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SIMA Gold Medal for Innovation for MF 8600 Series cab suspension
Massey Ferguson’s OptiRide Plus cab suspension system fitted to the new MF 8600 Series tractor range was honoured with a Gold Medal at a special presentation ceremony on the first day of the SIMA Show in Paris on Sunday, 22nd February.
The judges said the advanced OptiRide Plus dynamic suspension system, which is fitted as standard to all Excellence specification models in the MF 8600 Series, “represents a significant step forward in terms of driver comfort.” This is the latest in a series of prestigious European awards for the MF 8600 which included being voted Tractor of the Year 2009 at the recent EIMA show in Italy.

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“This is an important award for Massey Ferguson,” says Richard Markwell, Vice President & Managing Director, Massey Ferguson EAME and Prèsident Directeur Général, AGCO S.A. “It is recognition of the significant innovations on the MF 8600 Series, which was conceived, developed and built in our French, Beauvais factory.

“France is Europe’s largest market for agricultural equipment and is the second biggest in the world. The AGCO Beauvais manufacturing facility is France’s largest tractor producer and the country’s biggest exporter, with 85% of all production going to the four corners of the world,” he adds.

The Gold Medal also confirms Massey Ferguson’s position as the leader in advanced cab design and technology. It was the first to offer noise levels as low as 70d(B)A and also won an award for the cab suspension on the MF 8600’s predecessor. Laurent Blin, who developed the OptiRide Plus suspension system, says operator comfort is key component in extracting optimum productivity from the MF 8600 Series tractor

“The four-point dynamic system takes parameters from the tractor’s CAN-bus and uses this information about, for example, forward speed, steering input, throttle setting, braking and front axle movement, to automatically adjust the suspension. Operators are also able to set the system to exactly suit their requirements,” explains Mr Blin who joined Mr Markwell to collect the award along with Laurent Pernin, General Marketing Manager, Massey Ferguson tractors.

The OptiRide Plus dynamic system uses four hydraulic dampers and accumulators that are attached to each corner of the cab, which are equipped with four levelling sensors – fitted to each of the hydraulic dampers. These provide information to the controller, which it combines with the information from the CAN.

After processing this data the controller then adjusts each individual damper setting to provide up to 25% improvement in comfort, compared to the standard system.