Visiting Moline, Illinois on our Great River Road excursion gave Tim and I the opportunity of a lifetime. A tour of the John Deere Harvester Works! At least, that’s how my brother Jon who has taken over the management of our family farm in Kansas would view it.
And it was interesting to see just how those behemoth machines with their 45-foot long headers are put together. Only I wouldn’t want to meet one on a narrow country road. Whoa! Wait a second! This past wheat harvest I did encounter three of these combines in a convoy on the country road that leads to our farm. And I was the one who had to back up to the mile line in order to let them pass. But I digress.
When we arrived at the John Deere facility, we were told we couldn’t take any photos during the tour. I guess posting such information on my blog would reveal secrets to raiders from competitors and even to foreign companies who’d like to steal U.S. technology. So I put away my cellphone and climbed aboard a tram ready for a guided tour through a factory that is the size of 11 football fields. It’s also the cleanest factory I’ve ever seen and believe me! Tim has dragged me along on six RV factory tours so I do have some experience to back up this claim.
Laser-cutting machines from Switzerland make cuts with infinitesimal accuracy. Fifty-thousand-pound combines move smoothly from one station to the next suspended on a pulley that propels them along with ease. Welders and riveters with years of experience joined together more than 18,500 pieces. Finally, the finished machines were dipped in several baths of the trademark green paint before a triple-jointed robotic arm gave them the final touch-up.
All John Deere combines are sold before they are built, either to an individual farmer or to a dealer; none are made on spec. If you want a new John Deere combine, be prepared to wait six months for your order to reach the backlogged assembly line. However, once work is begun, it takes only ten days to build one. That’s how fast the workers here can churn them out.
Then, for approximately $650,000, you Tim could drive a brand spanking-new combine off the assembly line, filled with more electronics on board than the first space shuttle, and take it home. However, if you turn the key, and despite hundreds of inspections done along the line, the combine fails to start, our tour guide joked that they’d bring it around the corner and paint it red, a jab at the machines of their competitor Case.
Personally, Tim! I think these combine seats (circa the mid-1900s) are more your style.
Just as an aside: While we waited for the tour to begin, I had texted Jon to tell him where we were and to ask him if he’d like for me to bring one home for him. He replied, “Bring two! One for wheat harvest and another with an 18-row header to harvest corn!”
In your dreams, Jon! In your dreams!
Both the red ones and the green ones seem to find plenty of ways for their 18,000+ parts to break down. And it usually happens at a most inopportune time. Of course, we've never had a brand new one, so maybe it's the bane of owning used machinery.
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