Big milestone for JCB mini-excavators
Company celebrates production of 100,000 mini-diggers and promises more innovative machines to come
JCB recently celebrated the production of their 100,000th mini-excavator – with the promise of more innovative machines to come as the company builds on its position as an industry leader.
JCB’s first mini excavator – an 801 model weighing in a 1.4 tonnes – rolled off the production line in 1989 when just over 450 machines were made. By 1992 there were four models in the range and annual production had risen to 1,000 units.
Today the company celebrated the production of its 100,000th compact excavator – a 10-tonne 100C-1. It is one of 22 models in today’s range, which spans one to 10 tonnes. All are manufactured at the JCB Compact Products factory in Cheadle, Staffordshire.
The global mini-excavator sector is currently one of the most competitive areas of the global construction equipment market, worth an estimated £4 billion annually. More than 20 major manufacturers challenge for a slice of this business and with almost 200,000 mini-excavators sold around the world every year, it is the biggest single part of the annual 700,000-unit construction equipment market.
JCB’s chief executive officer, Graeme Macdonald, said: ‘JCB have an innovative, powerful and robust range of mini-excavators which keeps growing in popularity. From being a challenger in the market 25 years ago, JCB are now firmly established as an industry leader, setting trends for design innovation and manufacturing excellence.
‘To have produced 100,000 compact excavators really is something for the whole JCB team to celebrate, and with more additions to the range due this year we can look forward to more growth in this important sector of the market.’
Rising to the growing opportunity presented by the mini-excavator sector in recent years, JCB have invested £15 million in manufacturing technology and new product development. This has seen the launch, in the last two years, of brand new models including the 65R-1, 67C-1, 85Z-1, 86C-1, 90Z-1 and 100C-1, which compete in the six-, eight-, nine- and 10-tonne weight categories respectively.
