. for its founder see joseph cyril bamford . for the credit card company see jcb co. ltd. j.c. bamford excavators limited type private industry heavy equipment founded 1945 headquarters rocester staffordshire united kingdom key people anthony bamford chairman products construction agriculture waste handling and demolition machinery revenue 2.75 billion 2012 1 number of employees approximately 11 000 2 website http jcb.com j.c. bamford excavators limited universally known as jcb is a british multinational corporation with headquarters in rocester staffordshire manufacturing equipment for construction agriculture waste handling and demolition . it is the world s third largest construction equipment manufacturer . 3 it produces over 300 types of machines including diggers backhoes excavators tractors and diesel engines . it has 22 factories across asia europe north america and south america ; its products are sold in over 150 countries . 2 4 jcb was founded in 1945 by joseph cyril bamford after whom it is named ; it continues to be owned by the bamford family . in the uk and india jcb is often used colloquially as a generic description for mechanical diggers and excavators and now appears in the oxford english dictionary although it is still held as a trademark . 5 contents 1 history 1.1 20th century 1.2 21st century 2 worldwide operations 3 products 3.1 excavators 3.2 wheeled loaders 3.3 tractors 3.4 military vehicles 3.5 jcb dieselmax 3.6 jcb vibromax 3.7 jcb phones 4 marketing 4.1 logo 4.2 display team 5 jcb insurance services ltd 6 jcb academy 7 jcb research 8 in popular culture 9 see also 10 references 11 further reading history edit 20th century edit jcb was founded by joseph cyril bamford in october 1945 in uttoxeter staffordshire england . he rented a lock up garage 3.7 by 4.6 m 12 by 15 ft . in it using a welding set which he bought second hand for 1 from english electric he made his first vehicle a tipping trailer from war surplus materials . the trailer s sides and floor were made from steel sheet that had been part of air raid shelters . on the same day as his son anthony was born he sold the trailer at a nearby market for 45 plus a part exchanged farm cart and at once made another trailer . citation needed at one time he made vehicles in eckersley s coal yard in uttoxeter . the first trailer and the welding set have been preserved . jcb s first welding set the first vehicle jcb made a farm trailer in 1948 six people were working for the company and it made the first hydraulic tipping trailer in europe . in 1950 it moved to an old cheese factory in rocester still employing six . a year later he began painting his products yellow . in 1953 his first backhoe loader was launched and the jcb logo appeared for the first time . it was designed by derby media and advertising designer leslie smith . in 1957 the firm launched the hydra digga incorporating the excavator and the major loader as a single all purpose tool useful for the agricultural and construction industries . 6 in 1960 jcb s hydraulic tractors entered the north american market proving a long lasting success . jcb became and still is the brand leader in the world . by 1964 jcb had sold over 3 000 3c backhoe loaders . the next year the first 360 degree excavator was introduced the jcb 7 . 7 in 1978 the loadall machine was introduced . the next year jcb started its operation in india . in 1991 the firm entered a joint venture with sumitomo of japan to produce excavators which ended in 1998 . 8 two years later a jcb factory was completed in pooler near savannah georgia in the usa and the next year a factory was opened in brazil . 21st century edit production of the first engine designed and manufactured by jcb the jcb444 diesel engine started in 2004 . 9 in 2005 for the first time in nearly forty years jcb bought a company purchasing the german equipment firm vibromax . in the same year the firm opened a new factory in pudong china . by 2006 the firm had 4000 employees twice what it had in 1975 . planning of a new 40 million pound jcb heavy products site began following the launch of an architectural design competition in 2007 managed by riba competitions 10 and by the next year the firm began to move from its old site in pinfold street in uttoxeter to the new site beside the a50 ; the pinfold street site was demolished in 2009 . during that year jcb announced plans to make india its largest manufacturing hub . its factory at ballabgarh in haryana was to become the world s largest backhoe loader manufacturing facility . 11 jcb shed 2 000 jobs during the recession but in 2010 it announced it was recruiting up to 200 new workers . 12 the company was a member of the business lobby group cbi until on the 11th of october 2016 it emerged on bbc news that jcb had left the group in the summer of 2016 following the brexit vote . worldwide operations edit jcb factory and park at rocester the fossor at the jcb headquarters in rocester jcb has 18 factories in the uk germany north and south america australia india and china . 