John Deere Construction & Forestry Division Marks 50th Anniversary
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CREATED IN FALL 1956
MOLINE, Ill. (October 25, 2006)-It was 50 years ago when John Deere created its Industrial Equipment Division to provide a springboard for the company to enter the construction and forestry market. Today, the John Deere Construction & Forestry Division-so named in 2000-distributes its construction, forestry and worksite products through a network of more than 1,300 dealer locations worldwide.
In 1956, company leaders saw an opportunity for the company's products to be adapted to excel in the construction and forestry market, according to Bob Brock, senior vice president of sales and marketing, John Deere Construction & Forestry Company. Thus, the Construction & Forestry Division was born.
"Fifty years later, the Construction & Forestry Division serves customers all over the world, with sales of nearly $6 billion," Brock said. "Our construction equipment performs the full range of earthmoving and material handling work, and John Deere forestry equipment is used in full-tree and cut-to-length harvesting operations and in mill yards."
In the early years (see "Milestones"), the division produced wheel tractors, crawler dozers, and elevating scrapers. In the '60s the division added backhoe loaders, forklifts, excavators, wheel loaders, skidders, and motor graders.
"The key to the success of the variety of products we have offered over the years is that John Deere has always stood for quality and customer service unmatched in the industry," Brock said. "We remain industry leaders because we are continuously utilizing the latest technology to improve the efficiency and comfort of the products we sell. Our first priority is to deliver exactly what our customers want, and we work to adapt our products to suit their needs."
Deere still operates by the four core values its founder first exhibited: integrity, quality, commitment and innovation. In fact, the pioneer blacksmith is well known for saying, "I will never put my name on a product that does not have in it the best that is in me."
This philosophy is evident when one considers the industry-changing technologies John Deere has introduced over the years. The company pioneered a number of breakthrough machines, including the industry's first articulated, fully hydraulic motor grader in 1967-this machine was the first to rotate the blade into a vertical bank cutting position by the operator without leaving the operator's station; the industry's first hydrostatic drive crawler dozer and loader in 1976; and the industry's first elevating scraper with a microprocessor-controlled transmission in 1982. In 1979, John Deere introduced motor graders with microprocessor-controlled hydrostatic front wheel drive, which allowed the machine to pull loads and bank cuts on steep slopes. This technology converted the motor grader from a finish and maintenance machine into a complete road construction machine. More recent innovations include the single-lever, all-electronic speed and steering controls on Deere hydrostatic crawlers, introduced in 1995, and the Quad-Cool(TM) cooling system for waste handlers in 2003, which features coolers that are arranged side by side, rather than stacked, to allow easy cleaning access to both sides of each cooler.
"These technologies are only a few of those introduced by Deere that have since become industry standards and copied by other manufacturers," Brock said.
John Deere construction and forestry equipment is manufactured at a variety of factories around the world. The Deere Dubuque Works factory, which opened in 1947, stretches over one mile on 1,465 acres and manufactures crawler dozers, compact track loaders, skid steer loaders, backhoe loaders, knuckleboom loaders, tracked feller bunchers, winches, and components for various heavy equipment products. John Deere's Davenport Works facility began production in 1974 and today manufactures articulated dump trucks, four-wheel drive loaders, motor graders, log skidders, wheeled feller bunchers, forestry saw heads, and cabs. The Davenport Works factory was the first U.S. construction equipment factory to be registered ISO 9000, and later both Dubuque and Davenport were registered ISO 9001, which is the highest standard achievable for recognizing a company's quality systems.
Some John Deere hydraulic excavators are produced by Deere-Hitachi Construction Machinery in Kernersville, N.C., and in Japan. Formed in 1988, Deere-Hitachi is a joint-venture company that manufactures excavators for Deere and Hitachi. In 1998, the joint venture formed Deere-Hitachi Specialty Products. Based in Langley, British Columbia, it began shipping tracked forestry machines-delimbers, harvesters, log loaders and road builders-in 1999. Additionally, John Deere Forestry, Inc., in Joensuu, Finland, manufactures log forwarders, wheeled harvesters, and forwarding heads.
