Lely opens new factory in the US

Lely Group, the world leader in robotic milking systems, has expanded its North American presence with production facilities in Pella, Iowa.

The expansion will significantly increase Lely’s services to the North American market. The new space will be Lely’s first dairy production facility outside of their headquarters and production facilities in the Netherlands.

To meet the increasing demand of the North American market for dairy products, Lely has decided to start local production. The production site is located on the premises of Lely’s strategic forage solutions partner Vermeer, who has been working in alliance with Lely for over twenty years now. The aim was not only building a production site for operations, but also to ensure ample office space for other Lely departments such as Technical and Customer Service and Farm Management Support.

Lely USA has been headquartered in Pella for the past eight years. The North American market holds tremendous potential and Lely is seeing great interest in its dairy products from family farms up to large scale dairy herds. "It is with great pleasure that we are able to pay back the incredibly supportive community in Pella with our facility expansion, while also creating new jobs, more than twenty full-time positions within the first year of its operation. Depending on the market demand we will manufacture more dairy products. We are able to respond flexible to the market needs, thanks to our co-operation with Vermeer. We share the same strategy", says Alexander van der Lely.

Twenty years after its introduction the Lely Astronaut milking robot is still a very successful product, enabling the company to establish a leading international position in the dairy farming sector. More than 12,500 Lely Astronaut milking robots have already been sold, while nowadays the yearly production totals about 3,000 milking robots.


The production building in Pella is totalling 3,133 sq.m. with an additional 572 sq.m. office space and exuding a modern look that was inspired by the newest Lely Center in Bain de Bretagne, France.