John Deere announced significant steps to support customers' ability to maintain and repair their machines across the agricultural and construction industries. The digital solutions will be rolled out in the US in the second half of this year. European farmers will also benefit from these new functionalities. The enhancements will provide even more support to customers and independent repair workshops, including enabling to re-program John Deere manufactured electronic controllers.

It should be noted that the legal framework conditions for the US and EU market differ in some cases. In Europe, the RMI (Repair and Maintenance Information) regulations apply. In the EU 27 different EU regulations are legally framing the right to repair for the agricultural equipment industry. These regulations list all data to be shared with independent operators or workshops. Data are available for many model years, on the John Deere Repair and Maintenance Information website. These include, among others:

·      John Deere Bookstore - for free viewing operators' manuals and purchasing technical manuals (https://techpubs.deere.com)

·      John Deere University - provision of training materials (https://jdu.deere.com)

·      Service Gard - availability of special tools (https://servicegard.deere.com)

·      Partscatalog - online spare parts catalog (https://partscatalog.deere.com/jdrc)

·      ReadyTo - provision of diagnostic and repair instructions

The new functions primarily expand the repair options in the US. However, functionalities have also been added to European RMI, which already today offers many options. One new feature is the integration into the John Deere Operations Center^TM. This means that farmers can use the Operations Center not only to manage field and machine data, but also for maintenance and machine information. The extension offers a user-friendly, centralised platform with a comprehensive range of tools for the entire life cycle of machines. The new features include:

·      Equipment Mobile - a free app with extensive machine information including operator and parts manuals, maintenance schedules, quick reference information, error code search and software updates for selected 4G connected machines.

·      Shop.Deere.com - currently available in the UK and Ireland for finding and purchasing parts online

·      Quick Reference Guides - offers various instructional videos and maintenance tips

·      Customer Service ADVISOR - provides free digital manuals for clearing and updating codes, reading diagnostic data, and performing limited calibrations

The latest enhancements show that John Deere is continuously working to improve its products. The company is already a leader in providing self-repair resources. With the new options, farmers themselves can contribute even more to the uptime of their machines.