John Deere puts fully automated paint shop into operation
With the commissioning of a new fully automated paint shop, John Deere is continuing to modernize its tractor production at the Mannheim site. The investment improves environmental protection and ensures a consistently high quality of the painting process.
John Deere is investing over 80 million euros in the further development of final assembly at its tractor plant in Mannheim. The investment in the paint shop is an important step towards a climate-neutral factory, with many other benefits for the environment. The new facility is the first building at John Deere to meet the KfW-40 efficiency standard. Energy efficiency has been significantly improved thanks to optimum thermal insulation and the use of state-of-the-art technologies such as heat pumps and frequency converters. The plant also sets new standards in terms of emissions, which have been reduced to a minimum and thus well below the strict limits. Waste water and waste can also be avoided as far as possible. Another major advantage for local residents is the significant reduction in noise compared to the two old plants. However, it is not only the neighbors and the environment that benefit, but also John Deere customers, as the automation of the painting process ensures consistently high quality and external disruptive factors can be largely eliminated.
In the new line, the chassis first pass through seven cleaning and preparation stages, in which four robots are used. Ten robots then work in perfect coordination on priming and the final green coating. A control center is responsible for monitoring and controlling the system. The capacity of the paint shop allows the simultaneous processing of around 100 chassis, which are processed every 2.7 minutes. "With the paint shop, we are strengthening and securing our production at the site, while at the same time making a massive contribution to environmental protection," says Linus Baumhauer, Head of the Mannheim tractor factory, explaining the benefits of the investment. "The plant also gives us more flexibility to produce ever larger tractors and a variety of different models." The plant manager would also like to thank the representatives from politics and administration who have massively supported the project. Together, they have taken an important step towards meeting the requirements of the European Green Deal and the local Green Deal.
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