From strength to strength - a pictorial record of the Simba success story
View the slide show below to see how far Simba has come since the company was founded more than three decades ago.
A Lion is born
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Simba was established in 1976 by its founder Keith Burton. Having spent 25 years farming in Africa, Keith proudly named his venture after the Swahili word for Lion. Simba was born.
Big is Beautiful
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Through the late 70s and early 80s Simba specialised in custom-built equipment to suit the high horsepower (300hp+) tractors entering the UK from America in increasing numbers. Simba was the only manufacturer at this time to meet this growing need. The original production facility (shown here) was at Sleaford.
Simba Launches Disc Harrow
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The first machine to be manufactured by Simba was the Disc Harrow. This product was to spearhead Simba's UK and overseas sales in the 1970s, 80s and early 90s.
The Mono leads the way
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The Mono launched by Simba in 1982 was the first cultivator in the UK to combine discs, tines and consolidating roller in one machine. The pioneering concept led the way for others to follow.
Turning desert into crops
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From the early 1980s, Saudi Arabia offered huge business potential for Simba and even today the Simba name remains highly respected throughout the Kingdom.
Turning desert into crops
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From the early 1980s, Saudi Arabia offered huge business potential for Simba and even today the Simba name remains highly respected throughout the Kingdom.
Simba at work in the mining industry
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Simba specially developed a package of heavy-duty equipment with the NCB in the late 70s/early 80s. These products were designed for the reinstatement of open cast coal sites and included very heavy-duty disc harrows and rippers.
Straw burning ban creates new opportunities
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Our widely respected customer-focused approach to marketing and technical advice allied with the sales opportunities presented by the 1989 Straw Burning Ban firmly established the company as the UK's leading disc harrow and press roll manufacturer.
New horizons
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Simba quality and innovation was soon in demand overseas and by the mid 1980s the company was exporting equipment to Africa and Sri Lanka, primarily for use on sugar estates. Into the 1990s, further export markets were opened up in Europe, the Middle East, Australia and New Zealand.
Simba unveils Toptilth
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In 1988 Simba launched the new Toptilth range of seedbed cultivators with working widths from 3m to 8m.
Simba at The Royal Show in 1988
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A Mono takes pride of place alongside the Freeflow Drill and a set of Cambridge Rolls.
Simba at The Royal Smithfield Show in 1989
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Heavy disc harrows were exhibited on the stand in an answer to the recently announced Straw Burning Ban in the UK.
Simba and Monsanto launch ECO-tillage
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A marketing agreement between Simba and Monsanto in the early 90s resulted in the launch of the ECO-tillage brand, developed to reduce the cost of crop establishment and weed control both financially and environmentally.
Hungary for further success
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The Hungarian market was one of the first Eastern European markets to be opened up by Simba from the early 1990s. Initial sales were made to pioneering UK farmers, but today the company sells through its importer, Axial KFT.
Sowing the seeds for growth
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Simba developed and launched its very first drill in 1992. Available in 3m, 4m, 6m and 8m versions, the introduction of the Freeflow Drill meant that Simba offered a complete range of cultivation and seeding equipment, i.e. a total cultivation and establishment system.
Simba Presses on... and on
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First there was the Single Press, then the Double Press and then in the early 1990s, Simba launched the Cultipress. Originally equipped with cast rings, the Cultipress provided Simba customers with an alternative to a power harrow on plough-based systems, as well as a machine that could be used in non-inversion tillage systems in tandem with a Disc Harrow.
A cut above the rest - the new DD Ring
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Simba's pioneering DD Ring was launched in 1988. Its unique, patented design continues to lead the way for pressing efficiency. Fitted as standard on most of Simba's cultivation machinery, DD Rings are increasingly retrofitted to other manufacturers' equipment.
Simba and Horsch join forces
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In 1999 Simba entered into a reciprocal trade agreement with leading drill manufacturer, Horsch Maschinen GmbH of Germany, to promote and sell the Simba and Horsch product ranges alongside each other in their home markets.
The one and only Solo makes its debut
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Simba launched its first Solo models in 1999. The folding wing 450 and 600 models offered 4.50m and 6.00m working widths, respectively. These were followed by a 3.30m model a year later, and in 2005 by the hugely successful Solo 380 ST.
Pro-Lift offers shattering performance
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Simba introduced the new Pro-Lift leg and wing technology to offer optimum shattering and disturbance of the soil without requiring excessive horsepower.
X-Press makes a rapid impression
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The turn of the millennium saw another major addition to the Simba range in the shape of the Trailed X-Press, which, with its short disc design, was developed to replace conventional disc harrows.
Award winning DD Ring
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The DD Ring wins a Silver Medal in the RASE Machinery Awards Scheme.
A show of strength
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Simba exhibited its growing product range including Horsch machines at The Royal Show in 2002.
Solo wins prestigious industry award
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The Solo wins the Gold Medal in the RASE Machinery Awards Scheme 2002.
The Mounted X-Press
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This machine, introduced by Simba in 2005, provided for the first time, a highly effective cultivation solution for smaller tractors (80hp-100hp).
Pronto DC makes its mark in the UK
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In 2006 the Simba Horsch partnership introduced the Pronto DC drill into the UK market. Sold alongside the tried and tested Sprinter drills, these product ranges quickly achieved a 40% share of the UK cultivator drill market.
