Quad Cities-based Deere and Company says it will invest nearly 127-million dollars to update and improve its Waterloo tractor manufacturing facilities. Waterloo works general manager Michael Triplett says the project will take more than five years to complete.The major share of the investment is to the 82-year-old main downtown site in Waterloo. Triplett says the ten current manufacturing buildings will be cut to just four, making the operation more efficient.Triplett says the northeast Waterloo plant will also undergo a renovation. He says a 20-year-old fixed assembly line will be replaced with a flexible line.Triplett says the new technologies added to the facilities will mean an additional one thousand new jobs over the next five years.
