John Deere Reman targets ’26 completion for $13.5M expansion
Investment would consolidate some company facilities
BY: GEOFF PICKLE, DIGITAL EDITORgpickle@sbj.net
Posted online October 18, 2024 | 9:59 am
A planned multimillion-dollar investment in Strafford by John Deere Reman will mean increased operational efficiencies in the Springfield area, a company official says.
The business operated by Moline, Illinois-based Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE) announced Oct. 14 that it would invest $13.5 million to expand its plant in Strafford. The project would grow the 601 MO-125 facility, known as the John Deere Reman Core Center, by 120,000 square feet to bring its footprint to 400,000 square feet. Company officials are targeting a mid-2025 groundbreaking and 2026 completion for the expansion. Parking lot improvements are currently underway to prepare for the expansion, officials say.
Kevin Schrag, manager of John Deere Reman, said the expansion in Strafford would allow the company to consolidate some of its operations in the Springfield area under one roof.
“We’re spread out over multiple facilities. It’s a bit of a function of how we’ve grown in the area,” Schrag said, noting the company has five facilities in the area. “The key driver for this particular expansion is really consolidating some of our external warehousing operations to drive logistical improvements.”
Schrag said the current plan calls for two leased locations, including a facility operated in partnership with SRC Holdings Corp., to be consolidated into the John Deere Reman Core Center.
“We’ll work with them on the timing of that,” he said.
Local impact
John Deere Reman, which remanufactures engines and fuel and electronic components for agriculture and construction customers, started in Springfield in 1998 as a joint venture with Springfield Remanufacturing Corp. It became wholly owned by Deere 10 years later.
The John Deere Reman Core Center opened in 2012 and represented a roughly $14 million investment, according to Springfield Business Journal archives. Springfield-based Q and Co. LLC led construction of the project.
Schrag said Q and Co. has been hired for the expansion, as well, along with local architecture and engineering firms Buxton Kubik Dodd Design Collective, Miller Engineering PC and Olsson Inc.
“Quality is at the core of Q & Co., and we are proud to partner with John Deere and this exceptional design team on another project for a company that also values quality – John Deere,” said Darren Beck, construction manager at Q & Co., in a news release.
Schrag additionally said the city of Strafford has been instrumental in its growth plans. The John Deere Reman Core Center is located adjacent to the bustling Southwest Missouri Rail and Business Park, south of Interstate 44 on the southwest side of Strafford. Nearby neighbors include Warson Brands, L&W Industries and Dayton Freight. It’s about 4 miles northeast of Buc-ee’s, located en route to Strafford from Springfield along I-44.
“We have been honored to be home to this facility for over a decade, appreciating the solid legacy John Deere and its products represent,” Strafford City Administrator Martha Smartt said in the release. “We look forward to this expansion, recognizing the company’s investment has had a profound impact on our community and southwest Missouri.”
The John Deere Reman Core Center employs 211 people, said Schrag, noting the original plans for the Strafford facility called for around 55 jobs. Noting the company has more than 500 employees in the Springfield area, he said additional jobs likely would be on the way.
“My expectation is this space will allow us to grow the business,” Schrag said, declining to estimate the number of new jobs the facility expansion would create. “We have a very skilled and highly engaged employee base here. It’s the employees that drive all of the results in the end.”
A “relatively small number” of existing local employees would transition to Strafford amid the consolidation efforts, he added.
Global impact
The Strafford plans follow a 2021 move in which John Deere Reman added around 130 employees to its local workforce as it transitioned its drivetrain and hydraulic remanufacturing operations from a plant in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, which closed, according to past reporting.
“I would say this is the next logical step,” Schrag said. “All of John Deere Reman’s operations are centralized to the Springfield area. This investment is showing our continued commitment to that.”
Deere & Co., which has some 83,000 employees and more than 100 locations globally, is No. 64 on the 2024 Fortune 500 list that ranks U.S. companies based on annual revenues. The publication reported $61.3 billion in annual revenue for Deere in the list published this summer.
Deere’s fiscal fourth-quarter earnings report is scheduled for release on Nov. 21.
For the third quarter of fiscal 2024, Deere reported net income of $1.7 billion on net sales and revenues of $13.2 billion for the period ended July 28, according to an Aug. 15 news release. Those figures were down 42% and 17%, respectively, from a year earlier.
Deere & Co.’s stock closed Oct. 15 at $401.99, compared with a 52-week range of $340.20 to $420.47 per share.