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John Deere breaks ground on $13.5M expansion in Strafford, Missouri

John Deere says it’s moving forward with a major expansion project at its Strafford, Missouri Remanufacturing facility.

Factory manager Kevin Schrag tells Brownfield the company is investing $13.5 million to expand the facility by 120,000 square feet.

“It’s a really big deal,” he said. “The employees here are really excited to see this. They’re excited to see the commitment that Deere has made to this community, certainly as we look to continue to build and expand our reman business in the Springfield area.”

He says remanufacturing helps them take used, worn-out products and transform them into like-new condition.

“This is a facility where we’ll store core,” Schrag said. “It’s also a facility where we disassemble that core and go through our cleaning processes and qualification processes to get it back into a usable form and back out to our customers.”

Schrag says the project is expected to move quickly.

“It’s expected to be about a 12-month project,” he said. “We expect to be, by the end of April next year, in that facility, operating it, and getting all the value that we expect out of it.”

John Deere initially announced the proposed investments last fall. A groundbreaking ceremony was held at the site earlier this month.

Schrag made his comments in an interview with Brownfield Ag News, which can be heard below.