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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
_________
FORM 8-K
CURRENT REPORT
Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934
Date of Report: March 22, 2001
(Date of earliest event reported)
D E E R E & C O M P A N Y
(Exact name of registrant as specified in charter)
DELAWARE
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation)
1-4121
(Commission File Number)
36-2382580
(IRS Employer Identification No.)
One John Deere Place
Moline, Illinois 61265
(Address of principal executive offices and zip code)
(309)765-8000
(Registrant's telephone number, including area code)
___________________________________________________________
(Former name or former address, if changed since last report.)
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Item 7. Financial Statements, Pro Forma Financial Information
and Exhibits.
(c) Exhibits
(99) Announcement and additional information.
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SIGNATURE
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange
Act of 1934, the Registrant has duly caused this report to be
signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereto duly
authorized.
DEERE & COMPANY
By: /s/ MICHAEL A. HARRING
-------------------------
Michael A. Harring,
Secretary
Dated: March 22, 2001
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EXHIBIT INDEX
Sequential
Number and Description of Exhibit Page Number
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(99) Announcement and additional information Page 5
Page 4
EXHIBIT 99
(JOHN DEERE LOGO)
Deere & Company
One John Deere Place
Moline, IL 61265
Phone: 309-765-8000
www.deere.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: MARCH 22, 2001
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CONTACTS
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Curt Linke, Deere & Company 309-765-4634
linkecurtisg@johndeere.com
Greg Derrick, Deere & Company 309-765-5290
derrickgregoryt@johndeere.com
DEERE GROWTH PLAN TARGETS MAJOR IMPROVEMENTS
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IN FINANCIAL RESULTS & STOCKHOLDER VALUE, CEO TELLS INVESTORS
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MOLINE, IL -- John Deere is aggressively pursuing
strategies that are intended to take growth and profitability
to a new level over the course of the decade, the company's
chairman and chief executive officer said today. "Our aim is
to do nothing less than double and double again the value we
deliver to customers, employees and investors," CEO Robert W.
Lane told security analysts and investors at a meeting hosted
by the company in New York.
In moving ahead, Deere will build on its recent successes,
he said. "Our competitive position has never been stronger due
to positive customer response to advanced new products and our
commitment to rigorous asset management," he said. Such gains,
however, are intended to be only a starting point. "Our
objective is to move in a direction that produces substantial,
more consistent increases in sales and profits, and therefore
delivers improved investor returns," he said.
The company's strategic plan leverages the traditional
John Deere strengths of product quality and customer service.
"To these, we're placing a renewed emphasis on innovation,
speed and efficiency as part of our aim to run smart, fast and
lean," Lane noted.
"RUNNING SMART affirms our commitment to staying out front
in the development of new technology, smart solutions, and
advanced products, including intelligent machines," Lane said.
In this regard, the company plans to introduce more than 100
new products in 2001, headlined by the new John Deere SST lawn
tractor based on proprietary spin-steer technology. The SST
tractor is the first residential-mowing product with a zero-
turn radius that is guided by a steering wheel. "Investors
know innovations don't just happen," Lane said, "We have very
consciously increased our research and development activities
- - the wellspring of new products like the SST tractor - to
record levels." Company product-development programs are being
increased again in 2001, he noted.
Deere's model order-fulfillment effort for construction
equipment was cited as a leading example of how the company is
adopting a greater sense of speed and RUNNING
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FAST. Estimate to cash, as the initiative is known, has
reduced machine-delivery times of products such as backhoes
and crawlers by about half on average over the last two years
while significantly reducing inventories. Importantly, the
effort has proved its value in the current economic slowdown
by allowing production to adjust in alignment with customer
requirements. Commented Lane, "Estimate to cash is playing a
leading role in our effort to rapidly balance production with
retail demand and to maintain our commitment to rigorous asset
management."
Deere's push for a larger share of the European farm-
equipment market further underscores the company's
determination to move at a more rapid and decisive pace, Lane
said. "Europe has as much sales potential in farm machinery as
North America, but our own market share there is much less.
This is a big opportunity for us to seize - and we will lose
no time in doing just that." More than 50 of the year's new
John Deere products will be introduced to European farm
customers, marking the company's largest-ever new product
launch outside of North America.
