Deere & Co. implements voluntary separation program

About 800 salaried Deere & Co. employees will leave the company due to a voluntary separation program announced in April. This move will allow the company to achieve first-year savings of about $75 million after a pretax expense of about $100 million, primarily in the fourth quarter of 2009.

Previously, Deere had estimated a pretax expense for the program of $50 million.

In April, the company had announced a new global operating model that combines the technology, expertise, experience, channels and investments of two former divisions, which focused on agricultural and commercial and consumer equipment. The two business units became a single unit, the Worldwide Agriculture and Turf Division, effective May 1.

The voluntary separation program was designed to help Deere “leverage the efficiencies of the merged divisions,” according to a company release.