KrzanichBrian Krzanich, the chief executive officer of technology giant Intel, has been elected to the Deere & Company board of directors.
The addition of Krzanich is a huge get for Deere as the company and its competitors in heavy equipment manufacturing work to network their machines together in order to give customers more in-depth data concerning production, fuel efficiency, maintenance and more.
Krzanich has served as CEO at Intel since 2013 and serves on that company’s Board of Directors as well.
He joined the company in 1982 and worked his way up to chief operating officer prior to being appointed CEO.
Samuel R. Allen, Deere’s chairman and chief executive officer, noted the benefit of bringing on a former COO of an organization with more than 50,000 employees and a massive supply chain.
“Brian’s depth of leadership experience in technology, manufacturing and supply chain management is a valuable addition to the Deere & Company Board of Directors,” Allen said in a statement.
The addition of Krzanich is substantial news considering how many technology-driven moves competitors Caterpillar and Komatsu have made in the last year.
Komatsu has launched a drone-driven automated pre-foundation construction business in Japan that represents a dramatic departure from an OEM’s typical business model.
And Caterpillar has made a series of moves including the launch of drone research in Europe, and an investment and collaboration with industrial analytics firm Uptake to provide preventative maintenance data. Uptake was named the Hottest Startup of 2015 by Forbes.
