Mitas receives AGCO Supplier of the Year award

Date: 17.12.15

Prague, December 17, 2015 – AGCO named Mitas as its Supplier of the Year 2015 in the category Engineering & Innovation during AGCO´s supplier day for the EAME region (Europe, Africa and Middle East). Mitas won the category thanks to the successful development of the coveted AirCell, which is part of the Fendt VarioGrip Pro system. The prize was presented to Mitas representatives in Marktoberdorf, Germany at the end of November.

“Mitas' close collaboration with AGCO is long-lasting, and our relations are outstanding. In particular, the cooperation with Fendt on the AirCell project, which is part of the VarioGrip Pro, was highly intensive and successful,” said Jens Steinhardt, Mitas' key account manager. “This is the third award for the AirCell project, having already received the Agritechnica Gold Medal and the Machine of the Year 2016 prizes,” added Steinhardt.

During the event Dr. Heribert Reiter, AGCO´s Vice President Engineering Tractors global, highlighted the successful cooperation between Fendt and Mitas, particularly on the design of their VarioGrip Pro System and the development of the AirCell.

Mitas started working with Fendt on the AirCell development seven years ago. AirCell is an integral part of the VarioGrip Pro along with the pressure regulation system. The idea for the inner tire was originally patented in 1962. Other major manufacturers attempted to develop working solutions, but only Mitas & Fendt succeeded.

Mitas AirCell is a unique inner tire that enables the inflation of large agricultural tires by 1 bar (from 0.8 bar to 1.8 bar) within just half a minute. Mitas AirCell is located on the rim inside the tire and occupies about 30% of the volume of the tire. Mitas AirCell has been designed for the Mitas 710/75 R42 SFT, other sizes will follow. AirCell is continuously inflated to a maximum of 8 bar during the tires use, releasing some of the pressure on demand enabling a rapid increase of pressure into the agricultural tire itself adjusting the pressure in seconds rather than minutes. Mitas AirCell will be available for the Fendt 900 Vario equipped with Mitas 710/75 R42 SFT starting in November 2016. The unique tire pressure inflation system is marketed as VarioGrip Pro.