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Innovation means inventing, designing and developing breakthrough products and services that customers want to buy from John Deere.
It starts with an idea, born of a deep understanding of our customers' current and future needs. In 1837, a young blacksmith named John Deere changed the face of agriculture by creating an innovative steel plow that helped farmers cut through the rich, sticky soil of the American prairie more quickly and with less effort.
Today, the company John Deere founded celebrates innovation as one of its four core values by delivering new technologies that help customers around the world be more profitable and productive.
Innovation is at the heart of John Deere's aggressive plans to provide distinctive new products and services that positively change the way customers work. Investing more than $2 million a day in research and development, John Deere engineers apply innovation in two ways. First, by building on existing knowledge in existing markets — what we call sustaining innovation. And second, by discovering knowledge of uncertain markets and technology to meet future, even unarticulated, customer needs. In other words, breakthrough innovation.
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| The StarFire receiver is a navigational aid that allows for uneven or sloped ground while maintaining accurate position of the vehicle. This proves valuable not only on the farm, but also in road construction and site preparation. |
Sustaining Innovation
John Deere is well known for improving upon existing innovations such as GPS or global positioning system technology. One product Deere has developed to enhance standard GPS technology is the StarFire™ receiver, a navigational aid that allows for uneven or sloped ground, while maintaining an accurate position of the vehicle. This proves valuable not only on the farm, but also in road construction and site preparation, assuring a 5-10 centimeter accuracy anywhere in the world.
Perhaps no innovation better exemplifies the new high-tech era in agriculture than AutoTrac™, John Deere's GPS-based automated steering system for farm equipment. AutoTrac can turn a novice operator into an expert by taking control of the steering with centimeter-level accuracy. That means less overlap in tillage and chemical application, reducing time, money and environmental impacts. Plus, driver fatigue is reduced and productivity jumps when the operator can cover more acres faster and more completely, day or night, in all types of weather.
John Deere engineers are stewards of the environment, working diligently to develop cleaner diesel engines to meet U.S. and European emission standards through base engine and after-treatment technologies. All eyes are on the year 2011 when enforcement of Tier 4 and Stage IIIb standards begins. Compared to pre-regulation days, John Deere engines will see a 98 percent reduction in all regulated emissions by 2015.
Engineers use virtual reality simulations to design safe and comfortable work stations, all before a single piece of hardware is manufactured. Virtual reality allows an engineer to get inside a piece of equipment and evaluate the impact of the design on visibility, styling, airflow, and other factors important to the customer.
Breakthrough Innovation
John Deere's future growth will also be fueled by breakthrough innovation, offering customer solutions never before imagined, like those in the connected world of telematics, where operators can keep tabs on their equipment, and get valuable, pertinent information directly from their machines.
Telematics technology makes it possible to retrieve key data, such as oil pressure, engine temperature or a fuel alert, then send it wirelessly to a web location where it can be accessed on a desktop. By efficiently managing information, telematics increases equipment "up time" and reduces costs.
Another example of telematics is John Deere's TimberLink product, a first-in-the-industry software program designed to keep forestry machines running at peak efficiency. With TimberLink, forestry contractors can monitor machine productivity and fuel economy, as well as the performance and conditions of various equipment systems.
In an effort to help lessen our customers' dependence on fossil fuels, John Deere researchers are actively investigating hybrid and alternative energy technologies. Hybrids use more than one power source and are able to capture and store excess energy during machine operation, which results in better performance.
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| Both golf course superintendents and the environment benefit from the innovative features of the 2500E Hybrid Greens Mower, introduced in 2005. |
Deere's first hybrid product, the award-winning 2500E electric greens mower offers valuable benefits to commercial greens keepers. The popular mower features cutting reels powered by electricity, eliminating virtually all potential hydraulic leak points that can result in costly damage to grass and greens.
Deere is also investing in fuel cell technology, which many believe to be a viable propulsion system of the future. Fuel cells convert chemical energy from hydrogen and oxygen into electrical energy to produce power. Collaborating with the U.S. Department of Energy and Canada's Hydrogen Early Adopters Program, Deere has developed fuel cell powered utility vehicles that offer increased fuel efficiency and run-time with zero emissions.
Whether improving upon existing technology or creating entirely new breakthrough solutions, innovation is at the center of John Deere's efforts to grow a great business.
We realize, however, that good ideas come from multiple sources. Therefore we continually seek collaborative partnerships with suppliers, universities and other leading research institutes.
This concentrated focus on innovation will carry Deere into the future as we explore all possible routes to products and services of distinction, while being guided by the changing needs of our global customers.
Learn more about innovation throughout the years at John Deere.
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