Jobs + Careers

We are always looking for talented individuals.

Find out all about jobs at CLAAS and read about our company.

Jobs + Careers

We are always looking for talented individuals.

Find out all about jobs at CLAAS and read about our company.

CLAAS UK History

Mr James Mann began trading from a small premises at Honey Hill, Great Saxham near Bury St. Edmunds in Suffolk in 1929, selling Lanz Bulldog diesel tractors, imported from Mannheim, establishing himself as a tractor dealer in the local area. 

After the war, manpower in Britain was in very short supply, the agricultural industry was on its knees and there was a general shortage of powerful machines able to cope with the rigours of a UK harvest. After hearing how well a particular combine, the CLAAS SUPER, was performing in the Rhineland, an area that had been devastated by the war, the Ministry of Agriculture requested a testing of the SUPER, in 1945, in typical UK conditions. 

The performance of the SUPER exceeded all expectations and MANNS started to import small numbers of the combines, retailing them very successfully.
MANNS reputation grew as the number one retailer for CLAAS combines and they became the official concessionaries for CLAAS. They also became a limited company, J MANN Ltd., in 1949.
By the end of 1949 CLAAS had supplied several hundred machines into Britain not only to MANNS but to a small number of other dealers, establishing a firm footing in the combine market in the UK.   

The business steadily outgrew its Honey Hill premises and new buildings were erected on the current Saxham site alongside the A14 in 1960 in to which the business transferred.

Subsequent development of J MANN Ldt saw the separation of the wholesale operation from the local retail operation, and the start of a national business CLAAS UK Ltd. MANNS was retained for retail operations across East Anglia.

CLAAS UK had been working with distributers offering a number of different tractor franchises but, compromised by consolidations taking place throughout the industry, consequently realigned its dealer structure, establishing an exclusive network of fewer, but larger multi-branch dealers, each covering larger sales areas. This included four wholly owned dealers who between them covered about 50% of the total UK business.

This dealer development was opportune and fitted well with the acquisition by CLAAS of the Renault tractor business in 2003, which gave the dealer network a ‘full line’ of CLAAS products.

CLAAS UK has currently undergoing a full redevelopment programme on the site of the existing premises at Saxham. In keeping with the need for modernisation, further efficiencies and future growth, the redevelopment will future proof the expanding wholesale, retail and training academy requirements. A 5 year building plan has already seen Phase one, the new CLAAS Academy, completed and officially opened in Summer 2017.

The remainder of the build project is planned for completion by 2022.