Photo caption: (From left to right) Shropshire farmers John Harmer, Steve Milner, Martin Bebb, David Marshall and Tony Shepherd during their visit to John Deere's Manheim factory in Germany
Shropshire farmers visiting John Deere's three factories in Germany told their hosts how impressed they were that the majority of machinery parts are manufactured on site.
A party of seven from a leading John Deere distributor Rea Valley Tractors Ltd spent three days in Germany visiting the factories that make the combines, self-propelled forage harvesters, telescopic handlers, tractors and tractor cabs.
The farmer visitors, with representatives from Rea Valley Tractors' Shropshire depots at Pontesbury and Newport, saw the John Deere factory at Zweibrucken which makes combines, forage harvesters and telescopic handlers on one day of their trip.
The next day they went on to Manheim which is the main European tractor factory, and they spent the third day at Bruchsal which makes the tractor cabs.
Said Mr. Andrew Hamilton, salesman at Rea Valley Tractors Newport: "We took existing and prospective John Deere customers and for all of them the crowning feature was the manufacturing of parts that go into the machinery, and the rigorous quality control systems on all production lines.
"They were fascinated that the vast majority of combines, tractors and forage harvesters all have a full John Deere parts content – rather than using bought-in components.
"It was a highly successful three day trip which we hope will lead to increased business and is one we plan to repeat again in the near future", he added.
