Deere plans to close its manufacturing facility in Woodstock, Ontario, Canada, later this year.

Production from the factory will move to existing Deere operations in Davenport and Dubuque, Iowa, USA. The Woodstock facility manufactures full-tree forestry products for Deere"s Worldwide Construction & Forestry Division.

The move supports Deere"s ongoing, company-wide effort to create more efficiency in its business operations. Deere said it decided to consolidate this portion 

India welcomes John Deere The John Deere Technology Center in India was opened this week to provide information technology, engineering and supply management, as well as embedded systems and technical authoring for the worldwide operations of construction and agricultural equipment maker Deere & Co.

Deere & Co chief financial officer Nate Jones said the technology centre in Magarpatta City, Pune, would not only support the company"s global growth strategy, but also extend its capacity for information technology 

New Year. New Terex. Terex Corporation, the world"s third largest construction equipment manufacturer, announced yesterday that the first quarter of 2006 would see a realignment of several company operations.

As part of the realignment the Mobile Crushing and Screening Group, which includes Powerscreen, Terex Finlay and Terex Pegson, will now be consolidated into the Terex Materials Processing & Mining Segment.

Also, TerexLift, the European telehandlers business, will now become part of the Terex 

John Deere changes its senior officers Deere & Company has appointed two new senior officers and has given three members of its management team new assignments in order to further develop the experience of its global leadership group.

"These assignments will add to the extensive expertise of our senior managers and enhance our capability to grow a great business," said Robert W. Lane, chairman and chief executive officer.

The two new senior officer assignments include:

James A. Israel is appointed President, 

Italy sells Cat its hoses Construction equipment giant Caterpillar has purchased leading Italian hose manufacturer Rapisarda Industries for an undisclosed price. The two companies have had a joint venture deal since 1994 and the new agreement will make Rapisarda a wholly-owned subsidiary of Caterpillar. The acquisition will take effect on January 1 2006. Caterpillar will retain the Rapisarda name due to its global recognition in the hose and coupling industry. Caterpillar motion and power control vice-president Chris