The Best Time to Invest in Automation

Image: Driverless John Deere Tractor

​Corporate Challenge: Deciding to automate.

Ironbound Strategy: For guaranteed success, invest in automation when its purpose is to create value for customers, employees, or society.

Ironbound Action: Illinois based John Deere pioneered tractor automation 20-years ago, by designing a tractor that could drive itself in a straight line.  Today, Caterpillar has 350 fully-autonomous ‘earth movers’ running 24/7 at mines around the world.  Autonomous tractors are not designed to replace operators, instead operators engage with the automated machines nearby, in safety and comfort.  When the purpose of automation is to create value for stakeholders, it builds more excitement and has higher adoption rates.

​* John Deere posted $35.5B in revenue, down from $39.2B last FY.
 
** Caterpillar posted $53.8B in revenue, down from $54.7B last FY.