Summer Ag Tour 2017: John Deere Harvester Works -- Charles

Today we went to the John Deere Harvester Works and we adventured on a tour through the assembly factory. We saw a lot riding around the factory on a John Deere Compact Tractor trolley. We learned a lot about the history of the combines and the journey that Mr. John Deere himself ventured on to develop the machinery we have today. This factory builds 5 different combines in the S-series; S650, S660, S670, S680, and S690 are the models. The S680 & S690 model combines have a bigger capacity and are more so customized. Something I found fascinating was that the combine had been modified several times between 1910 & the 2010s.

Timeline of harvest equipment.

After the combines are finished being assembled, they put tires on and employees take the combines for a 45-minute test drive. This factory was pretty cool because the people who go on tours can actually see how the inside of a combine operates. They have a demonstration combine model in a Plexiglas box. The gold key customers can come watch the process of their combine being built from start to finish. While we were on the tour we saw 2 different corn heads for the combine, one was 45 feet long which is the biggest size they make, and the other was 30 feet.

We had the best tour guide and driver today! Mr. Jack Brown was super interactive with our group. Mr. Pete Guyton was helping our guide by pointing to the different parts and structures that were being put together. Mr. Jack pointed out the welds that were made by the robots and explained the difference between how the robots weld, which is a continuous weld, versus how humans weld the parts together. They also had a couple blue machines which they used to in WW2. They help produce 50 cal. Machine gun parts and also air plane wings.

After the factory tour, we went to the John Deere Visitor Center to see more of their equipment.