JCB to Relocate Compaction Equipment Production Unit to India

March 16, 2014
JCB announced it will relocate its compaction equipment production unit to India, the company said.

JCB announced it will relocate its compaction equipment production unit to India, the company said. It will close its Gatersleben, Germany, site and by the end of 2014 production of all VM Compactors and two larger VM tandem rollers will relocate to JCB’s factory in Pune, India, the Business Standard is reporting.

“The decision to relocate production of compaction equipment to factories in the UK and India is right for our business,” said JCB CEO Graeme MacDonald in a statement. “Demand for compaction equipment has shifted towards emerging markets and manufacturing smaller models in the UK and larger equipment in India is in our customers’ best interest.”

MacDonald said at ConExpo earlier this month that JCB will be opening a $100-million factory complex in Jaipur, India, the company’s fourth in the country. “The factory covers 700,000 square feet on a 114-acre site, all part of JCB’s plan to remain India’s No. 1 in construction equipment,” he said. “In December we announced plans to invest $240 million in the U.K., expanding existing operations and building two new factories, one will be a new 350,000-square-foot factory in Utoxxeter for making JCB cabs, and the other will be a 200,000-square-foot factory in Cheadle to expand production of compact equipment.”