JCB is celebrating 50 years of wheeled loading shovel manufacture – with production hitting record highs. Over those five decades, the company’s award-winning loader range has expanded beyond recognition, introducing many market-leading technologies and establishing JCB as a global leader in the loader business.
As the 50thanniversary is marked, JCB now produces wheeled loaders in their thousands on production lines around the world, including the UK, India, Brazil and China. This year also marks the 20thanniversary of JCB opening a multi-million pound factory in Cheadle, Staffordshire dedicated to the production of wheeled loaders.
“JCB now offers 25 different wheeled loader models and manufactures the product on three continents. With our innovative range we are very well placed to increase our sales in a sector which has grown rapidly around the world for three consecutive years.”
At that time, JCB launched a tracked loading shovel, the 110, the first of its type to feature a hydrostatic transmission and twin tiller loader controls. The machine was the first to be awarded with a Design Council Award in 1972. The crawler loader would continue to be developed, with the 112 and 114 models, well into the 70s.
In 1973 the 423 and 428 were launched, taking JCB into heavier wheeled loader territory. A year later the Design Council again recognised JCB, for the 418 design, the company’s second award in just two years for what was still a fairly young business unit.
By that time, the 410, 420 and 430 models had also arrived, again moving the sector forwards with the introduction of four-ram loader linkages. These parallel lift arms would prove essential for materials handling duties in particular. JCB still offers customers a choice between a four-arm lift package or the Z-bar linkage favoured by the quarry industry on many loader models.
Another sector with which JCB has enjoyed a positive relationship is the military, the company developing the 410M-1B military wheeled loader in 1984. As well as being specifically designed and built to meet the needs of military operation, each machine was shipped with £1,000 of spare parts, to ensure continued operation in even the most remote areas.
JCB continued to develop its growing range of wheeled loaders, moving into the compact market in 1987. The 406 was the first JCB compact loader and the first to have the cab mounted on the rear section of the articulating chassis. This model was soon joined by the 408 in 1989 and the 408 Farm Master in 1990.
Additional compact models followed in 1996, while 1997 would prove one of the most decorated years for the company’s loader business. In 1997 JCB picked up a Queen’s Award for Export Achievement for the loader range, along with a Royal Agricultural Society of England Silver Medal Award for the 412 Farm Master Servo Plus. A new range-topping 456ZX model joined the line-up, alongside 410ZX and 411ZX hydrostatic compact models and two additional Telemasters – the TM200 and TM270.
If 1997 was a big year for products, 1999 would prove an even more eventful year for the business, with a move to purpose-built new premises in Cheadle, Staffordshire. With the ability to boost production, the multi million pound facility – producing under the name JCB Earthmovers – would prove critical to further fuel product expansion and sales growth.
By the early 2000s, the company’s range of wheeled loaders and telescopic loaders was well established, with the addition of new 407, 408 and 409 hydrostatic loaders, the TM300 Telemaster and the 456HT loader. In 2006, JCB Earthmovers was again given a Queen’s Award for Enterprise, in the International Trade Category, a feat that would be repeated in 2009.
The company’s Dieselmax engine range, fitted to a number of the loaders, went on to power the firm’s Dieselmax streamliner to a world land-speed record for diesel cars in 2006, establishing JCB as a world-beating engine manufacturer.
The first decade of the new century culminated with the launch of the 436E-M (Military) and 436E-MWW (Medium Winterised Waterproof) military wheeled loaders, with the MWW variant the first to be completely waterproofed and winterised.
2014 saw the dawn of a new era in cab design with the launch of the all new ‘JCB CommandPlus’ cab. The powerful JCB 457 was the first machine to show off the completely new cab, offering operators the ultimate in comfort. This totally new ROPS structure has A pillars that have been moved out to the same width as the rear of the cab, providing a larger interior with a panoramic front windscreen. The machine features JCB’s Command Driving Position, with revised pedals, a new adjustable steering column and seat-mounted hydraulic controls.
This decade has also seen JCB’s wheeled loader line continue to expand, as the line-up has grown with both larger and smaller models. The largest loader, the 467, launched in 2012, while the company’s smallest model, the 403, arrived in 2017.
The company has also spread its global footprint, as facilities in India commenced production of wheeled loaders in 2012. JCB started production of the 426 loader in Brazil in 2014. More recently, JCB commenced production of wheeled loaders in China in 2017.
The company is now readying its extensive range to meet the needs of tomorrow’s customers, with the introduction of Stage V emissions compliant powertrains. And with production at record levels, JCB Earthmovers shows little sign of slowing down.