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J.C. Bamford Excavators Limited

Type	Private company
Industry	Heavy equipment
Founded	1945
Headquarters	Rocester, Staffordshire, England
Key people	Anthony Bamford, chairman
Products	Construction, agriculture, waste handling and demolition machinery
Revenue	£2.75 billion (2012)[1]
Number of employees	Approximately 11,000[2]
Parent	Transmissions and Engineering Services Netherlands BV[3]
Website	jcb.com

J.C. Bamford Excavators Limited, universally known as JCB, is an English multinational corporation, with headquarters in Rocester, Staffordshire, manufacturing equipment for construction, agriculture, waste handling and demolition. It produces over 300 types of machines, including diggers (backhoes), excavators, tractors and diesel engines. It has 22 factories across Asia, Europe, North America, and South America; its products are sold in over 150 countries.^[2][4]

JCB was founded in 1945 by Joseph Cyril Bamford, after whom it is named; it continues to be owned by the Bamford family. In the UK, India, and Ireland, the word "JCB" is often used colloquially as a generic description for mechanical diggers and excavators and now appears in the Oxford English Dictionary, although it is still held as a trademark.^[5]

History

20th century

JCB was founded by Joseph Cyril Bamford in October 1945 in Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, England. He rented a lock-up garage 3.7 by 4.6 m (12 by 15 ft). In it, using a welding set which he bought second-hand for £1 from English Electric, he made his first vehicle, a tipping trailer from war-surplus materials. The trailer's sides and floor were made from steel sheet that had been part of air-raid shelters. On the same day as his son Anthony was born, he sold the trailer at a nearby market for £45 (plus a part-exchanged farm cart) and at once made another trailer.^{[citation needed]} At one time he made vehicles in Eckersley's coal yard in Uttoxeter. The first trailer and the welding set have been preserved.

JCB's first welding set

The first vehicle JCB made (a farm trailer)

In 1948, six people were working for the company, and it made the first hydraulic tipping trailer in Europe. In 1950, it moved to an old cheese factory in Rocester, still employing six. A year later, he began painting his products yellow. In 1953, his first backhoe loader was launched, and the JCB logo appeared for the first time. It was designed by Derby Media and advertising designer Leslie Smith. In 1957, the firm launched the "hydra-digga", incorporating the excavator and the major loader as a single all-purpose tool useful for the agricultural and construction industries.^[6]

In 1960, JCB's hydraulic tractors entered the North American market, proving a long-lasting success. JCB became, and still is, the brand leader in the world. By 1964, JCB had sold over 3,000 3C backhoe loaders. The next year, the first 360-degree excavator was introduced, the JCB 7.^[7]

In 1978, the Loadall machine was introduced. The next year, JCB started its operation in India. In 1991, the firm entered a joint venture with Sumitomo of Japan to produce excavators, which ended in 1998.^[8] Two years later, a JCB factory was completed in Pooler near Savannah, Georgia in the US, and the next year a factory was opened in Brazil.

21st century

In December 2000 JCB was fined €39.6m by the European Commission for violating European Union antitrust law.^[9] This related to restrictions on sales outside allotted territories, purchases between authorised distributors, bonuses and fees which restricted out of territory sales, and occasional joint fixing of resale prices and discounts across different territories.^[10] JCB appealed the decision, with the European Court of First Instance upholding portions of the appeal and reducing the original fine by 25%. JCB appealed to the European Court of Justice but this final appeal was rejected in 2006,^[11] with the court slightly increasing the reduced fine by €864,000.^[12]

Production of the first engine designed and manufactured by JCB, the JCB444 diesel engine, started in 2004.^[13] In 2005, for the first time in nearly forty years, JCB bought a company, purchasing the German equipment firm Vibromax. In the same year, the firm opened a new factory in Pudong, China. By 2006, the firm had 4000 employees, twice what it had in 1975.

Planning of a new £40 million pound JCB Heavy Products site began following the launch of an architectural design competition in 2007 managed by RIBA Competitions,^[14] and by the next year, the firm began to move from its old site in Pinfold Street in Uttoxeter to the new site beside the A50; the Pinfold Street site was demolished in 2009. During that year, JCB announced plans to make India its largest manufacturing hub. Its factory at Ballabgarh in Haryana, was to become the world's largest backhoe loader manufacturing facility.^[15]

JCB shed 2,000 jobs during the recession, but in 2010 it announced it was recruiting up to 200 new workers.^[16]

The company was a member of the CBI business lobby group until 2016. In October 2016, it was reported that JCB had left the CBI in the summer of 2016 following the Brexit vote.^[17] JCB has also been a significant donor to the UK Conservative Party; since 2007 JCB and related Bamford entities have given the party £8.1m in cash or kind.^[18] JCB chairman Anthony Bamford donated £100,000 to Vote Leave, the official pro-Brexit group.^[17]

