JCB wins US$56.8million of new orders

JCB has secured an order for 550 machines worth £16 million from A-Plant, one of the UK’s leading rental firms. The order is part of a phased investment programme which has seen the plant hirer buy a total of 1,089 JCB machines in the last nine months.

The latest order includes more than 400 mini and midi excavators, including 50 255 JCB 8085 eco midi excavators, said to be 27% more productive and more than 20% more fuel efficient than the model it replaced. The deal also includes Loadall telescopic handlers and rough terrain forklifts and is one of the biggest taken by JCB this year.

The announcement was made last month as JCB played host to hundreds of existing and prospective customers from the tool hire and small plant and equipment hire sectors at its World HQ in Staffordshire, central England.

Lord Digby Jones was guest of honour at the event which saw the launch of two new mini excavators.

JCB’s UK & Ireland sales director Yvette Henshall-Bell said: “To win a deal of this size is testament to the quality and reliability of JCB’s machines. It also shows huge confidence in the market. We are absolutely delighted to have won this business, which cements a relationship going back a number of years.”

A-Plant is part of the Ashtead Group, which is one of the world’s biggest hire firms and has extensive operations in the UK and USA. Ashtead’s USA operation – Sunbelt – has also just ordered 494 machines, including a fleet of almost 400 Loadall telescopic handlers, more than 40 tracked excavators, in addition to backhoe loaders, Vibromax compaction equipment and rough terrain forklifts. The total value of the A-Plant and Ashtead deals is US$56.8million (£36million).

Most of the machines ordered by 6264 A-Plant and Sunbelt will be manufactured in Staffordshire at JCB’s World Headquarters in Rocester; JCB Compact Products, Cheadle, Staffordshire; JCB Utility Products, Cheadle and JCB Heavy Products, Uttoxeter, central England. The 19 compaction machines ordered by Sunbelt will be made at JCB Vibromax in Gatersleben, Germany.

A-Plant’s hire fleet comprises over 110,000 itemised pieces of plant, tools and equipment and the company invests a multi-million pound figure each year in new equipment and state-of-the-art technology. Accredited with ISO 9001:2008, ISO 14001:2004 and OHSAS 18001:2007, A-Plant is said to have one of the most robust safety and quality management systems in the industry.