Major investment at Sleaford
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Simba's continued success and confidence in the future prompted a major investment in the Sleaford production plant. Completed at the end of 2007, the project increased capacity by 30% and facilitated a much more efficient parts supply system including online ordering.
The SL Cultivator was launched at Agritechnica in 2007
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The new range of SL cultivators was launched into the European market to universal acclaim for its quality, versatility and design innovation built around proven components.
The New SL breaks new ground
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Simba's SL range made an immediate impact. Pre-production models covered some 20,000 acres on farms across the world. Supremely versatile and able to achieve a top quality finish on all soil types, the SL can work at depths of between 15 and 25cms and offers working widths of 4, 5, 6 and 7 metres. This range represented the first products designed by Simba with the Eurpoean market in mind.
The New DTX 300 - earth shattering performance
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Following successful trials on a variety of soils during 2008, the highly flexible DTX 300 was launched in early 2009. A 3m wide one-pass cultivator, the DTX 300 fits in between the Mounted X-Press/ST Bar packages, the heavier rolled Solo 330 and the SL400. This machine along with the SL will underpin the company's growth over the coming years.
A leading authority in our industry
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Through a range of practical, comprehensive Technical Guides and other initiatives, Simba continues to lead the way on cultivations advice and support for farmers and agronomists.
Simba joins forces with Great Plains
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On 30th April 2010 two of the world's leading brands in agricultural plant and equipment came together to create a major new force in the industry. As a wholly owned subsidiary of Great Plains Mfg., Inc, based in Kansas, USA, the Simba product range can only go from strength to strength.
Looking to the future
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Whilst the UK will continue to be Simba's single most important market, the company is continuing to develop its export business. France is just one overseas market that offers potential for growth. Other markets are being developed with equal success and today Simba machines are working in over 50 countries throughout the world.
History
Simba started in 1976 when the founder Keith Burton identified a growing market for equipment to suit large (300hp+) tractors entering the UK, having spent 25 years farming in Africa (Simba is Swahili for lion).
Development of the Company was rapid, and its products soon gained a strong reputation within the market place, particularly with professional farmers who were often involved with development work.
Whilst more established names within the industry faltered in the 80’s and 90’s Simba took advantage of opportunities such as the introduction of the straw burning ban and became a major force in the UK market during this time. Exports developed and the company now has a strong presence in Europe, the Middle East, and as far afield as Australia and New Zealand. Sales have also recently been made into the USA and Japan.
Horsch Maschinen GmbH is a German Company with a very similar ethos to that of Simba’s and in 1999 the two Companies entered into a reciprocal trade agreement.
By doing this the two Companies worked in partnership to market the two product ranges alongside each other in their home market. At the time Simba’s drill range was coming to the end of its commercial life and the Horsch drills were seen as the perfect replacement to this aging range.
By 2005 Simba was a major force in the cultivator drill market within the UK and the innovations continuing within the Simba product range, the company now has arguably the widest and most comprehensive range of equipment it has ever had. New Simba products targeted at 80 – 100hp tractors open up further opportunities to the company and now many more farmers can benefit from the innovations built into these machines.
Improving manufacturing efficiency and reduction of production costs has not been overlooked.
Besides a manufacturing facility at the Headquarters in Sleaford, Lincolnshire, Simba’s products are also manufactured in Hungary, the choice of location often dependent on the final destination of the product and the exchange rate ruling at the time. The recent weakening of the pound against the Euro has resulted in more production being brought back to the UK.
Today the company’s products are designed very much with the European markets in mind, that’s not to say that Simba are neglecting the UK market, more positioning itself to take advantage of the vast potential these other markets offer. This philosophy is epitomized by the new SL Cultivator, which was launched in November 2007 at the Agritechnica show in Hanover having been shown to the UK dealers a month earlier at a series of regional launches throughout the UK. So far the company has sold nearly 500 units in less than 18 months, half for the UK market and half for the export market. This huge growth has seen the company increase its turnover from £13m in 2006 to over £28m in 2008.
Much has been done over the past 2 years to build a European dealer network to support this is and now that is all but complete. A full listing is shown under the dealer section. Our after sales resources have also been increased to provide a level of backup required for professional farming operations throughout Europe and beyond.
Simba still has a reputation for strength which, in the early years related to the products that it offered; now it is in many other areas as well such as the technology it employs to develop and test innovative products, the manufacturing facilities in different locations and the very strong management team based at its headquarters at Sleaford in Lincolnshire.
New product development continues and most recently the DTX 300 has been added to the range along with trailing kits for the 4m Mounted X-Press. Major research is also undertaken with the company now involved with over 20 oilseed rape trials throughout the UK.
As has always been the case, the company aims to provide good practical advice to its customers and the recent series of technical publications serves to illustrate this point and all have been very well received by farmers, agronomists and consultants alike. This ethos will continue as Simba continues to develop in the future.
On 30th April 2010, Simba International Limited was acquired by Great Plains Mfg., Inc, based in Salina, Kansas, USA bringing together the product innovation, expertise, experience and knowledge of two of the world's leading brands in agricultural plant and equipment. Backed by the vast resources of North America's largest non-tractor, privately owned agricultural implement manufacturing company, Simba can look forward to an exciting and successful future.
