Deere Product Engineering Center marks 50th anniversary. (2005-9-10)
What began as an "old tin shed" in rural Cedar Falls has evolved into the creative center for the best-selling tractors and agricultural equipment in the world.
And it celebrates its 50th birthday today and Saturday.
The John Deere Product Engineering Center marked its 50th anniversary of existence today and Saturday with a celebration for its current and former employees and their families.
From the so-called "New Generation" of Deere tractors conceived in the mid 1950s, to the mammoth 8000 and 9000 series tractors of today, the PEC "has been a linchpin for the company\’s global expansion sustained profitability and ongoing growth," said Klaus Hoehn, Deere\’s director of worldwide tractor and component engineering.
The PEC is Deere\’s largest engineering facility. "It is also the largest tractor and component engineering facility in the agricultural machinery business worldwide," company officials said.
"Unique in our industry and only at PEC, we have…the most advanced modeling and test laboratories, in our field," said Adel Zakaria, Deere\’s senior vice president of manufacturing and engineering, and a former general manager of Deere\’s Waterloo operations.
In addition to tractors, Deere\’s heavy duty diesel engines for worldwide markets are designed and developed at PEC, by "350 skilled engine engineers and technicians," using " sophisticated analysis tools and state of the art engine test facilities," said Mike Weinert, director of worldwide engine engineering with John Deere Power Systems.
PEC engineers collaborate with engineering centers in Germany, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, India and China, as well as company suppliers and researchers across the U.S. as well as within the Cedar Valley. Deere officials cited the "robust and sustained support of the Cedar Valley" as key in the PEC\’s and the company\’s success.
"Today, Waterloo\’s Product Engineering Center has grown to an organization of approximately 1,200 employees over 15 countries," Hoehn said. That includes nonunion employees and wage workers affiliated with United Auto Workers Local 838. UAW shop chairman Mike McRoberts of PEC, and Deere\’s Westfield Avenue, Foundry and Donald Street Tractor Works sites also participated in the celebration, which continues Saturday.
(Source:wcfcourier)
