CNH Global N.V. History

Company Perspectives:

To continue to give customers access to their preferred brands, CNH is committed to a multiple brand, multiple distribution business model. While the company will combine functional operations on a global basis, commercial and sales organizations and distribution networks will remain dedicated to specific brands. For CNH, this strategy makes solid business sense for two reasons. Brand loyalty is strong in the equipment industry, in part due to the generations of equipment use within family businesses that are prevalent in the agricultural and construction equipment industries. Second, the Case and New Holland businesses are highly complementary, and the various brands of each business have strengths in different customer segments and geographic markets around the world. CNH will build on the existing points of differentiation between its brands. For example, in the North American agricultural equipment markets, the Case IH line has a substantial presence in the large cash grain customer segment, while the New Holland line has a strong position in multi-use farms that include livestock and dairy segments. These product lines have been developed over time to deliver the features and performance required by these distinct customer groups. In addition, the two brands have products that address specific, sometimes specialized, market needs. New Holland, for example, is a dominant supplier of grape harvesting equipment, while Case has leading products for cotton and sugar cane harvesting. Key Dates:

Key Dates:

1842:

Jerome Increase Case builds his first thresher machine, and soon founds the Jerome Increase Case Machinery Company.

1863:

Company is reformed as a co-partnership, called J.I. Case & Co.

1878:

Case produces its first steam traction engine.

1880:

Partnership is incorporated as J.I. Case Threshing Machine Company.

1895:

New Holland Machine Company is founded.

1917:

Ford Motor Company begins making the first mass-produced agricultural tractor.

1919:

Fiat introduces its first mass-produced tractor to the market.

c.

1928:

Case changes its name to J.I. Case Company.

1945:

Case workers in Racine begin a 440-day strike--at the time, the nation's longest ever.

1947:

Sperry Corporation acquires New Holland, creating the subsidiary Sperry New Holland.

1957:

Case relaunches its industrial equipment line and acquires American Tractor Corp.

1964:

Kern County Land Company (KCL) gains majority control of Case.

1967:

Tenneco Company acquires KCL and its stake in Case.

1970:

Case becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of Tenneco; Fiat creates an earthmoving equipment subsidiary, Fiat Macchine Movimento Terra.

1974:

Fiat Macchine creates joint venture with Allis Chalmers Corporation, Fiat-Allis.

1984:

Fiat consolidates all of its agricultural machinery manufacturing under Fiatagri unit.

1985:

Case acquires International Harvester's agricultural product line.

1986:

Ford acquires Sperry New Holland and merges it with Ford Tractor Operations to form Ford New Holland, Inc.

1988:

Fiat-Allis and Fiatagri are merged to form FiatGeotech S.p.A., which includes all of Fiat's agricultural and earthmoving equipment.

1991:

Case posts a net loss of $1.1 billion; Fiat acquires an 80 percent interest in Ford New Holland, which is merged with FiatGeotech to form N.H. Geotech.

1993:

N.H. Geotech changes its name to New Holland N.V.

1994:

Tenneco takes Case Corporation public.

1996:

Tenneco sells its remaining stake in Case, which gains its full independence.

1999:

New Holland acquires Case and changes its name to CNH Global N.V.

Company History:

Further Reading:

