John Deere Transforms Plant Maintenance with Precision Construction

Plant and agriculture machinery is complex and important. Organizations responsible for the manufacture, sale, and maintenance of this equipment are also responsible for ensuring it runs optimally for customers.

Responsible for much of the food we eat, the roads we travel on, and the buildings we live, work, and play in, agriculture and plant machinery are so deeply ingrained in the infrastructure of our lives, it’s often easy to forget about them. But, for companies operating in that space, negligence isn’t an option.

As one of the most well-known and recognized brands in the agriculture and plant machinery space, John Deere understands this all too well and has maintained its market position and reputation through a spirit of constant innovation and forward momentum

John Deere

One method the Moline, Illinois-based company deploys to keep its machines running at their best post-sale is using data analytics to gain real-time insights into their performance on the job.

Field service leaders have been pursuing predictive analytics for many years now, but they have typically applied it to stationary machines in offices and factories. John Deere takes this technology a step forward by applying it to mobile vehicles, such as those used in manufacturing plants and on farms.

Every John Deere machine is installed with the latest in advanced telematics hardware and software. These devices can monitor and record several aspects of the machine’s health simultaneously including, location, utilization hours, idle time, temperatures, fault codes, and fuel consumption. This information is then streamed to John Deere’s cloud servers in real-time and then to a digital platform located at the most proximate dealership to the customer, as well as a centralized monitoring facility located at John Deere’s Dubuque Works Factory in Iowa.

“Let us watch your fleet, so you can run your world,” says John Deere on its website. “As part of the uptime-maximizing benefits of John Deere Connected Support™, we deliver improved machine health through an advanced dual approach that combines the expertise of the technology specialists at your John Deere dealership and the data specialists at our central Machine Health Monitoring Center.”

Thanks to the analytics capabilities of John Deere, faults can be detected and diagnosed remotely and early, and the engineer can arrive on site with the parts to fix the problem in a single visit— significantly reducing customer frustration and costly machine downtime.

Precision Construction

Another way John Deere is better caring for the machines it is responsible for maintaining is through its new Precision Construction program.

Precision Construction consist of a range of innovative technologies John Deere claims will maximize asset uptime and deliver new levels of productivity. Connected Support (discussed above), Grade Management, Payload Weighing and JDLink Telematics, will all form part of a restructured portfolio of solutions and, rather than offering a one-size-fits-all maintenance package, will allow customers to more easily select the products and services which will best serve their needs and personal pain points.

“Since the beginning, delivering innovative solutions to our customers has been a core focus for John Deere, and the Precision Construction portfolio is taking that commitment to the next level,” said Manager of Technology Solutions at John Deere, Andrew Kahler. “In recent years, we’ve unveiled an array of technology solutions that directly address our customers’ concerns on the jobsite. Now, we’re building on that foundation, pushing down on the gas pedal, and moving the industry toward the next generation of smart machine solutions.”

With John Deere developing ever more complex and innovative technologies to install in its machines such as eAutoPowr Transmission, zero emissions tractors, autonomous and semi-autonomous tractors, autonomous sprayers—both tractor and remote drone mounted, artificial intelligence, and smart targeting, the need for a more advanced level of service is growing in sympathy. Thanks to innovations such as Connected Support and Precision Construction, John Deere is ensuring its field service offering is keeping step with its research and development.

"We started piloting this program in early 2021 with a select group of dealers, and the feedback we have received so far has been extremely positive," added Manager of Service Business for the John Deere Construction and Forestry Service Business, Mark Wagner. "A main benefit of the program is that the task of maintaining machines is put into the hands of our dealers. As a result, our customers are more confident because they know their equipment is being watched by an expert."

Final Thoughts

A veteran of the industry like John Deere is perfectly placed to develop and innovate in the field service space and other organizations in plant and agriculture would do well to pay attention to its progress and take inspiration from these developments. Agriculture and construction are cornerstones of our civilization and keeping them running smoothly benefits everyone.

Innovations in the agriculture and construction industries are set to be part of the conversation at Field Service Palm Springs 2022, taking place in April at the JW Marriott Desert Springs.

Download the agenda for more information and insights.