At the same time, efficiency is being taken to a new level
in the course of RUNNING LEAN. "Besides restraining costs and
adding to our competitiveness, running lean will help us focus
our financial capital, and employee efforts, on areas with the
greatest potential return," Lane commented. Deere's recently
announced project to restructure its flagship tractor-
production operation in Waterloo, Iowa, is a prime example of
how Deere is improving efficiency. The $127 million multi-year
initiative targets a 75 percent improvement in manufacturing
cycle times while dramatically reducing inventories and
delivering meaningful cost reduction. He called the Waterloo
restructuring the "catalyst for bringing world-class asset
management" to company farm-machinery operations.
Through its operating plan, Deere is targeting net sales
and revenues of $40 billion by the end of the decade and a
market capitalization of $50 billion. "These goals, while no
doubt ambitious, reflect the great potential for building upon
the John Deere Experience and the great promise represented by
our advanced products and superior technology," Lane said. In
this regard, he pointed out that equipment sales today make up
over 80 percent of John Deere total net sales and revenues,
yet equipment purchases account for only a few cents of every
dollar spent on the average farmsite, worksite or homesite.
"Today's customers want more than machines; they want total
solutions," Lane stated. "We believe that spells an exciting
growth opportunity for John Deere."
Selective acquisitions will play an "important, supporting
role" in achieving such growth, Lane said. He described the
recent purchases of Timberjack Group and McGinnis Farms as
having a "natural tie to our existing customer base and to our
core equipment and service competencies." Overall, the company
has made nearly two dozen acquisitions since 1995.
Lane noted that taken as a whole the company strategy is
centered on long-term value creation. "In the near term, we're
facing a tougher economic environment, as we expressed in
yesterday's announcement concerning production cutbacks.
However, we
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remain confident that shareholders will be rewarded by this
early action and our continued focus on rigorous asset
management."
In addition, the company reiterated that while it is still
targeting to equal last year's profit performance, this could
prove difficult in light of present market conditions. It
further explained that meeting recently revised analyst
expectations for the second quarter would be particularly
difficult, while the fourth-quarter comparison should prove
somewhat easier.
"Our challenge is to do all the things we've been doing -
strengthening our commitment to quality products, satisfied
customers, dedicated employees and responsible corporate
citizenship, while making sure investors are more fully, and
consistently, rewarded for their stake in our company," Lane
stated. "John Deere stands today as one of the world's
preeminent companies in most every respect, and all our
efforts are focused on making it a preeminent investment as
well."
SAFE HARBOR STATEMENT UNDER THE PRIVATE SECURITIES
LITIGATION REFORM ACT OF 1995. Statements herein that relate
to future operating periods are subject to important risks and
uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ
materially. Some of these risks and uncertainties could affect
particular lines of business, while others could affect all of
the Company's businesses. Forward-looking statements involve
certain factors that are subject to change, including for the
agricultural equipment segment the many interrelated factors
that affect farmers' confidence, including worldwide demand
for agricultural products, world grain stocks, prices realized
for commodities and livestock, weather and soil conditions,
real estate values, animal diseases (including the spread of
"mad cow" and "foot-and-mouth" diseases), crop pests, harvest
yields, the level of farm product exports and government farm
programs. Factors affecting the Company's commercial and
consumer equipment business include general economic
conditions in the United States, consumer confidence, consumer
acceptance of the Company's new products, consumer borrowing
patterns and the severity and timing of spring weather
patterns. The number of housing starts as well as levels of
public and non-residential construction are especially
important to sales of the Company's construction equipment,
while prices for pulp, lumber and structural panels are
important to sales of forestry equipment. All of the Company's
businesses are affected by general economic conditions in the
global markets in which the Company operates, interest and
currency exchange rates, as well as monetary and fiscal
policies (including actions by the Federal Reserve Board);
actions of competitors in the various industries in which the
Company competes, particularly price cutting; dealer
practices, especially as to levels of new and used field
inventories; and legislation affecting the sectors in which
the Company operates. The Company's outlook is based upon
assumptions relating to the factors described above, which are
sometimes based upon estimates and data prepared by government
agencies. Such estimates and data are often revised. Further
information concerning the company and its businesses,
including factors that potentially could materially affect the
company's financial results, is included in the company's most
recent quarterly report on Form 10-Q and other filings with
the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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