Worldwide operations

JCB factory and park at Rocester

The Fossor, at the JCB headquarters in Rocester

JCB has 18 factories in the UK, Germany, North and South America, Australia, India, China, and CIS.^[4] The company employs some 12,000 people on four continents and sells its products in 150 countries through 1500 dealer depot locations. The company has a range of more than 300 products.^[19]

JCB is headquartered in Rocester, United Kingdom, which is also the production site for backhoe loaders and telescopic 'Loadall' handlers. It has a further three production plants in nearby Cheadle, Staffordshire (JCB Earthmovers, JCB Landpower and JCB Compact Products), one in Rugeley (JCB Cab Systems), three in Uttoxeter (JCB Attachments, JCB Heavy Products and JCB World Parts Centre), one in Foston in Derbyshire (JCB Power Systems) and one in Wrexham in North Wales (JCB Drivetrain Systems). In July 2013 the company opened a dedicated logistics hub in Newcastle-Under-Lyme.^[20] This facility is the central hub for component distribution to production facilities, as distinct from the World Parts Centre in Uttoxeter which distributes spare parts to dealers and customers.

In December 2013 it was announced that the Rugeley Cab Systems plant would move to a new facility in Uttoxeter which would allow the in-sourcing of cab assembly currently contracted to third parties. This investment is to be accompanied by the expansion of the Rocester and Cheadle production sites by 2018.^[21]

Its Indian factories are based in Faridabad (Haryana), Jaipur^[22] and Pune, its US factory is in Pooler, Georgia, its Brazilian factory in Sorocaba, and its Chinese factory was completed in 2005 in Pudong near Shanghai. JCB also owns Vibromax, a German compaction equipment company based in Gatersleben.

JCB has also licensed its name and image to a line of consumer power tools, manufactured by Alba PLC.

The products are sold through franchised dealerships, many of which are often exclusive and cover whole countries.^[23]

JCB dominates the Indian construction equipment market with every three out of every four construction equipment sold in India being a JCB. JCB India's revenue rose more than 12 times to $1 billion in 2012–13 from $75 million in 2001. The Indian operations of the UK company account for 17.5% of its total revenue.^[24]

Products

Many of the vehicles produced by JCB are variants of the backhoe loader, including tracked or wheeled variants, mini and large versions and other variations for carrying and moving items, for example fork lift vehicles and telescopic handlers for moving materials to the upper floors of a building site.
Wheeled loading shovels and articulated dump trucks are also produced.

The Soil Compactor VM 115 of JCB

Excavators

Tracked 360° excavators ranging from the JZ70 (7 tonne zero tail swing excavator) to the JS460 (46 tonne tracked excavator). In 2008 at Con expo JCB revealed a new top range JS520 which included the new style paintjob with rams painted black.

Wheeled 360° excavators ranging from the JS130W to the JS200W.

Machines can be produced with either monoboom or a triple articulated boom.

Wheeled loaders

Industrial and agricultural wheeled loaders from compact 6 tonne hydrostatic machines to larger 25 tonne quarrying machines using a mix of 4 and 6 cylinder diesel engines.

Wheel loader

Tractors

JCB Fastrac 8250 tractor

JCB has also made its name in the tractor world by producing one of the first such machines that features proper suspension and is capable of travelling at speed on roads. The JCB Fastrac entered production in 1990. Prior to this design, the suspension was difficult because of the fixed-height connections required to farm machinery, and tractors were notoriously slow on the roads. Dependent on the model, the Fastrac can travel at 50 km/h, 65 km/h or 75 km/h (40 mph). At launch the Fastrac was featured on the BBC television programme Tomorrow's World, and years later as Jeremy Clarkson's tractor of choice in Top Gear. From 2006 the company also produces a range of compact tractors designed for grounds-care, horticultural, and light agricultural duties.

Military vehicles

JCB also makes a range of military vehicles, which also concentrate on load-handling and excavation.^[25] These include the JCB HMEE.

JCB Dieselmax

JCB Dieselmax on display at the Heritage Motor Centre

In April 2006, JCB announced that they were developing a Diesel-powered Land Speed Record vehicle known as the 'JCB Dieselmax'. The car is powered by two modified JCB 444 diesel powerplants using a two-stage turbocharger to generate 750 bhp, one engine driving the front wheels and the other the rear wheels.

On 22 August 2006 the Dieselmax, driven by Andy Green, broke the diesel engine land speed record, attaining a speed of 328.767 mph (529 km/h). The following day, the record was again broken, this time with a speed of 350.092 mph (563.418 km/h).

