2007 John Deere Forestry Press Releases

TAMPERE, Finland (September 28, 2007) - John Deere Forestry Oy won the technical creativity award from the City of Tampere, Finland in recognition of the design of the TimberLink™ system. John DeereForestry Oy’s winning team was comprised Arto Peltomaa, Kari Lehmusvaara and Aki Putkonen.

TimberLink measures the performance and condition of forest machines throughout their service life. The system is an internationally significant technological breakthrough that increases the productivity and uptime of forest machines and decreases operating costs. The invention considerably increases the competitiveness of the forest industry and machine manufacturing companies in Finland and the Pirkanmaa region in particular, and is a perfect example of successful, long-term research.

The operation of the system is based on monitoring messages that are produced by the control system during daily operation and on making use of measurement and event data. Raw data is used to create key figures related to the machine’s performance and condition. These key figures help not only the operator and maintenance personnel optimize the machine’s operation and maintenance, but have also become important in product development. The system also makes it possible to efficiently supervise the condition of the machines remotely.

Arto Peltomaa, Doctor of Technology, launched the research project in 2000 and has also acted as project manager in the later stages of the product development process. Completing a high-risk information technology project under the auspices of an international workshop organization has demanded strong commitment and faith in the vision.

Kari Lehmusvaara, M.Sc. (Technology), was in charge of software engineering research during the project. His expertise has been an important element in the successful completion of the project.

Aki Putkonen, M.Sc. (Technology), was in charge of developing the technical properties of the system. Previously, it was considered impossible to obtain reliable data on the condition and performance of forest machines due to inaccurate measurements and the ever-changing conditions of logging. Finding a solution to this problem has required years of determined, high-quality research work.

The City of Tampere has rewarded technical creativeness since 1981. With the awards, the city wants to emphasize how important creativeness and innovation are to the business life of Tampere. The nominees are always individuals or teams located in Tampere and the award is given in recognition of developing an original and already commercially profitable technical product or system.

For more information, please contact:
Timo Salomaa
Communications Manager
Tel. +358 (0)40 821 4573

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) is the leading manufacturer of agricultural machinery and forest machines in the world and a noteworthy supplier of earthmoving equipment and construction machinery. John Deere also sells and markets engines optimized for heavy machinery. In addition, the company offers credit services worldwide. Deere & Company was founded in 1837. John Deere’s core values are integrity, quality, commitment and innovation.