The SeedGrowth Center in Monheim is better than ever

The SeedGrowth commitment to constantly innovating and improving doesn’t only extend to products – it also includes the services that are an essential part of the SeedGrowth offering. The latest step in this journey was an investment in the SeedGrowth Center in Monheim, Germany, transforming it both functionally and aesthetically with new state-of-the-art equipment and a new design. On September 21, the new-look Center was unveiled at a dedicated event.

Colleagues and other stakeholders got a grand tour courtesy of Frank Laubert (Head of Global SeedGrowth Center), who introduced the new equipment, explained how it would enable the Center to meet growing demand for training, troubleshooting and testing services, and went deeper into the purpose of the revamped Center.

“Though we have a network of SeedGrowth Centers worldwide, this one in Monheim is considered to be the core global service center,” Frank explains. “It is a center of seed treatment excellence where we work relentlessly to improve our offering by treating seeds, testing formulations, and teaching operators and colleagues. But it’s also a place where we often welcome customers or other visitors. Therefore, it was natural to invite them to see what’s new at the Center, in terms of both equipment and design.”

The global SeedGrowth center in Monheim now acts as a central hub for delivering a positive experience to customers. In general, it hosts services that can be split into two categories: proactive and reactive. Proactive measures mean working ahead of time to test and optimize seed treatments, ensuring they always meet or exceed expectations for treaters and farmers; and reactive measures include responding to customer queries with specific analysis, troubleshooting, training and equipment support.

These services can be tailored to suit a wide range of target audiences. “We support different types of customer here in Monheim,” says Frank Laubert. “One type is seed plants and their respective operators. We offer support services along the whole seed treatment process, from slurry preparation through to bagging the treated seed, ensuring everything runs smoothly with good flowability and no issues such as caking, dust-off or build-up."

“Another type is farmers. They need their treated seeds to plant easily, and the treatments to provide effective protection. So we serve them with testing and quality assurance measures across the key parameters of efficacy, seed safety and homogenous plantability.”

But that’s not all – the SeedGrowth Center also provides services to internal Bayer colleagues. This includes training and the provision of treated seeds to selected departments for their own testing and research operations.

The center in Monheim is part of a global network of eight centers, each performing a variety of testing, troubleshooting and training functions, customized to the needs of local customers and colleagues. They are an essential part of our mission to be ‘partners in growth’ – delivering many of the services and stewardship measures that complement our premium seed treatment products.

This also plays a part in Bayer’s overall seed strategy: creating integrated product offerings that combine our seeds and traits with the protective power of seed treatments, in a tailored and targeted manner.

“Our strategy in SeedGrowth is to be a market leader through delivering more than the seed treatment itself,” says Ralf Glaubitz, Head of Global Asset Management SeedGrowth. “In fact, we offer integrated packages of solutions and services to meet customers’ seed treatment needs holistically, and give them confidence."

“Investing in the SeedGrowth Center in Monheim, and giving it new functionality, is an important part of that mission. It shows that we’re never satisfied with the ‘status quo’ but are always looking for new ways to innovate, harness technology, and deliver the best possible performance."

“Now, the Center is fully equipped to play an ever greater part in the seeds and SeedGrowth strategies through meeting the needs of value chain partners, colleagues and farmers, and helping them get more out of seed treatments than ever before.”