Let’s Talk Telematics
John Deere Connectivity Family
In today's society, we are always connected — through social media, text messages, apps, and more. So, in an age where connectivity has evolved from an advantage to a requirement in all industries, how is John Deere bringing connectivity to our customers? By offering telematics solutions.
Healthy machines, happy customers
At John Deere, we provide a range of hardware telematics solutions for equipment owners and operators. This range begins at an entry-level value offering and builds to a premium option. This keeps the cost and customer value top of mind.
"The value end of our offering really comes into play when the customer doesn't have a display on their machine, but they're looking to get some user- or machine-specific data," says Mike Karnopp, Module Manager at John Deere. "The key element here is machine uptime: monitoring that machine health and making sure the customer can keep performing at the highest level."
Having a range of capabilities with our telematics solutions also gives customers the option to upgrade with minimal effort.
"We've designed our telematics solutions so you can easily upgrade to more advanced capabilities," details Karnopp. "If they start at the value end, get more comfortable with it, and want more machine data — they'll want to upgrade to premium, which has more horsepower to do more machine calculations and provide more machine data.";
A global solution
Another benefit of John Deere telematics is that our premium offering has certifications in more than 70 countries, with the potential for future expansion. By offering a global solution, we're able to avoid regional variants.
"If you have different requirements for one geographic location versus another, you have to configure your modem for that specific area," explains Karnopp. "So, a global solution really helps us to support all the different country requirements for communication."
A global solution also allows us to have just a single SKU, which really helps to streamline our manufacturing process.
Built by an OEM, for OEMs
As a 184-year-old company, and as an OEM, we get it. We're not only making components — we're helping shape the machines of the future.
We understand our customers are moving toward a fully connected jobsite — a jobsite that connects people, information, and equipment — across the project chain, regardless of where they are located. In order to do this, they need a central control center that offers a real-time stream of information.
"They're potentially monitoring multiple machines in a fleet, so whether located at the office or using a mobile app, they always have access to that machine data," says Karnopp. "We made this possible through Wi-Fi meshing, which actually began as a specific customer ask, and it is becoming a standard feature on our premium offering."
The future of telematics and connectivity technology is bright. Leveraging these evolving technologies and advancements, John Deere is going to continue to look for and predict what our customers' next needs are.
"Outside of telematics, I also work in automation and autonomy," details Karnopp. "Just thinking down the road to the potential of having machines out in the field that don't have anyone behind the wheel, they're going to be running on their own... It's really pretty cool and exciting to be a part of."
Want to know more? Reach out to us about your application needs. ElectronicSolutions@JohnDeere.com