American Made Tractor

[WVH1977]

Any thoughts or opinions on a completely American built tractor ever being produced again in our time. I am talking about the entire tractor being completely built in this country with no foreign parts. Is it possible in this day and age?

 

[oosik]

I'm sure it would be possible but priced completely out of any competitive market.

 

[kthompson]

No doubt there are many here who know more than I do on this but as far as workers and companies are concerned I think they could be affordable. No idea on what role government regulations have to increase the cost here, but I think government regs has as much or more to do than wages different here compared to say Japan.

 

[M5farms]

It has more to do with people wanting cheaper and wanting it now. American made comes with a price. These Indian, Jap tractors can be assembled for pennies on the dollar and most added cost is to fit them to cumbersome us regulation. Thank a politician or tree hugger for that.

 

[TheMadOne]

The closest you're going to get are some models of JD that are made in Waterloo. JD still makes their own engines for the big stuff. I'm sure they get some components from overseas, it's simply not economical to make a $2 plug when you can buy fifty from china for the same price.

As far as the small tractor market...no. Even if JD wanted to, putting that kind of R&D and setup money into a small tractor line when the Yanmar stuff is perfectly fine would make no sense from a business prospective. Being on TBN gives a bit of a skewed perspective on the US market. We tend to think 60hp is a big machine. Any decent sized farm in the US is going to have at least a 100-150ish HP machine in the stable, if not multiple larger units. That's where the money is in tractors, and that's where companies like JD, Case/New Holland, and even Kubota are going to put their focus.

The startup cost of trying to create a new US only brand would be enormous. You'd have to find a domestic source of engines. You'd have to find/make rears and transmissions. You'd have to make the sheet-metal, the driveline, the computer system, the DPF package(I think it took Mahindra 30 million US to engineer around needing one). Find a domestic source for fuel senders and hydraulic pumps, the list goes on and on.

At a wild guess you'd need at least 5 years and a couple billion dollars to even get off the ground. Maybe more, if you ended up needing a foundry to make castings.

 

[/pine]

Heck...a lot of the things that are really "Made in the USA"...are made with tools and or materials that aren't...!

 

[Creamer]

Any thoughts or opinions on a completely American built tractor ever being produced again in our time. I am talking about the entire tractor being completely built in this country with no foreign parts. Is it possible in this day and age?

Possible yes. Will it happen - no. It is a world economy and it would take excruciating detail to verify that all the components are also made in the USA. And what would be the value to going to this effort?

 

[MossRoad]

My Power Trac, while made in Tazewell, VA, has some foreign parts in the hydraulics, and the engines are Robin Subaru, Kohler, and Deutz.

My dad was in WWII in the south pacific in a combat engineering battalion; Australia, New Guinea, and the Philippines. He drove Volkswagens, Toyotas and Chevys. I figure if a guy that fought both of these countries could buy cars made there after the war was over, so could I. My mother-in-law is a retired United Autoworker union factory worker. She drives a Toyota minivan. It's more American made than a Ford F-150.

While it would be nice to see a purely American product, its a global economy and we're all going to have to learn to live with it. It's a small world.

 

[Ortimber]

Nope, I don’t see it happening. We are great at engineering and innovation, but have found its more profitable to outsource manufacturing.

 

[goeduck]

My Power Trac, while made in Tazewell, VA, has some foreign parts in the hydraulics, and the engines are Robin Subaru, Kohler, and Deutz.

I would have thought they would use the same manufacturer for all three engines.
die: die: die:

 

[Tractorable]

I must say I was shocked when I first started researching tractors to find that you couldn't buy one made in America anymore. When I tell non-tractor people this they're shocked as well. Tractors seem so American, yet they're the least American products on the market now. Sad that Americans don't even have a choice to buy American anymore even if we wanted to.

 

[smstonypoint]

Nope, I don稚 see it happening. We are great at engineering and innovation, but have found its more profitable to outsource manufacturing.

I hope my comment doesn't derail the conversation and send it packing to (Un)Friendly Politics, but you are describing the economic concept of comparative advantage (Comparative Advantage, Economics by Topic | Library of Economics and Liberty).

Steve

 

[Thomas]

It could be done but I doubt it because of cost.

 

[Ortimber]

I hope my comment doesn't derail the conversation and send it packing to (Un)Friendly Politics, but you are describing the economic concept of comparative advantage (Comparative Advantage, Economics by Topic | Library of Economics and Liberty).

Steve

You are correct!

 

[goeduck]

History tells us that at the end of the Roman Empire product was sent to Rome from all over the world and about the only thing being sent out of Rome was human poop and garbage. United States has not reached this milestone, but we are getting close.

 

[Agvg]

They are building tractors in Germany and France so why not in the US?

 

[cqaigy2]

They are building tractors in Germany and France so why not in the US?

I don't know why, but i was talking to some employees of German manufactures and basically ask them to compare their understanding of companies and how manufacturing works in Germany and manufacturing in the USA. They thought a key difference was because their companies were relatively small, as compared to number of our corporations, they weren't run by stock holder, and because they didn't have to worry about stock holders, they were able to take a longer view and concentrate on quality. Apparently, they are able to sell high quality products for a premium price and be competitive.
I'm not very smart so don't expect me to explain the whys and why nots, but they also thought their strong unions also played a roll in the health of their manufacturing. I kinda wished i had just a little education to ask exploratory questions but..

 

[Agvg]

Agco builds a lot of tractors in France, Germany and Finland, those are probably more high cost countries than the US, JD have factories in Germany, I do believe the cost of buildings, machinery and energy sould be in the same range. Is the us government more positive to outsourcing production?

 

[Creamer]

Agco builds a lot of tractors in France, Germany and Finland, those are probably more high cost countries than the US, JD have factories in Germany, I do believe the cost of buildings, machinery and energy sould be in the same range. Is the us government more positive to outsourcing production?

The US is more open period. Germans do not understand why you would use any part other than German because of their heritage. Americans are used to things coming from all over as we did so there is more acceptance.

A good example is that I was working for an American supplier to Ford and we were supplying parts to Ford - Koln (Germany) Engine Plant. We were doing in-die tapping and threads were not smooth enough for them and we had tried a bunch of things and finally gave up and pulled the taps out of the die and went to a separate automated tapping system. I went to Koln to explain what we were doing and when it would be implemented and after the 15 minute data filled presentation the only question I had was "Why didn't you use a German machine?" We had used a Hitachi because it was readily available and we could get the process in place quickly from a supplier we knew - it was the wrong answer. It was more important to them that we use a German machine even though this issue was on their plant's top ten list.

 

[Agvg]

History behind product and a brand means a lot in Europe, and the Germans are very good at mechanical design, finish and proper quality. It's very hard to for a brand like Lexus to get any market share, no history and a meaningless name doesn't sell well.

Even Chinese marks that try to enter Europe has to manufacture in Europe so EU might not allow free import.

Kubota are planning factories in France, how are they doing it in US?