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BENSON, Minn. (November 19, 2007) – The Case IH Benson manufacturing facility is sporting a big, bright new sign these days – 33 feet tall by 20 feet wide. Nearly twice as tall as the former sign, "It truly is impressive," says Plant Manager Kim Heiden.

"It predominantly features the Case IH logo, which symbolizes the company's renewed focus on our customers and the brands that serve them," Heiden adds. "In fact, the bold red 'Driver I' in the logo represents our one-on-one working relationships with customers. It's also a tip of the hat to our International Harvester roots."

Heiden says the first shift starts at 6 a.m., "So most of our workforce comes in before the sun comes up. The sign literally lights up the night for us."

That's fortunate, because employees at the plant recently began manufacturing the world's first commercially available module-building cotton harvester, the Case IH Module Express® 625. "This machine allows growers to save capital, fuel and labor by combining cotton harvesting and module building in a single operation," Heiden adds. "It's creating a lot of excitement in the cotton market, so we've been pretty busy meeting customer demand for that piece of equipment."

Benson employees also manufacture Case IH Cotton Express® cotton pickers, and self-propelled application equipment such as Patriot sprayers and Titan floaters.   

Heiden is pleased to have the new sign in time for the Benson plant to celebrate its 10-year anniversary as a Case IH facility, and 50th year of manufacturing agricultural equipment. 

"In 1998, Case acquired Tyler Industries, which was founded back in 1958 by Loren Tyler. He began the business making pull-type dry spreaders and anhydrous applicators," Heiden says. "The Benson plant has a 50-year history of manufacturing application equipment that helps customers protect their investments and get more from their land."

Heiden adds that employees are critical to satisfying the customer, "And the average tenure of our employees is nearly 10 years. That's rare in this day and age, but our customers appreciate the fact that they're in experienced hands – and that their equipment is built to order by seasoned pros."

Case IH is a global leader in agricultural equipment, committed to collaborating with its customers to develop the most powerful, productive, reliable equipment - for those who demand more. With headquarters in the United States, Case IH has a network of dealers and distributors that operates in over 160 countries. Case IH provides agricultural equipment systems, flexible financial service offerings and parts and service support for professional farmers and commercial operators through a dedicated network of professional dealers and distributors. Productivity enhancing products include tractors; combines and harvesters; hay and forage equipment; tillage tools; planting and seeding systems; sprayers and applicators; and site-specific farming tools.  For more information, visit us on the World Wide Web at www.caseih.com. Case IH is a brand of CNH (NYSE:CNH), a majority-owned subsidiary of Fiat Group (FIA:MI).