Thursday, February 25, 2016 | D1
Special Section 1 Broadsheet
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Brad Sperfslage and Dan Weber prepare a tractor for testing in the new expansion at the John Deere Product Engineering Center.
Engineering growth Deere powering growth in the Cedar Valley
PAT KINNEY pat.kinney@wcfcourier.com
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CEDAR FALLS — Walking into the new addition to the John Deere Product Engineering Center is like having the sun come out. “Our employees think so too, after 35 years,” said Chris Myers, global director of tractor platform engineering for Deere at the PEC. The bright, spacious $28 million addition, anticipated to be fully completed later this year, is the most significant addition to the PEC since the present building was completed in 1981. It is on the approximate location of what many longtime Waterloo-Cedar Falls residents would refer to as the John Deere Experimental Farm, established in 1955. The expansion nearly doubled the square footage of the PEC, now with about 765,000 square feet under roof on an 800-acre site, expanded over the years from the original 600,000 acres. About 1,500 employees work there — more than a fourth of the 5,500-member workforce of Deere’s entire Cedar Valley operations. The PEC is Deere’s largest product research and development center worldwide. It also has research operations in Germany, India, Augusta, Ga., and Mexico with “country engineering centers” tailored for specific local markets such as in China and Brazil. While Deere’s R&D has ex-
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A 9R 4WD tractor undergoes an accelerated design verification test at PEC. panded from the PEC to those multiple locations over about the past 15 years, the PEC itself has expanded as well. “It’s not as if we have forsaken here for the growth in the rest of the world. Our employment here has had double-digit growth, even during this period of global expansion,” Myers said. “And, of course, the skills we need from our engineers has also increased. We have some
very talented engineers and technicians here,” he said. Deere is committed to product research and development, even in down periods for ag equipment sales like the current one. “In 2014, the last publicly reported numbers, Deere spent $1.45 billion in R&D expenses — nearly $4 million per day,” Myers said. “We don’t report out R&D by location.” But the fact the Cedar
Falls PEC remains the company’s largest research and development facility worldwide speaks for itself. Deere’s R&D commitment means maintaining employment in those operations, even adding jobs despite cutbacks in other areas. The expansion was supported by state financial incentives through the Iowa Economic Development Authority.
“With the original investment and in support of the grant we received from the state, we intended to maintain jobs with the ability to support future products,” said Josh Wittenburg, global manager of tractor platform engineering operations at the PEC. “ However, we have added several positions to the assembly operations already due to this expansion. As discussed earlier, even in a down market we continue to improve current and develop new products.” The PEC is hiring, Myers said. “The Baby Boomers are going into retirement and we are, absolutely, backfilling those positions. Our goal is to maintain our employment levels right now.” “We (at PEC) have not been impacted in the same way you’ve seen the factories,” Wittenburg said, where layoffs have occurred. “We continue to invest in our products in all market conditions.” “It takes anywhere from 2 1/2 to four years to develop a new tractor, or a major upgrade,” Myers said. “You can’t react and take money out of the Please see DEERE, Page D2