Demand for “big iron” is booming, fueled by the rebounding global economy and the Biden administration’s infrastructure initiative. That’s good news for manufacturers of tractors and other types of agricultural and construction equipment. The bad news is the post-pandemic labor shortage, which is causing headaches and creating bottlenecks.
To address the issue, AGCO, Caterpillar, CNH Industrial, Deere, Doosan, JCB, Kubota, Komatsu, Liebherr, Terex, Volvo and other companies are investing in automation and Industry 4.0 technology, such as additive manufacturing, artificial intelligence, augmented reality, automated guided vehicles (AGVs), collaborative robots, digital twins and predictive analytics. The goal is to improve throughput, quality and safety.