Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/490948
I DA U N I V E R S A L M a rc h -A p r i l 2 0 1 5 44 years ago, JCB was hardly a household name in Savannah. The private, family owned British heavy equipment manufacturer was No. 1 across the pond, its name nearly synonymous with the backhoe loader it invented in 1952 – now one of the most widely used pieces of construction equipment in the world. But in the late 90s, although the company had been in the United States for quite some time, the name JCB was not as well-known on this side of the Atlantic. JCB set out to change that in 1999, announcing it would build a 500,000-square- foot high tech manufacturing facility – the company's fi rst in North America – on 1,000- plus acres fronting Interstate 95 in Pooler. Today, as the company prepares to celebrate 15 years here, the picture has changed consider- ably. Now the world's third-largest construction equipment manufacturer, JCB is a presence – its bright yellow machines dotting construction and industrial sites, farming and landscaping opera- tions all around the country. Not that those 15 years have always been easy. Clouds on horizon On Jan. 1, 2000, the fi rst backhoe loader built by JCB in North America came off the manufacturing fl oor at JCB's new North American headquarters. By early 2005, the facility boasted nearly 400 employees, 25 machinery units coming off the line daily and a 51 percent jump in U.S. sales. Less than three years later, the company announced record pre-tax profi ts for 2007 of $374 million on worldwide revenues of $4.5 billion, making it the most successful year in the company's history. But there were clouds on the horizon, as company offi cials cautioned that the growing credit crunch, combined with rapidly rising prices of steel and oil, could pose an economic challenge going forward. "That product has proven to be the backbone of this plant," Patterson said. "Engineered, designed and built right here, our skid steer loaders are considered to be the safest and most innovative on the market, a real testament to the talent and skill of our local workforce." 'Back stronger than ever' It's a workforce that has grown from a low of fewer than 250 at the depths of the recession to more than 600 today, said Arjun Mirdha, president and CEO of JCB North America. "We made great progress in 2007," John Patterson, then CEO and chairman of JCB North America, said in June 2008. "But that's history. We don't like to rest on our laurels." Those words would prove prophetic, as less than six months later, the rapid decline in the global and North American construction equip- ment markets forced the Savannah operation to lay off 120 employees. Although the next few years were diffi - cult, with even more layoffs coming in 2009, Patterson had no doubts the company would come through the recession. "There is a long tradition at JCB of reinventing ourselves," Patterson – now Chairman of JCB Inc. – said. "In fact, our strongest and best investment periods tend to be during recessions." In this case, the decision was made to restructure the Pooler plant – still JCB's only manufacturing facility in the United States – to become responsible for the engineering, design and manufacture of a new line of skid steer loaders for worldwide distribution. JCB Reinvents Itself in the North American Market Fifteen