John Deere Integrates Industrial IoT Platform to Boost Factory Efficiency

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by Polina Chernykh · 3 min read
John Deere Integrates Industrial IoT Platform to Boost Factory Efficiency
Photo: Henrik Jensen/Flickr

The UK-based agricultural vehicles producer took further steps into the IoT sector with a new partnership that is planned to expand the company’s capabilities.

John Deere has announced the adoption of the IoT technology designed by Telit, a global enabler of machine-to-machine (M2M) communications. The move is expected to improve crop yields by increasing the efficiency of planting and harvesting.

Telit’s deviceWISE IoT platform is a part of the company’s IoT Factory Solution and is developed to connect production equipment with various interfaces and protocols to enterprise systems with limited programming.

By using the technology, the company will be able to connect to third-party apps, gather real-time assembly data and prevent equipment downtime. Besides, it will help to enhance supply chain and line efficiency, as well as comply with regulatory requirements.

“We are honored to be selected by John Deere to provide a solution that enables complete, real-time visibility into their manufacturing assets,” said Chief Executive of Telit IoT Platforms, Fred Yentz. “Just three months ago, we expanded our IoT Services business with the formation of the Telit IoT Factory Solutions unit and we are delighted to add John Deere to our growing list of customers. The deviceWISE IoT platform allows John Deere to seamlessly connect a wide variety of operation and production assets – PLCs, DC tools, energy management and more – with enterprise applications such as SAP, giving John Deere the flexibility to optimize manufacturing and improve plant operations.”

In addition to the existing IoT solutions, John Deere is going to develop new ones. It is investigating a range of technologies, such as wireless communications, cloud solutions, a steering-wheel replacement and IoT sensors.

As Network World reports, John Deere is working on how to combine computing and mobile technologies to improve its operations. The company, for instance, has already developed an iPad application that allows users to monitor operations in the field and choose the amount of seeds to plant. It not only shows exact location of groups of seeds, but also informs whether they are properly spaced.

Among the other IoT devices the company uses is a wi-fi-enabled sensor allowing farmers to control the pressure exerted on seeds while planting. They can regulate the spacing and pressure depending on the softness of soil.

Amid the news about Telit’s platform integration, the company has announced that it obtained a certification from a leading US-based telecoms carrier to use its LTE module on the carrier’s networks.

“This is an important development for us as it means that our CAT-1 IoT module is approved for immediate deployment in scale on this major North American telecoms carrier‘s pioneering CAT-1 service, on the carrier’s LTE networks,“ said Oozi Cats, CEO of Telit.

“Adding this CAT-1 certification paves the way for our customer to launch LTE-CAT-1 based products and accelerate their IoT deployments, and also paves the way for developers and integrators to leverage not only current capabilities but also the evolution of technologies slated to enhance LTE communication in the future,” he noted.

Internet of Things News, News
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