Fifty years manufacturing bale handling machinery. Three out of every four machines sold outside Spain and an Engineering department that accounts for 15% of the workforce. This is Arcusin, Lleida’s SME of the Year 2026.
Arcusin has received the SME of the Year Award 2026 for Lleida, and the timing could not be better: it comes in the same year that we celebrate our 50th anniversary.
And what did the jury see in an SME that manufactures bale handling machinery? The answer lies in the decisions we have made over these 50 years.
Innovation: the Engineering team accounts for 15% of the workforce
Many companies talk about innovation. At Arcusin, we measure it in people: the Engineering department accounts for 15% of the workforce. That is an unusual proportion for an industrial SME, and it is the result of a decision we made years ago: to develop our own solutions.
Every machine that leaves our facilities starts in our technical office. We design it in-house, test it in the field and improve it based on what farmers and contractors from all over the world tell us. That is how our MultiPack, AutoStack and ForStack ranges were born, designed to make collecting, grouping and transporting bales faster and less labour-intensive.
Internationalisation: three out of every four machines travel outside Spain
75% of the machines we manufacture are exported, and our distribution network reaches more than 60 countries.
For a company based in the Pla d’Urgell (Spain), this figure has a simple explanation: bale handling is a highly specialised niche, and growing in it means going out to find customers wherever they are, in any market where bales are an essential part of the farm.
Internationalisation has also made us better manufacturers. Working with farmers from such different countries forces us to adapt our machines to a wide variety of bale formats, regulations and ways of working. All that learning goes back to the technical office and turns into product improvements.
A subsidiary in the United States to be close to our customers
Exporting is not always enough. In some markets, to grow for real, you have to be there. That is why one of the most important steps in our internationalisation strategy was opening a subsidiary in the United States.
Having our own team there means offering closer after-sales service, better supporting our dealers and understanding first-hand what forage producers in that country need.
Generational change: the third generation takes the helm
Generational change is one of the most delicate moments for any family business. At Arcusin, it took effect in July 2024, when Blanca Cusiné took over as CEO and Ferran Cusiné took the lead of Engineering and R&D.
Manuel Cusiné, co-founder of the company, continues as Chairman. Josep Ramon Pons, who ran Arcusin for the previous twenty years, remains linked to the company as a member of the Advisory Board.
The handover has brought continuity and, at the same time, new momentum. Continuity, because the values Arcusin was founded on remain: surrounding ourselves with good, highly talented people and never losing touch with the farmer. New momentum, because the third generation has arrived determined to professionalise management, strengthen innovation and take the company into new markets.
A strategic plan to keep growing
We are not starting from scratch. The 2020-2023 strategic plan, led by Blanca Cusiné, allowed us to expand our distribution network to more than 60 countries and bring new machines to market. Now we are taking the next step with an ambitious Strategic Plan that will move the company forward in its professionalisation and aims for significant growth and expansion into new markets.
The growth we are pursuing is, above all, commercial: reaching more customers and new countries. To achieve this, the plan includes a firm commitment to the company’s digitalisation and to people, because the talent of our team is what has brought us this far and what will drive us forward in the coming years.
And there is a commitment that goes hand in hand with all of the above: providing excellent after-sales service. When a machine is working in the middle of the season, the speed and quality of support make all the difference to the farmer.
Heading for the National SME of the Year Award
We would like to thank Santander Bank, the Lleida Chamber of Commerce, Grupo Segre and the jury for this recognition. We also congratulate the other companies awarded in this edition, which demonstrate the dynamism of Lleida’s business community.
But above all, this award belongs to the people who make up Arcusin, to our dealers around the world and to the farmers and contractors who trust our machines every season.
Now it is our turn to represent Lleida in the National SME of the Year Award. We will do so with the same spirit we started with in 1976: hard work, innovation and the drive to go further and further, because, as our 50th anniversary slogan says, we are Future Ready.
