(The Center Square) – John Deere future generation excavators previously produced in Japan will be manufactured at a $70 million factory in North Carolina, the company said Tuesday.
Kernersville, a Forsyth County community off Interstate 40 between Greensboro and Winston-Salem, will be the new home with an expected employment of 150 workers. In May 2024, county commissioners approved an incentive package for the company over five years valued at $944,006.
At the time, average annual wages were projected to eclipse $64,000. Economists are historically skeptical on average wage comparisons because salaries of a few corporate leaders can skew the average higher while it would not have the same impact on the median wage.
“We are excited to bring this new facility to our Kernersville campus and to be part of the region’s thriving manufacturing community,” said Ryan Campbell, the company’s president of Worldwide Construction and Forestry and Power Systems. “Our focus will be on delivering excellence, creating jobs, and advancing the legacy of John Deere in American manufacturing.”
Excavators have been manufactured in Kernersville since 1988. In an email to TCS, the company said, “The existing factory had to be retooled to allow for additional capacity to move in production from Japan for mid-size excavators.”
John Deere told TCS it will launch the new mid-size and compact excavators that were previously built in Japan in March at the ConExpo in Las Vegas.
John Deere recently broke ground on a new distribution center near Hebron, Ind. That facility also brought with it 150 jobs, the company said. It does not change the primary North American Parts Distribution Center in Milan, Ill., a site open since 1973 and employing 1,200.
From the White House, a release says, “This is another example of promises made and promises kept. Last year, President Trump promised to turn the United States into a manufacturing superpower, and he continues to deliver on the promise.”
As recently as Jan. 19 in Washington, Trump said, “Together, we’re going to bring thousands of factories back to the USA, right where they belong – and that will be done through tariffs and smart policy. We will build American, we will buy American and will hire American.”
Originating in 1837 in Grand Detour, Ill., American blacksmith and inventor John Deere started the company with a steel plow. Today the iconic green machines are throughout the industries of agriculture, construction, forestry, turf and power systems.
The company says it plans a $20 billion investment in America over the next decade. In addition to the new factory in Kernersville, John Deere said it will be using American steel in factory expansions and builds that includes a 120,000-square foot addition in Missouri, an expansion in Greeneville, Tenn., and in assembling the new 9RX tractor in Waterloo, Iowa.
John Deere has 30,000 employees and 60 factories in 16 states nationwide.
