Major investment at JCB Power Systems
Company invests £10 million in new machining equipment at engine manufacturing facility
JCB Power Systems have invested £10 million in their UK engine plant as they gear up to begin full production of cylinder heads and blocks for the first time.
The Derbyshire-based factory has installed new CNC machining centres and associated automated processes at the site, which the company says will give outstanding levels of finished accuracy in house, as well as boosting production capacity.
JCB Power Systems, based in Foston, began production of their own engine range in 2004 and to date more than 400,000 JCB Dieselmax and JCB EcoMax engines have been produced. The engines now provide power for more than 70% of JCB equipment sold around the world.
The latest £10 million investment will allow the company to produce cylinder heads, engine blocks and bedplates – the major engine components – in house for the first time, boosting efficiency and ensuring that the company’s demanding quality targets are met.
The machining centres have been put through a rigorous test procedure and will commence production in early 2017. They will be able to produce a set of engine components in just five minutes, boosting the Foston factory’s capacity to up to 45,000 engine sets per year.
Alan Tolley, JCB group director for engines, said: ‘The multi-million-pound investment in machining in house gives us direct control over specification, quality and cost of the major components. This is a major step forward for JCB Power Systems and an important piece of the jigsaw that keeps us producing class-leading engines at competitive cost.’
JCB Power Systems are also celebrating winning two Queen’s Awards, one for Innovation for the development of the EcoMax engine, with its low-emission combustion system, and the other for International Trade. Overseas third party sales of the JCB engine family grew by more than 325% between 2012 and 2014, and almost a quarter of the engines produced last year were for external customers.
Mr Tolley added: ‘Great progress has been made with our engine business in the last 10 years and there’s more to come. We’ve continued to invest heavily in engine development and manufacturing to make sure our customers have the best engines available.’
