Although we take several factory tours each year, it is rare that we get to take home photos shot from inside a plant. 

This unusual shot was snapped at our request deep inside the John Deere Davenport Works plant in Davenport, Iowa. Earlier this summer, we were in town to test drive the manufacturer's new 644K Hybrid wheel loader.

According to our company tour guide, who snapped the photo for us, the deep excavation work makes way for footings that will support new machine tools at the plant.

While companies like Deere are major suppliers to the construction industry, they also can be large owners that need to procure and construct plants and equipment to keep the assembly lines moving. Last year, Deere ranked No. 3 behind Caterpillar and Cummins on ENR's Top Owners table for industry machinery and equipment. In 2011, Deere had $649 million under construction and spent $1.68 billion overall on capital expenditures.

Deere's Davenport Works facility, which began production in 1974, covers 2.4 million sq ft on 1,000 acres of land and employs 1,400 people. Deere uses the plant to built articulated dump trucks, four-wheel-drive loaders, motor graders and various forestry machines.

Naturally, we could only find Deere equipment doing the digging.