• Bas, Ed, 'Ford New Holland's Goal: The Blue Tractor Pulling a Red Harvester,' Ward's Auto World, June 1987, p. 72.
• Deutsch, Claudia, 'Former BMC Chairman Assumes Post at Case,' New York Times, July 23, 1991, p. D4.
• Eiben, Therese, 'How the Industries Stack Up,' Fortune, July 12, 1993, p. 102.
• Erb, David, and Eldon Brumbaugh, Full Steam Ahead: J.I. Case Tractors and Equipment, 1842-1955, St. Joseph, Mich.: American Society of Agricultural Engineers, 1993, 343 p.
• Fisher, Lawrence, 'Tenneco Names Head of Its J.I. Case Unit,' New York Times, December 7, 1991, p. 39.
• Fogarty, Bill, 'Ford New Holland: Out of the Company Store Business,' Implement and Tractor, July 1989, p. 15.
• 'Ford New Holland Here to Stay,' Construction Equipment, March 1994, p. 14.
• Gaines, Sallie L., 'Here's a Case of Good Results,' Chicago Tribune, May 30, 1999.
• Gilpin, Kenneth, 'Chief at Troubled J.I. Case Stepping Down,' New York Times, September 16, 1992, p. D4.
• Hawkins, Lee, Jr., 'Farming Trends Prompt CNH Cutbacks,' Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, July 19, 2000, p. 15D.
• Hayes, Thomas, 'Head of Tenneco Unit to Quit All His Posts,' New York Times, March 16, 1991, p. 33.
• ------, 'J.I. Case Plans to Cut Work Force by 4,000,' New York Times, December 5, 1991, p. D4.
• Holbrook, Stewart H., Machines of Plenty: Chronicle of an Innovator in Construction and Agricultural Equipment, New York: Macmillan, 1955, 269 p., reprinted, 1976.
• Holmes, Michael, J.I. Case: The First 150 Years, Racine, Wis.: Case Corporation, 1992, 200 p.
• 'The Impact of Ford New Holland's Buyout,' Agri Marketing, September 1990, p. 18.
• Johnson, Robert, 'Tenneco Restructuring Is Over, but Doubts Remain,' Wall Street Journal, September 8, 1992, p. B4.
• ------, 'Tenneco's Plans to Restructure Case Unit Include $843 Million After-Tax Charge,' Wall Street Journal, March 23, 1993, p. A3.
• Kelly, Kevin, 'Case Digs Out from Way Under,' Business Week, August 14, 1995, pp. 62--63.
• Krebs, Michelle, 'New Holland Called a 'Natural' for Ford,' Automotive News, October 21, 1985, p. 53.
• Marsh, Peter, 'Jean-Pierre Rosso Rolls Up His Sleeves at CNH,' Financial Times, June 5, 2000, p. 23.
• McKanic, Patricia Ann, 'Tenneco's Ashford to Resign As Chief of Case Unit, Which He Turned Around,' Wall Street Journal, March 18, 1991, p. B8.
• McMurray, Scott, 'Farm-Equipment Sales Are Running at Full Throttle,' Wall Street Journal, June 15, 1993, p. B4.
• Miller, James P., 'Case Announces More Job Cuts As Demand Falls,' Wall Street Journal, December 22, 1998, p. A3.
• Nesbitt, Scott, 'Ford, Fiat Merger Brings Speculation,' Implement and Tractor, September 1990, p. 1.
• 'New Holland Grows As Global Leader,' Lancaster (Penn.) Sunday News, March 23, 1997, p. 32.
• 'New Holland Marks 100th Anniversary,' Implement and Tractor, May-June 1995, p. 26.
• Osenga, Mike, 'Case Corporation,' Diesel Progress Engines and Drives, June 1992, p. 102.
• ------, 'A Look at New Holland's New Tractors,' Diesel Progress, July 1997, p. 10.
• Raghavan, Anita, and Carl Quintanilla, 'New Holland Agrees to Acquire Case for $4.2 Billion, Creating Rival to Deere,' Wall Street Journal, May 17, 1999, p. A3.
• Romell, Rick, 'Racine Losing Its Case Tractor Plant,' Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, July 19, 2000, p. 15A.
• Savage, Mark, 'Case Acquiring Global Influence,' Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, October 12, 1997.
• ------, 'Case to Lay Off 1,300 Workers,' Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, December 22, 1998.
• ------, 'Company Takes Best of All Worlds: Racine Farm Equipment Firm Has Global Look,' Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, November 15, 1999.
• ------, 'Deere Reaps Profits As CNH Stumbles,' Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, August 16, 2000, p. 15D.
• ------, 'Farm Equipment Slide Feeds Talk of Mergers,' Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, May 16, 1999.
• ------, 'Sale of Case Would Form Ag Giant,' Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, May 18, 1999.
• ------, 'Tenneco Cutting Link to Case: Move Will Leave Racine Firm Independent for the First Time Since 1964,' Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, February 23, 1996.
• Solomon, Caleb, 'Tenneco Plans to Sell 35 Percent of Case Unit to Public, on Revival in Agriculture,' Wall Street Journal, April 27, 1994, p. A2.
• Stonehouse, Tom, and Eldon Brumbaugh, J.I. Case Agricultural and Construction Equipment, 1956-1994, St. Joseph, Mich.: American Society of Agricultural Engineers, [1996].
• Sturani, Maria, 'Fiat's Offering of New Holland Shares Expected to Swell Coffers by $1 Billion,' Wall Street Journal, November 4, 1996, p. B11.
• Tait, Nikki, 'The Case for Working from a Platform,' Financial Times, June 1, 1999, p. 27.
• 'Tenneco in Plan to Revamp Case,' New York Times, January 23, 1992, p. D4.
• Verespej, Michael A., 'An Abrupt Turnaround,' Industry Week, April 15, 1996, pp. 62--64, 66.
• Wyatt, Edward A., 'Case Reopened,' Barron's, June 6, 1994, pp. 14--15.

Source: International Directory of Company Histories, Vol. 38. St. James Press, 2001.