Keeping John Deere connected

Keeping John Deere connected: Scott MacCallum was one of a small group of journalists who flew to Germany to see the latest technological launch from industry heavyweights, John Deere.

There we were, sitting in a lovely clubhouse in the middle of Germany, using an iPad to watch the movement of machinery on the legendary Carnoustie Golf Links, over a thousand miles away.

We could see a Gator making its way back to the sheds, or a green being cut out on the 14th.

Now there is more than one way in which this overarching technology can be viewed. Carnoustie had given their blessing to the be the example shown to the interested press and delegates, but yes, there is an element of Big Brother watching over your every move, but the more positive outlook is that you can identify inefficiencies or numerous ways in which time can be saved and resources used to their very best advantage.

John Deere has recently invested massively into the amenity turf industry, drawing much from the more advanced research and development from the much larger agricultural sector.

So there was much anticipation for the small group of press who were at the launch, held in John Deere’s European headquarters in Mannheim and those wonderful green machines with the yellow wheel inserts didn’t disappoint. The group were shown around the state-of-the-art factory, which is home to the two millionth John Deere tractor, which features the pictures of 300 of the staff who had worked on it.

John Deere Precision Turf technology has shown to increase productivity and efficiency. The focus is on connecting, guiding and managing the machines.

Connect The machines are connected using John Deere’s JDLink telemetry system. Machine data, such as hours, fuel level, or location is sent to the cloud-based John Deere Operations Centre . Fleet managers have a comprehensive view of individual machines or even the entire fleet whether they are on the go or in the office.

This allows precise planning of tasks, maximises uptime and uses the machine’s location to ensure optimal use. All golf equipment already has a JDLink modem for any turf-related operations. Starting with model year 2024, the 1500 Series TerrainCut front mowers and the TerrainCut 1600 Turbo wide area mowers will also be equipped with a JDLink modem.

There is the option to retrofit modems to commercial ZTrak Zero Turn mowers and compact utility tractors. Guide Precision guidance systems can be used to make turf operations more efficient.

Machines can accurately follow a pre-planned route, even in low visibility or during the night.

This allows the HD200 GPS Precision Sprayer to avoid overlaps or missed applications with a guidance system to accurately treat the turf. Standard Individual Nozzle Shutdown allows operators to only cover pre-defined turf, while lower maintenance areas are automatically left out.

This greatly simplifies the work processes as Public the operator can fully concentrate on the actual work process without having to take additional care to maintain the tracks. Components such as the StarFire receiver and the Universal Displays, plus technologies such as AutoTrac, enable the use of precision guidance systems.

The components can be easily transferred from one machine to another. Manage The John Deere Operations Centre provides a central platform for managing machine- and work-related information to make data-based decisions quickly and easily.

The Machine Analyser inspects and visualises machine data, for example, to identify service needs in time or to evenly distribute hours between machines.

The new John Deere Connectivity programme allows Course Managers, dealers and John Deere themselves to track machinery while out on the golf course from wherever they happen to be. It allows a much more objective assessment of performance.

“We can track how many hours a triple mower has worked and over time if we need to even up hours on leased equipment cutting units on tees mowers can be swapped with those on greens mowers as greens mower hours are much greater than those of tees mowers,” said Paul Trowman, John Deere’s European Marketing Manager.

This software integrates OnLink into the John Deere Operations Centre. John Deere Operations Centre PRO Golf provides solutions for managing golf course maintenance.

It provides functions to manage machine fleets and human resources.

At the same time, it provides information that greenkeepers need to manage their assets more efficiently and distribute tasks.

The work at John Deere shows that modern day technology can be a genuine force for good, a benefit to the industry and not something about which to be closed and suspicious.