Prof. hc Heinz Dreyer, CEO of Amazonen-Werke for many years, celebrated his 90th birthday on February 19. He helped build the company as the third generation of the Dreyer families involved and played an important role in its development into the world specialist in agricultural machinery for modern crop production. In the course of his activities in the management of the Amazone Group, he made a large number of important award-winning technical inventions that have been patented.
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In early 2005 he transferred his management responsibilities to his son, Dr. Justus Dreyer. However, he remains responsible for Amazone planting technology and optimal fertilization and maintains his association with the Samara State University of Agriculture and other universities. He also remains a member of the board of directors.
As the eldest son of Ing. Dipl. Heinrich Dreyer, successor to the founder of Amazonen-Werke, Heinz Dreyer was born in 1932 and was appointed by his father as his successor very early on. After his baccalaureate at the Ratsgymnasium in Osnabrück and during the semester breaks, he did various internships at the steel works in Georgsmarienhütte and Osnabrück, at the Heinrich Lanz company in Mannheim and at the Bayerisches Leichtmetallwerk (BLW). He studied mechanical engineering at the Technical University of Munich and, after graduating in 1956, continued at the university as a freelancer with a research contract from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture (Bonn) to complete his doctorate.
However, his plans were abruptly interrupted when his father died suddenly in November 1957. From then on, Heinz Dreyer immediately joined AMAZONEN-WERKE, together with his cousin Klaus Dreyer, and took over with him the management of the business. This happened at the beginning of 1958. In addition to the necessary expansion of the company, Heinz Dreyer again tackled his doctoral thesis, also studying Agricultural Business Administration and Agricultural Policy with the corresponding exams and received his doctorate at the Justus Liebig University of Gießen in 1963 .
From the beginning it was mainly devoted to product development, and in this sense it immediately achieved great success. Within a few weeks, he invented ZA’s first 3-point hitch double-disc spreader, which later became the forerunner of nearly every spreader used in the world since, with more than 750,000 sold. units to date. He was also involved in the development of potato harvesters, developed a new type of manure spreader with a wide spreading unit, invented new planters for larger working widths, and finally a new modern tractor-mounted planter, which also carried Amazonen-Werke to market leadership in this field after a short time: the legendary AMAZONE D4.
In 1960 he married Magdalene Teich, the daughter of a businessman from Lower Bavaria. He had four children: Petra, Nicoline, Konstanze and Justus, who became his successor as CEO of the company.
Business-wise, steering the company towards future-oriented management was especially important to him. He devised the concept of a management group that included, in addition to the two CEOs, carefully selected employees with corresponding voting rights, the so-called Management Group 1 (FG1), which still represents the top management body today. It currently consists of eight people, of which Prof. Heinz Dreyer is still a member.
Starting in 1975, it concentrated its development activities on seed drills for direct seeding in Canada and invented, among other things, the Amazone chisel opener, which continues to prove itself in the most varied conditions of use, especially in Russia. Due to the scarcity of water in large areas of Russia, Prof. Heinz Dreyer saw a great opportunity for direct seeding in that country and was very successful. Prof. Heinz Dreyer, spiritual father and inventor of the First DMC, is delighted to see how “his” machine of his continues to establish itself internationally.
As the owner of a family business with a long tradition, a good informal working environment in all areas remains very important to him. Professor Heinz Dreyer has this to say about his employees: “At Amazone, we have always been lucky to have great employees, not only in engineering and design, but also in production and sales. Then you have to create a climate that makes employees feel comfortable and that their work is recognized. Today, around 2,000 employees work for the internationally successful Amazone group of companies at nine production sites in Germany, France, Russia and Hungary.
Over the years, Professor Dreyer has embedded Amazone’s strengths in the DNA of the overall Amazone organization: These include extraordinary capacity for innovation, high quality standards, and equal communication with farmers. and scientists from all over the world. With relentless passion and high commitment, the development of agricultural machinery is a matter very close to his heart and for him the key to Amazone’s success: “Innovation is what has brought us to the top. New ideas, but they have to be really good, realistic and have technical advantages. However, our machines not only have to perform well, they must be reliable above all else. And we are a company that is at the service of its customers and cares about them.”
High honors to Prof. hc Univ. Samara RAS Dr. Dr. hc Heinz Dreyer
After Prof. Dreyer devoted himself more and more to planting technology for Russia in recent years, he was elected “Member of the International Academy of Agricultural Education” in Moscow. This is considered one of the highest honors (“Academy”) in a long Russian tradition. As scientific adviser to the Samara State Agricultural University, he was also appointed honorary professor of this university in 2001, a title that has now been recognized unchanged in Germany.
For his services to scientific research and development in the field of agricultural engineering, in the summer of 2005 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Hohenheim. In 2008 he received the Silver Order of Merit from the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation. The Association of German Engineers (VDI) recognized Prof. Heinz Dreyer’s life achievements with the VDI Medal of Honor in 2009.
As the highest honor, Professor Heinz Dreyer was elected “Foreign Member of the Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences RAAS” in 2012. This membership is considered one of the highest scientific honors in the Russian Federation and is very rarely awarded to non-Russian scientists. .
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