Lely

On Wednesday 14^th September 2011, the Lely Group celebrated the official opening of its first next generation Lely Center facility in presence of the CEO, Alexander van der Lely.

For more than 60 years, the Dutch Lely Group, leader and inventor of automatic milking systems has developed many solutions at the leading edge of technology to improve the social and financial well being of the dairy farmers worldwide.

The franchise network, a unique concept in the agricultural sector, comes from Lely’s innovative approach: for around 10 years now, Lely has provided dairy farmers with milking equipment through an international network of franchisees, which today counts 160 facilities. This « Lely Center » concept is a proven organisation illustrated by the fact that the network has tripled within 3 years.

With more than 12,500 installed robots, the Lely fleet is the most significant in the world. In France, 2 of 3 robots are Lely Astronaut milking systems. By giving the Sales and Service responsibility  to locally based Lely Center, Lely is present in the heart of dairy regions, close to each dairy farmer and ensuring them a high level quality of service. Working on high-technology automatic milking systems cannot be improvised. That is the reason why Lely implemented dedicated training courses for every Lely Center employee for Sales, Service and Management. For instance, only a Lely certified service engineer who had attended  specific training can be allowed to operate and maintain Lely Astronaut milking robots.

Lely is a unique network in the dairy industry where all service and sales employees are 100% dedicated to the Lely milking robot. The Lely Center facilities only sell and maintain dairy equipment from the Lely range. This exclusivity allows them  to gain valuable experience and expertise in milking systems on a daily basis.

In France, lead country, the network counts 23 Lely Center in activity. With the collaboration of a Dutch architect, Lely developed a brand new concept for the Lely Center building: an open, warm and welcoming place, which expresses through the red colour of the main wall, the passion of Lely for dairy farming. Based in Bain de Bretagne, near Rennes in France  the Lely Group decided to invest in development of this new concept for the next generation of Lely Center. It should be remembered that the city of Bain de Bretagne had hosted, since the end of the 20^th century, Lely France, the French subsidiary of the international Lely Group.   Today in charge of the Franchise network for Lely South area (France, Spain, Italy, Portugal and Switzerland).

On Wednesday 14^th September, Alexander van der Lely, CEO of the Lely Group, Mr Mellet, President of the Local District planning authority and Mr Yves Thébault, mayor of the city inaugurated the new 400m² Lely Center building.  This event gathered together more than 150 people among them customers, journalists, suppliers and colleagues who really enjoyed  discovering and visiting this innovative Lely Center building.

Live Life Lely!

About the Lely Group
Lely directs all its efforts at dairy farmers, so that their financial and social welfare is advanced and they can anticipate market developments. For 60 years, Lely has been synonymous with products, services and solutions that are relevant and meaningful for dairy farmers, simply because they are developed specifically to address their wishes. Lely is also the undisputed market leader in the sales and service of automated milking systems; in addition, the company has a strong position in the roughage harvesting machinery market. The company is active in more than 60 countries and employs some 1,400 people. The annual turnover is around 403 million euro.

For more information, see www.lely.com.

For further information, please contact
Els Versluis
International Marketing and Communications Manager
Lely Group
eversluis@lely.com
T: + 31 (0)10 59 96 500