Technology, Culture Nourish Manufacturing Success at AGCO Jackson Operations

If you want to see the junction of advanced manufacturing technology and lean culture, make sure you visit AGCO Jackson Operations. The plant manufactures products worth more than $500 million annually on its two assembly lines – one for a variety of large (200 hp and up) tractors and one for self-propelled vehicles with application equipment for spraying fertilizers, pesticides and other products.
Look at either of the production lines and you immediately appreciate the Swiss watch nature of modern manufacturing plants. Jackson is producing tractors for different AGCO brands such as Challenger and Massey Ferguson. The plant works with more than 500 suppliers, domestic and international. Each product typically has more than 5,000 parts and vehicles are offered with thousands of options. About 25% of AGCO’s Terragator applicators are engineered to order. “It is common for us to build one tractor configuration that we don’t see again for the rest of the year,” says Eric Fisher, director of operations.