Design and Construction Report staff writer
John Deere plans to build a $70 million manufacturing campus in Kernersville that will produce excavators for the construction market, the company announced.
The new facility will total about 400,000 square feet and is expected to employ more than 150 people. Production at the site will replace excavator manufacturing previously carried out in Japan.
“We are excited to bring this new facility to our Kernersville campus and to be part of the region’s thriving manufacturing community,” Ryan Campbell, president of worldwide construction and forestry and power systems at John Deere, said in a statement.
The Kernersville project is part of a broader expansion plan that also includes a new distribution center in Indiana. John Deere recently broke ground on a 234-acre distribution facility near Hebron, Ind., just off Interstate 65.
The Indiana project will involve a $125 million investment to develop and equip a 1.2 million-square-foot facility designed to streamline operations and improve delivery times for equipment and parts. The company said the distribution center is expected to create about 150 jobs.
John Deere said the two facilities are part of a commitment to invest $20 billion in U.S. manufacturing over the next 10 years.
“It is a testament to our confidence in the future of U.S. manufacturing and our unwavering commitment to innovation, quality and economic growth,” Chairman and CEO John May said.
John Deere, founded in 1837, employs about 30,000 people in the United States and operates more than 60 facilities across 16 states.
