Sadly today it seems, that often design engineers have lost touch with reality. They often seem to design something, pass it on to production and forget about it. It takes decades if at all to get them to correct mistakes. Just as an example: JD cleaning fan speed adjust has a couple of washers bouncing on the spindle that over time are destroying the thread on it. It took JD from this invention to the 60 series to correct it. When you get into electronic and software it gets a lot worse, because the designer of software tests his program to see, that it does what he programmed. So he never punches other botton combinations or jumps around in menues. Any program or machinery needs to be tested by competent endusers who are capable of detailed documentations. Then engineers need to address all problems and remedy them. This and many other things are explained in the book "Simultaneous Engineering". But if a combine engineer has never been in the drivers seat, he will have a terrible time just understanding the farmers words. This is another issue where large companies like JD, CNH, Ford, GM and others lack vision and action. Much too often they higher young college graduates with no practical experience and stick them on the drawing board. It would be extremly beneficial if these colleges graduates go on a harvest crew for a full season first and then through a dealer shop for the winter. In the second year they should go on a service truck following the harvest support van. When he has finally learned and understood to see things from the operators and buyers point of view, then he might try the drawing board. In the combine market all manufacturers struggle with the same problems. This is why we do not see major changes. In the autmobile industry the situation is a little different and we have better competition. Here we can see companies who poorly listen to the enduser lose market share and money quickly, like Ford and GM for example.
