This is a YouTube video titled "John Deere Africa | A Legacy of Excellence" created in February 2018. It is a narrated documentary-style presentation showcasing the history, manufacturing process, and quality control of John Deere tractors at the Waterloo Works facility. The content highlights the company's commitment to quality, innovation, and customer satisfaction through detailed descriptions of their foundry, assembly lines, and testing procedures. The video features narration and statements from various John Deere plant and quality managers but does not include a conversational dialogue.
It all started with the Waterloo Boy tractor. When John Deere acquired Waterloo Gasoline Engine Co. In 1918, a legend was born.
Improvements came fast. Here were tractors that were adaptable to crops grown in various row widths. Tractors that offered the operator a full view of the work ahead.
For nearly a century, we've created every tractor with one single purpose in mind. To meet and exceed the needs of our customers. From day one, it's always been about exceeding your expectations.
Farmer preference and enthusiasm for these tractors was growing by leaps and bounds. A tractor for every farm, crop, purpose.
Our founder said it best. I will never put my name on a product that does not have the best that is in me. These words are still our driving force. Today. Our 6, 7, 8 and 9 family tractors have to be more productive, more efficient, more reliable, more comfortable. Our heritage depends on it. Constantly refining, enhancing and improving our large tractors and technologies for unsurpassed performance. That pays. You'll find that focus in everything we do. The best factory technologies, the best processes and the best people. All the way from top leadership to the factory line. All devoted to meet and exceed industry's highest standards.
Everywhere we go around the world, we see John Deere tractors in the field. And we take great pride in seeing the team that comes to work here every day and our dealers around the world. We're doing everything we can to make sure that these tractors are absolutely the best quality, our engineers designed into them and our factory here can put together. And we're really proud of all the work we're doing.
We invite you to go behind the scenes to see how our biggest tractors are brought to life right here at Waterloo Works.
We have a long tradition of quality here in Waterloo. We work every day to make sure that we continue to support and drive for better quality for our customers.
You'll find one of the most modern, efficient factories in the world. Here spread across three manufacturing stages in one comprehensive campus. Waterloo Works is in fact John Deere's largest manufacturing complex in the world.
Quality is what we do here in Waterloo.
Here's where it all starts. The high tech Waterloo Works boundary completely modernized to let us produce larger castings with tight tolerances to match the growth in the size of our tractors. The Waterloo foundry is a major part of our company's manufacturing operation. We're the only ag manufacturer in the nation with our own foundry. When it comes to quality castings and tighter tolerances on cores, we pour it on, we have better control over the metallurgy. To meet the high standards you expect.
We sample multiple times throughout the process and analyze the elemental levels of that melt. And we're able to alloy and adjust according to our recipe or iron grain.
As an extra quality control step, we document and track all castings at the point of origin. With serial IDs and key tags, you can be sure all castings are checked for complete accuracy and the right density inside and out. How do we do that? X ray displays make it all clear. Plus, we use something we call coordinate measuring machines to make sure all components pass our rigorous specs before starting the assembly process. This way we can dramatically reduce any human error and assure you of the highest quality performance. Beyond that, we believe our people offer the biggest advantage. Through our workforce development incentives, quality of life initiatives and and emphasis on working conditions, we attract and retain the best employees to meet and exceed our high standards. Once our components leave the foundry, the next quality control phase is drivetrain operations.
Quality is what we do here at Waterloo.
It's here where we test all critical components with press force monitoring to make sure they're assembled in the right sequence and position. Not just a few checks here and there, but about 500. It's also here where we use a rigorous pneumatic test on all components to see if there's any potential hydraulic leaks and help prevent any repair or customer downtime later on. A product must pass this test to move forward. Failure is not an option. Imagine assembly technology so advanced it knows exactly how each component fits together and what torques are needed. That's what these smart arms do. If the process isn't done correctly, the line stops until everything is corrected. Never settle for less.
Through our continuous improvement process, employees are able to develop and come up with new ideas to improve our processes and product for our customers. Improving the quality is always at the front most of our mind.
You'll see high precision through and through, even those out of reach areas thanks to these robots. The result? The highest quality with the least variability. We also use coordinate measuring machines here as well to offer special attention to holes where seals will be attached and identify transmission shaft center lines. Once the drive trains are fully tested and completed, they move to the final stage of production. Tractor and cab assembly operations.
Quality is what we do here in Waterloo.
It's here where a highly skilled team of craftsmen complete the final assemblies on our 6, 7, 8 and 9 family tractors. We take each component through the assembly process on automatically guided vehicles. That way we make sure we perform every process in order. Nothing is overlooked. All down the line. We perform several tests and checkpoints on every tractor. Every tractor must pass with a 100% score or they don't move on. After that, every tractor must spend 20 to 45 minutes in a test bay. We start the ignition for the first time and closely check all the machine vitals. After we run each tractor for the first time, we take them into a black light bay that blocks ambient light to allow our inspectors to see even the smallest of leaks.
Before the tractor goes out to the customer, we black light them trying to identify any potential leaks to ensure that we have a quality product going out to the customer.
Think the testing's done? Not a chance. Every tractor must also pass a rigorous drive audit that includes diagnostic equipment on the tractor itself to check any potential issues before it leaves the factory. Beyond that, we take a sample of tractors every month for 20 hours of shakedown testing. We take other tractors to real world test sites and evaluate up to 500 hours. Our quality team has developed all these processes and testing to meet the highest standards anywhere yours. We take our cue from the factory floor. We examine our tractors through our customers eyes to ensure the highest product quality. This is the stuff legends are made of. After nearly a century, we're still improving, enhancing and refining our tractors to deliver more productivity, more efficiency, more reliability, more comfort for unsurpassed uptime and performance in the field. Because nothing runs like a deer.
