In modern manufacturing it isn't the amount of inventory that is bad it is how many turns do they do to justify it. There is little doubt Deere sells alot of tractors. Since we don't know their turns we can't judge their inventory. Just in time can turn into just late also. Some sales are lost to not delivering. Deere has problems in building enough AG tractors and combines to meet demand. No doubt it has benifited CNH and AGCO. With Just in Time (JIT) you need safety inventorty and buffer inventory. Safety is when you have something interupt your production you can still deliver on time and buffer is when you have a spilke in demand from your customers you can cover it. You adjust these levels by observing inventory levels and keeping data. I have little doubt that Deere has plenty of data to create forcast to meet demand, this ain't their first rodeo.

Deere on their large AG have the lowest inventories in the industry. It isn't always good for their dealers because you can't sell what you don't have. Try to buy an 8000 series off the dealers lot. Tough to find a brand new one. Last year you could order in January and go see it built in Wateloo in July. Also I have seen Deere manufacturing, Agco and Toyota among others. The cleanest and one of the best plant layouts I have seen was Waterloo Iowa.
I don't know about CNH so I can't compare. I have heard their combine plant in Nebraska is really nice and I am sure Racine is state of the art. I know any CNH equipment I look at has excellent fit and finish. I just don't know there turns. From going by my local NH dealer I would guess less than Deere in my area. He has 4 new NH tractors over 150hp and 2 new combines that haven't moved from last fall. Deere dealer has no new ones.