Doors open to ‘The Story of JCB’
New permanent exhibition at company’s world headquarters set to generate new export business
JCB have opened a new multi-million pound customer attraction designed to generate new business from all over the world. A unique and permanent exhibition called ‘The Story of JCB’, which charts the company’s links to industry back to the early 19th century, has been developed at the company’s world headquarters in Rocester, Staffordshire.
The exhibition covers 2,500 square metres of floor space and includes 14 zones which take the visitor on a journey through time, starting in the 1820s when the Bamford family were blacksmiths in Uttoxeter, through to the present day and JCB’s ECO range of fuel-saving machines.
The area occupied by the ‘Story of JCB’ exhibition previously housed the JCB design centre and production drawing office from 1970 until the early 1980s, when product-specific business units were introduced and designers and draughtsmen relocated.
Commenting on the new £5 million customer experience centre, JCB chairman Sir Anthony Bamford said: ‘This is an extremely exciting development. It is the first time that the history of our company and my family’s roots in manufacturing has been told in the form of a permanent exhibition.
‘The ‘Story of JCB’ exhibition is also a very powerful selling tool for our customers, especially in the emerging markets where a greater appreciation of our heritage and pedigree will help them understand our business and why we are the right choice for their future machine requirements.’
The exhibition is populated by 10 of the landmark JCB machines through the ages, all of which had to be craned in through the roof as the attraction took shape. They include one of the company’s first products, a hydraulic tipping trailer, and a 1962 JCB 3 backhoe loader which has been restored.
The centrepiece of the exhibition is a giant skeletal model of a JCB JS200 tracked excavator, built to scale out of 8mm steel rod and created by renowned artist Benedict Radcliffe. The finished artwork took five months to complete, used around 1km of steel rod and weighs around 2 tonnes.
The exhibition also covers sections on how the JCB name was built into a global brand; JCB’s design and innovation ethos; the company’s expansion into a global manufacturer; its growth as an agricultural machinery manufacturer; JCB’s worldwide service and parts back-up; JCB military products; and the development of the JCB engine and the record-breaking Dieselmax car.
JCB currently welcome around 15,000 visitors a year from all over the world and this figure is expected to rise to 20,000 from next year as a result of the exhibition’s development.
