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.
Charles is racing someone, Nick doesn't seem sure on it. |
Carter riding around on. |
Keraj was happy to explore the big toys. |
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