We started our John Deere journey at
the John Deere Pavilion in downtown Moline about a block from the
Mississippi River. Since 1997 the Pavilion has told the story of
JD's history, the products it makes and of the company's
contributions to agricultural development. There are the static
displays that you would expect and product simulators that were a lot
of fun.
The simulators are the same ones that are used to train professional operators. Monte did pretty well operating the machines– Shelley not so much.
The next stop on our JD journey was in
East Moline at the John Deere Harvester Manufacturing Facility. WOW!
What a great tour. Other than the fact that no pictures were
allowed (what's up with that? Seldom are we allowed to take pictures
in a manufacturing facility) it was a great tour. We were driven by
tram around the main manufacturing area. The tour took an hour and a
half so you can imagine how huge this place is. We saw every facet
of the process from stamping out and bending huge sheets of steel to
lasers, to welding and painting and wiring, and adding hydraulics and
I don't know what all but just all of it from raw steel to the
ignition key being turned and the harvester being driven out of the
plant. These machines are MAMMOTH. Again – great tour.
Of surprising note were the numbers of
folks from other countries taking tours. There was a bus load of 50
from Uruguay. Uruguay? Yes, if you lived in South America wouldn't
you want to come to East Moline Iowa on your vacation? Okay – so
maybe it makes more sense for people from France – a group of 30 or
so, and in our tour group were about 20 from Sweden.
So – if you ever have an extra half
mil or so just sitting around and want to buy a new toy – a John
Deere Harvester might just be what you need. And if you take that
journey then you would be a Gold Key VIP and would get your own
private tour – how's them potatoes – oh wait – I don't think
they make a potato harvester...
1 comment:
That must be something to stand by a tire as tall as you.
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