The Stramit concept was invented in Sweden in the 1930s and a production version was built in the UK in 1946. In 1964, production output was doubled and the 1008 became the standard unit. In the 1970s, the straw feed system was developed to handle Hesston big bales, which were becoming a new standard.
Straw Resource Limited formed a machine building company in China in 2014 and the Type 3000, International Class unit was built. These machines replaced the straw feed systems with automatic teasers, reducing the length and improving safety. The Control systems were replaced with a touch screen system with features for managing quality and productivity.
These machines can utilize square bales of any size as well as round bales and loose straw, subject to retrofitting an adaptor unit.
The output from all of these 1008 machines is nominally 85m2/hr, which is the figure used for calculating capacity and for determining when a machine is commissioned. Higher figures are obtained from mature facilities.