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HomeFarming NewsJCB ceases production in 9 plants
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JCB ceases production in 9 plants

Due to a reduction in global demand, JCB stopped production in all its UK manufacturing plants on Wednesday, March 18th.

The company have 9 manufacturing plants in the U.K., located in Staffordshire, Derbyshire and Wrexham.

Drop in demand

The company said the reason for this decision was due to the worldwide coronavirus pandemic causing an unprecedented reduction in global demand. The halt in production will be in effect until March 30th, with no decisions being made yet as to what will happen after this date.

JCB has reassured shop floor staff that they will be paid in full during this period and office staff continuing to work a 39-hour week, with many working from home, in support of the Government’s social distancing policy.

Graeme McDonald, CEO of JCB, has said: “These measures are unprecedented in the history of JCB but are absolutely necessary to protect the business. As we continue to deal with the health implications of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has become more challenging to maintain business continuity in this volatile economic climate.”

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“JCB is a global exporter and worldwide demand for our products has dropped sharply as customers cancel orders and defer deliveries. This is not just a UK issue, it is worldwide and with countries like France, Spain and Italy going into lock-down, those key markets for construction equipment disappear overnight.”

“In light of this fast-changing situation, we need to re-plan our production and, as a result, manufacturing at all UK factories will cease for the rest of this week and all of next week. This will allow us to take stock of the situation, re-plan our order book, prioritise products that are definitely required by customers, and ensure parts and components are reassigned to support the production of these products,” he concluded.

JCB’s Chinese plant in Pudong, near Shanghai, ceased production last month due to the impact of the pandemic in the area. After several weeks of disruption, the factory is fully operational once again.

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