Krone, a specialized farm equipment manufacturer, has opened a 50,000-square-foot warehouse at 4674 Aircenter Circle in Reno to service the behemoth commercial farm equipment it sells to ranchers throughout the West.
The facility employs nine.
Krone, a German company with North America headquarters in Memphis, distributes its farm equipment to a network of about 50 western dealers. The closest is in Wellington in southwestern Lyon County, says George Kilbride, western region manager. The new parts and training facility allows Krone to quickly ship parts to farms in California and Idaho, its biggest markets, as well as Utah and Arizona.
"The logistics issue is the biggest one, and that is why picked Reno," Kilbride says. "Our stuff is so big you can't put it on an airplane; most of it has to go by truck."
Krone's primary customer base is composed of large agricultural contractors who either bale hay or cut forage and silage for other farmers using one of Krone's three main pieces of commercial equipment:
* Hay balers.
* Mower-conditioners for cutting hay and forage crops.
* Forage harvesters, which chop hay or standing corn into tiny pieces at rate of 400 tons an hour.
The new facility also will be used to train dealers on how to service Krone's equipment.
Dean Krieger of Lee & Associates brokered Krone's lease with landlord Prologis, which was represented by Kurt Fuller.
