Thibodaux plant may be center for reinventing farming while training students for jobs
John Deere is hoping to shake up the cotton harvesting technology of the future and part of the plan will include working with local high school students this month.
The company's Thibodaux facility will begin producing cotton pickers in April with the goal of revolutionizing cotton harvesting vehicles. General Manager of John Deere, Mike Duplantis, detailed future plans for the company's facility in Thibodaux. Duplantis told the South Central Industrial Association the technology had grown stagnant.
"We're replacing a design that is 30 years old," he said. The vehicles have been redesigned from the ground up, "The product we're going to be doing now is a clean sheet, redesigned, medium chassis cotton picker."
The cotton pickers will be offered in two forms: basket and balers. The basket will store the cotton that's harvested and the baler will throw it out in bales similar to hay. The facility has already begun creating the parts for the vehicles and will begin assembly in April.
The company expects production of the new cotton harvesters to reach full capacity by 2025.
John Deere has also partnered with the Lafourche Career Magnet Center and Fletcher Technical College to work with two high school juniors as apprentices to help them get work experience while they get their education. Interviews will begin this month.
Students in the program will attend classes part-time in the mornings of their fall and spring semester, and work part-time for John Deere in the evenings.
"This is allowing us to teach such that these young individuals come out after their senior year and we know 'em, they know our processes, they know what we do.," Duplantis said. "If we're hiring guess what?... they'll be making $50,000 to $60,000 a year."
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The former Cameco building, located on LA 3266, was acquired by John Deere in 1998 when they bought Cameco to get established in the sugar cane business. The 650,000 square foot facility has seen a $29.8 million overhaul recently in preparation for vehicle production. Duplantis said it will create between 50 to 100 local production jobs and 10 to 12 engineering jobs.
The Thibodaux site is a design center for sugar harvesting and earth-moving scraper equipment since 2000 and Cane Harvesters since 2015.
This article originally appeared on Daily Comet: John Deere soon to create new line of cotton harvesters in Thibodaux
