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Happy 75th Birthday JCB: A Personal Tribute

I’m sure most of us are familiar with the inspirational story of how it all began in 1945, with the manufacture of a small tipping trailer, essentially made out of war time scrap components, which was produced in the small garage and which today, stands proudly as a testament to those humble beginnings in the showroom of JCB’s headquarters in Rocester, Staffs.

For me personally, in the late 1960’s early 70’s I grew up around the JCB products, which in those days was dominated by the venerable backhoe loader, a machine that was invented by Mr Bamford in 1953, that was to become synonymous with the name JCB, so much so that it is listed in the Oxford English dictionary as JCB, ‘A type of mechanical excavator with a shovel at the front and a digging arm at the rear’.

My late father was a JCB man through and through and rarely operated anything else. Coming from an agricultural background he preferred to be on wheels and liked the variety of work that he got to perform operating a backhoe loader. 

As a digger mad youngster, everything revolved around JCB’s in those days, a trip out with dad to pick up spares and oils at the then local dealers in Southampton, F. English & Son, whose premises were located at Southampton/Eastleigh airport, was a regular treat and it was there that I recall being given a silver and black JCB logo pin badge, which I treasured for many years.

My bedroom walls were not like other kid’s either, no footballers or pop stars for me, but posters of JCB’s and other brands of earthmoving equipment. The ones that really stick in my mind are the big colour posters that were often inserted inside dad’s copy of Construction News in those days, which featured JCB’s in exotic and sometimes harsh environments around the globe.

Naturally, when I was old enough to go to work with dad, I grabbed the chance with both hands, and like so many of us from that era, I would spend hours sat on the side frame in the cab as dad went about his work on his 3C which he operated for Marsh Plant Hire. It was during lunch breaks that I was allowed to spend time on the sticks gaining valuable experience from a young age, they were golden days for sure.

My father went on to operate JCB, 3C’s and 3CX’s for the rest of his working life until his passing in 1997. For me the only sad thing is that he never got the opportunity to visit the factory, like I have now on so many occasions, to experience the great feeling of patriotic fervour that washes over you when you realise and fully appreciate what a great British success story the company is.

I have operated many JCB machines personally over the past 35 + years including 3Cll and 3CX backhoe loaders up to this this JS220LC 'Groundworker' model for Luke Furse Earthmoving. 

There have been many great milestones for the JCB business over the past 75 years, for starters, during that time they have manufactured more than 750,000 backhoe loaders, which are now made on three continents.

1995 JCB was celebrating its 50th anniversary with a visit by HM The Queen to its World HQ, where she unveiled a replica of the Uttoxeter garage where Mr Bamford began his business all those years ago.

In 2004 employees gathered at the World HQ for a commemorative photo to mark the production of the 500,000th machine. It had taken just short of 60 years to reach that milestone.

The next half million machines would be produced in the next nine years. It was also the year that JCB took the bold step into engine production with the launch of the Dieselmax engine, manufactured at JCB Power Systems in Derbyshire.

In 2005 JCB opened its factory in Pudong, China. This was followed in 2009 by a £40 million investment in JCB’s factory in Ballabgarh, India to create the world’s biggest backhoe loader factory.

In 2010 JCB announced a $40 million project to develop a brand-new range of skid steer and track loaders to be manufactured at its North American HQ.

2016 was another year of milestones as the company celebrated the production of the 200,000th Loadall telescopic handler.

Today JCB is the world’s number one producer of telescopic handlers. In this year JCB also marked the production on its 100,000th mini excavator and celebrated 25 years of production of the revolutionary Fastrac tractor. It was also the year when the new JCB Hydradig was launched to international acclaim.

 If 2017 was a year of milestones, 2018 was certainly a year for exciting product introductions with the unveiling of JCB’s first ever electric excavator leading the way.

The 19C-1E electric mini excavator was developed in response to customer demands for a zero emissions machine which could work indoors, underground and close to people in urban areas. Once fully charged, it is ready to put in a full normal working day on the building site.

The year also saw the launch of the hugely successful X-Series range of tracked excavators and the start of site dumper manufacturing at the World HQ in Rocester.

Earlier in this anniversary year, JCB was previewing an exciting new development after developing the construction industry’s first ever hydrogen powered excavator as company continued to lead the sector on zero and low carbon technologies. The 20-tonne 220X excavator powered by a hydrogen fuel cell has been undergoing rigorous testing at JCB’s quarry proving grounds for more than 12 months.

The exciting development means JCB is the first construction equipment company in the world to unveil a working prototype of an excavator powered by hydrogen, considered by many to be the fuel of the future. Unfortunately, due to the current Covid-19 scenario, we have not been able to see this machine in the metal, but hopefully we will in the not too distant future.

A little trip down memory lane for me now from the era when I used to be around these machines a lot with my late father. 

In summary, JCB has had a lasting impact on my life both as a young enthusiast, machine operator and now blogger/journalist, it’s a great British business that we should all be proud of, so I hope you will join me in wishing them a very Happy Birthday, and here's too many more years of success ahead.