Fullwood JOZ CEO: annual robot deliveries approach 700 as lead times fall
Fullwood moved manufacturing from England to Middenmeer in the northern Netherlands in 2024. The English operation welded each Merlin robot into a complete structure; the Dutch plant assembles supplier-manufactured components, bolting together more than 100 subframes for each machine. Van Raaij said the revised method had reduced production costs. Delivery volumes were now several times their earlier level, and the assembly line retained spare capacity: it could accommodate four extra machines the following week if required. He considered an order-to-installation period of 12 weeks reasonable because dealers must prepare farms before installation. The Merlin performed well and required little maintenance, he said, but the company's difficulty during the relocation had been meeting delivery requirements.
Van Raaij described a turbulent decade for Fullwood's robotics business. An investor that bought the company in 2015 had prioritised pumps over robots, slowing Merlin development, he said. Substantial investment during the past two years had subsequently produced the recently launched Merlin 2+. Its controls have been redesigned throughout, with additional improvements scheduled for 2027. He described the company as stable, with organised manufacturing and strong financial results. The product strategy emphasises straightforward installation and servicing: a fault may be resolved by changing a hose or cable, without requiring specialist technical knowledge or a complicated replacement assembly. Asked about components shared with competing robot manufacturers, he identified a laser supplied by Lely as the only component still obtained from another party.
At JOZ, development is concentrating on image recognition for managing livestock buildings. Van Raaij said the company wanted products that differentiated it from competitors and had no intention of developing a feeding robot. He argued that artificial intelligence could improve a farmer's efficiency, rather than remove the need for farmers. The company is examining animal activity across the farm, extending its observations beyond udders, with the aim of using recognised behaviour to produce practical and economic forecasts. A digital-twin approach could, he said, identify a cow behaving unusually before changes appeared in her milk measurements, allowing her to be separated and examined for illness. Much of the underlying information is already held on company servers and in Merlin systems. Cloud connectivity would enable more advanced analysis, while additional sensors would broaden the available information.
Demand varies by region, according to van Raaij. Subsidies in southern and eastern Europe are supporting the rapid establishment of large dairy operations, creating demand for equipment suited to herds exceeding 1,000 cows. He identified similar requirements in the United States. In western Europe, most farms using Merlin operate two to four robots, serving herds of 100–250 cows. Serving both sizes of customer is a challenge for the company. He cited an Italian customer whose 1,500-cow farm uses batch milking and is managed by two people who do not spend all their working time tending the animals. Fullwood's family-business heritage remains reflected in its dealers, many of which specialise in serving family farms. Although batch milking differs substantially from systems in which cows move freely to the robots, he said farms use data and reach decisions in fundamentally similar ways.
Buyers generally concentrate on the upfront investment more than running expenses, even though the latter can be considerable, van Raaij said. He added that acquisition prices differed relatively little among the five principal robot brands. He said Fullwood machines were designed to operate reliably for at least 15 years and claimed that lower expenditure on parts and servicing gave Merlin the lowest total ownership cost among its competitors. Robots that have already worked for 10–15 years continue to receive full software support. Farmers can undertake some servicing themselves, supplemented by dealers, which he said do not charge for every telephone enquiry. Dealers also have considerable experience of maintenance expenditure, while farmers possess direct knowledge of the costs incurred in daily operation.
The company is working to combine those sources of information to build a clearer picture of operating maintenance costs. Van Raaij said Fullwood already held cost figures and could share some of them, describing the business as more oriented towards engineering than marketing. Farmers worldwide scrutinise spending closely when it affects their own income, he said. He also described the purchase of a robot as a decision extending across generations: customers consider whether the equipment will serve both themselves and their successors, and whether they have sufficient confidence in the dealer and manufacturer to commit their money. Those considerations, he said, are understood within the company.
Van Raaij, 60, became chief executive in November 2024 and acquired a minority shareholding in March 2026. Before his arrival, four successive chief executives had left within 18 months. He studied chemical engineering in Delft and gained a master's degree in process automation; his career has frequently involved addressing business problems and preparing companies for their future requirements. Fullwood began making milking systems in 1940 and introduced its first Merlin robot in 1996. Rabo Investments purchased the business from an investment firm in 2022, establishing the Fullwood JOZ Group. Fullwood and JOZ remain separate operating companies under one chief executive, each with its own management team.