JCB Vibromax

JCB acquired the German company Vibromax, which manufactures compaction equipment.

JCB Phones

JCB licenses its brand for a series of rugged feature phones and smartphones targeted at construction personnel. The design and marketing contract was awarded to Data Select in 2010.^[26]

Marketing

Logo

The JCB logo dates from 1953; from 1960 the company typewriters were given an extra key to render it accurately. The company has mainly advertised in the trade publications and their advertisements have won many awards^{[example needed]}, particularly for photography.
The logo was designed by Leslie Smith, and is off-set at 18 degrees from the horizontal and 22 degrees from the vertical – the angles Joe Bamford liked.^{[citation needed]}

Display team

To demonstrate his faith in the hydraulic fail safes on JCB machines (which lock the arms in the event of a loss of hydraulic pressure, preventing them from crashing to the ground), Joe Cyril Bamford arranged to have several backhoes raise themselves up on their arms, and drove his car beneath them.^{[citation needed]}

This has since developed into a world-famous demonstration of the versatility of the backhoe configuration. The JCB display team (JCB Dancing Diggers) tour agricultural shows and produce videos, showing some of the unusual ways in which such vehicles can support themselves or manoeuvre. For example, it is quite common for drivers to support the vehicle on both buckets, either for turning on the spot without damaging ground, or for spinning the tracks in a puddle to clean them. The display team expanded this concept into a sort of vehicle gymnastics. The drivers are members of JCB's demonstration team, who visit prospective customers and demonstrate machines on the customer's property to prove the machine's suitability for the task at hand.^{[citation needed]}

JCB Insurance Services Ltd

JCB Insurance Services was founded in 1984 by JCB chairman Sir Anthony Bamford as a fully owned subsidiary to provide for the insurance needs of the customers purchasing the firm's equipment, with the funding they obtained from another fully owned subsidiary, JCB Finance. The insurance subsidiary provides all-risks policies, with optional additions for road risks coverage, and for public liability and employers liability.^[27][28]

JCB Academy

JCB is the sponsor of JCB Academy, a new secondary school in Rocester which had its first intake of pupils in September 2010.^[29]

JCB Research

JCB Research is described as an obscure company worth £27,000 which donated £2m to the Conservative party making it the largest donor in the run up to the 2010 election. Ownership of the company which has never filed accounts is disputed by the Bamford brothers. According to The Guardian, much of the Bamford money was held in shares in offshore trusts.^[30]

In popular culture

• In 1958 the singer Lenny Green had a song called "JCB and Me".


• In the UK version of the Teletubbies, one of the live-action visual five-minute segments (seen from a Teletubby belly) featured number counting involving vehicles in lines. A row of JCBs are seen in line, their hydraulics operated as if they are "dancing".


• JCB is prominently featured in the song "JCB" by the music group Nizlopi, which has achieved UK Number One status. The song is about a boy who goes to work with his father for the day.


• A JCB (not talking) named Jekub appears in volume 2 (Diggers) of The Bromeliad (alias Nomes) series by Terry Pratchett.


• The Lego Technic range featured a scale-model of the JCB backhoe (Set 8862), complete with working hydraulics systems (simulated using pneumatics) and many other features of the original.


• In series 9 of Top Gear, Jeremy Clarkson bought a JCB Fastrac 8250 for a challenge involving "growing your own petrol". Clarkson, James May, and Richard Hammond all had to reverse their vehicles around the Top Gear car park.^{[citation needed]}
  


• The song "McCavity"^[31] by the UK group The Macc Lads contains the line "He's filled more holes than a JCB" to (rather crudely) demonstrate the sexual prowess of the band-member being sung about.


• A digger stars in the music video for "Sunday Morning", a 1985 hit song by The Bolshoi. Three band members stand on this 360-degree excavator while Trevor Tanner (the singer) lies on the sofa.


• In the Popular ITV drama Primeval, JCB machines are used multiple times, sometimes to fight off prehistoric creatures.


• JCB machines are often used and referred to (e.g. "bring in the JCB") during excavations on the television series Time Team.


• JCB machines are used at the Diggerland theme park in Kent, Devon, Durham and Yorkshire.^{[32][better source needed]}
  


• JCB machinery can be seen in the Terraforming Bay of the USCSS Covenant in Ridley Scott's 2017 film Alien: Covenant.


• JCB is a current major sponsor of the Williams F1 Formula 1 team, with its logo prominent on the F1 cars and hospitality. JCB machinery is also used by the team for logistics operations.

See also

• Backhoe loader


• Joseph Cyril Bamford


• Anthony Bamford, Lord Bamford


• JCB Academy

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to JCB.

• Official website