"Deere quality is unmistakable, whether the equipment is found working in North America, Europe, South America or Asia," Brock said. "The Construction & Forestry Division has a 50-year history of product quality, innovative equipment developed to meet customer needs, and astute marketing and financial management, all of which have been a basis of our industry success."
About John Deere: Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) is the world's leading manufacturer of agricultural and forestry equipment; a major manufacturer of construction equipment; and a leading supplier of equipment used in lawn, grounds and turf care. John Deere also manufactures and markets engines used in heavy equipment and provides landscape and worldwide financial services. Since it was founded in 1837, the company has extended its heritage of integrity, quality, commitment and innovation around the globe.
John Deere Construction & Forestry Division Milestones
1956 ---After 119 years as an agricultural equipment company, John Deere Company formed the Industrial Equipment Division (later named the Construction & Forestry Division) as a separate entity from the farm machinery business. An investment of $15 million-including $2.4 million for manufacturing facilities-was authorized for the industrial program.
1957 ---Fifteen John Deere industrial tractors made their Chicago Road Show debut at the International Amphitheater.
1958 ---A milestone in design engineering was achieved with the development of the first all-hydraulic bulldozer, the Model "64."
1959 ---While farm machinery sales increased 11 percent, industrial sales leaped 82 percent to $48.2 million.
1961 ---Construction began on Deere & Company Administrative Center, designed by world-renowned architect Eero Saarinen.
1965 ---The first integral machines with the new industrial model numbers were the JD440 skidder and JD480 forklift, and the JD350 and JD450 crawlers. Division sales volume hit $100 million.
1966 ---John Deere introduced the first commercially available rollover protection devices (ROPS), later releasing the patent to the industry without charge. This technology is still used throughout the industry today.
1967 ---Total manufacturing space at the John Deere Dubuque Works reached 528,300 sq. ft., and the company introduced the world's first articulated-frame motor grader (JD570), considered the most significant advancement in motor grader design since 1928.
1969 ---Industrial sales jumped to $197 million.
1970 ---Overall Deere & Company sales surpassed $1 billion, with $217.5 million contributed by industrial equipment sales.
1971 ---The "Nothing Runs Like a Deere" slogan was chosen for advertising John Deere's new snowmobile line. The tagline far outlasted the snowmobile line, which was sold in 1984.
1973 ----More than a million square feet of new floor space was under construction at Dubuque Works; 960 acres of land were acquired north of Davenport, Iowa, for a new factory.
1974 ---The manufacturing of 28 models of crawlers, wheel tractors, four-wheel drive loaders, a landfill compactor, scrapers, forklifts, log skidders, a motor grader and an excavator broadened the company's base in the industrial machinery business. Deere Davenport Works began production.
1978 ---Deere & Company sales passed $4 billion for the first time, with industrial sales reaching $857.5 million, a 28 percent increase in one year.
1979 ---John Deere construction equipment sales passed $1 billion for the first time.
1981 ---The industrial product line included 68 models: 22 construction machines, 29 utility machines and 17 forestry machines.
1982 ---The company grew nearly twice as fast as the equipment industry in the previous decade, with more than 65 industrial products.
1987 ---Deere & Company celebrated its 150th anniversary.
1988 ---Deere-Hitachi Construction Machinery was formed.
1995 ---John Deere construction equipment line grew to 60 products and $1.35 billion in sales.
1999 ---With the acquisition of Timberjack, the division's product line consisted of more than 100 models.
---Deere-Hitachi Specialty Products began shipping tracked forestry machines out of its facility in Vancouver, B.C.
---Construction & Forestry Division formed a strategic alliance with Bell Equipment of Richards Bay, South Africa, for exclusive marketing rights to Bell-manufactured articulated dump trucks in North, Central and South America.
2005 ---John Deere and Bell Equipment expanded their strategic alliance, and the first articulated dump truck rolled off the line at Deere Davenport Works.
2006 ---John Deere is the recognized world-leading manufacturer of agricultural and forestry equipment and first tier competitor in North American construction.
Contact:
Lara Holy
913/901-2119
holyl@weyforth-haas.com
Mary Young
913/901-2192
youngm@weyforth-haas.com
