG

Nick Arroyo (ENLARGE)

AGCO CEO Martin Richenhagen stands aboard the Challenger MT975B in Pctober 2006.

THE GEORGIA 100 Think you're a Ga. biz whiz? Take our quiz! How we ranked the companies See how they compare in five crucial categories Advice from ex-H-P CEO Carly Fiorina | Photos: Awards breakfast, forum FULL COVERAGE More business news

Where traded: New York Stock Exchange

Chief executive: Martin Richenhagen, 55

Headquarters: Duluth

Business summary: AGCO manufactures and distributes agricultural equipment and parts worldwide, including tractors, combines, hay tools and other products under AGCO, Massey Ferguson, Challenger and other brand names.

Richenhagen answered questions about his company's success.

Q: One source of strength for many companies hurt by the domestic economy has been the continued growth of foreign economies. How much of your success was due to foreign sales or investments?

A: About 50 percent of our revenue is from ... Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia and 25 percent in South America. We are a very global player. What some Americans don't know is that we have a 60 percent market share in Brazil. Our overall market position is that we are No. 2.

In America we are weaker, but we are changing that with better technology and quality. We have the world's leading technology for conventional wheeled tractors. We are very much a technology-driven company.

Q: Would you elaborate on that technology?

A: The equipment we produce is really high-tech, such as fuel-efficient engines. Another one is our continuous variable transmissions. We have state of the art transmission technology, better than any car or truck. We have GPS [global positioning satellite] guidance on most of our products, which helps us improve farming quite a lot. For example, when you work on a field, whether you are plowing or harvesting, you have to make sure you cover everything. Traditionally, that means you overlap rows. With GPS you don't have to do that.

Q: What's on the horizon for your company that you can talk about, such as an acquisition, stock offering or buyback, new products, expansion.

A: We are in the midst of negotiation with regard to going to China. We are already there with some sales offices. We are the biggest importer of western technology into China. But we plan to have a factory in China. We will also invest in manufacturing in Russia, although I can't go into details. With regard to new products, we are working on a facelift for our harvester and we want to improve our product offering in combines. We want to invest in new technologies such as sugar cane harvesting in South America.

Q: You don't have any production facilities in Georgia.

A: We don't, but we have announced we will have three new assembly plants in the United States, and one will be in Georgia.

Q: What's it like running a global company from Duluth?

A: Atlanta has a pretty good infrastructure with its [Hartsfield-Jackson International] airport. Heavy traffic is a problem but I think the traffic will be fixed. Atlanta is a perfect combination. We are in a big city with all the benefits from that, but on the other hand we are not too far away from the countryside, which I can see from my office window. It would be different in New York.

– Tom Walker