Prototypes have been delivered and mass production could start in a matter of days.
JCB have announced that they will be restarting production at the company’s Staffordshire factory soon, joining the UK’s nationwide effort to manufacture ventilators…
JCB – a specialist in manufacturing equipment for construction – is poised to resume production at the company’s Cab Systems factory (located in Uttoxeter, Staffordshire). The announcement comes as JCB join the national effort to manufacture ventilator systems.
Production at the Uttoxeter site came to a halt on the 18th March, along with eight other JCB manufacturing plants located across the UK, after a fall in demand following the COVID-19 outbreak. However, after a direct appeal from the Prime Minister earlier this month (to help plug gaps in the supply chain of ventilators), JCB have announced that they will be restarting production at the state-of-the-art facility.
Instead of manufacturing cabs for JCB diggers, the £50million Cab Systems factory is being mobilised to produce specialised steel housing for a brand new ventilator design (developed by Dyson). A minimum of 10,000 steel housing units are being earmarked for production, once Dyson gains regulatory approval for its design.
The first prototypes of the housings have already been delivered to Dyson after rolling off the JCB production line, and mass production of the housings could start in a matter of days.
Chair of JCB, Lord Bamford, commented:
“When we were approached by the Prime Minister we were determined, as a British company, to help in any way we could. This project has gone from design to production in just a matter of days and I am delighted that we have been able to redeploy the skills of our talented engineering, design and fabrication teams so quickly at a time of national crisis.
“This is also a global crisis, of course, and we will naturally help with the production of more steel housings if these ventilators are eventually required by other countries.”
JCB’s response to the national call-to-action would see around 50 employees (affected by an extended company shutdown) return to work.