4 the company employs some 12 000 people on four continents and sells its products in 150 countries through 1500 dealer depot locations . the company has a range of more than 300 products . 13 jcb is headquartered in rocester united kingdom which is also the production site for backhoe loaders and telescopic loadall handlers . it has a further three factories in nearby cheadle staffordshire jcb earthmovers jcb landpower and jcb compact products one in rugeley jcb cab systems three in uttoxeter jcb attachments jcb heavy products and jcb world parts centre one in foston in derbyshire jcb power systems and one in wrexham in north wales jcb drivetrain systems . in july 2013 the company opened a dedicated logistics hub in newcastle under lyme . 14 this facility is the central hub for component distribution to production facilities as distinct from the world parts centre in uttoxeter which distributes spare parts to dealers and customers . in december 2013 it was announced that the rugeley cab systems plant would move to a new facility in uttoxeter which would allow the in sourcing of cab assembly currently contracted to third parties . this investment is to be accompanied by the expansion of the rocester and cheadle production sites by 2018 . 15 its indian factories are based in faridabad haryana jaipur 16 and pune its us factory is in pooler georgia its brazilian factory in sorocaba and its chinese factory was completed in 2005 in pudong near shanghai . jcb also owns vibromax a german compaction equipment company based in gatersleben . jcb has also licensed its name and image to a line of consumer power tools manufactured by alba plc. the products are sold through franchised dealerships many of which are often exclusive and cover whole countries . 17 jcb dominates the indian construction equipment market with every three out of every four construction equipment sold in india being a jcb . jcb india s revenue rose more than 12 times to 1 billion in 2012 13 from 75 million in 2001 . the indian operations of the uk company account for 17.5 % of its total revenue . 18 products edit many of the vehicles produced by jcb are variants of the backhoe loader including tracked or wheeled variants mini and large versions and other variations for carrying and moving items for example fork lift vehicles and telescopic handlers for moving materials to the upper floors of a building site . wheeled loading shovels and articulated dump trucks are also produced . the soil compactor vm 115 of jcb excavators edit tracked 360 excavators ranging from the jz70 7 tonne zero tail swing excavator to the js460 46 tonne tracked excavator . in 2008 at con expo jcb revealed a new top range js520 which included the new style paintjob with rams painted black . wheeled 360 excavators ranging from the js130w to the js200w . machines can be produced with either monoboom or a triple articulated boom . wheeled loaders edit industrial and agricultural wheeled loaders from compact 6 tonne hydrostatic machines to larger 25 tonne quarrying machines using a mix of 4 and 6 cylinder diesel engines . tractors edit jcb fastrac 8250 tractor jcb has also made its name in the tractor world by producing one of the first such machines that features proper suspension and is capable of travelling at speed on roads . the jcb fastrac entered production in 1990 . prior to this design the suspension was difficult because of the fixed height connections required to farm machinery and tractors were notoriously slow on the roads . dependent on the model the fastrac can travel at 50 km h 65 km h or 75 km h 40 mph . at launch the fastrac was featured on the bbc television programme tomorrow s world and years later as jeremy clarkson s tractor of choice in top gear . from 2006 the company also produces a range of compact tractors designed for grounds care horticultural and light agricultural duties . military vehicles edit jcb also makes a range of military vehicles which also concentrate on load handling and excavation . 19 these include the jcb hmee . jcb dieselmax edit jcb dieselmax on display at the heritage motor centre main article jcb dieselmax in april 2006 jcb announced that they were developing a diesel powered land speed record vehicle known as the jcb dieselmax . the car is powered by two modified jcb 444 diesel powerplants using a two stage turbocharger to generate 750 bhp one engine driving the front wheels and the other the rear wheels . on august 22 2006 the dieselmax driven by andy green broke the diesel engine land speed record attaining a speed of 328.767 mph 529 km h . the following day the record was again broken this time with a speed of 350.092 mph 563.418 km h . jcb vibromax edit jcb acquired the german company vibromax which manufactures compaction equipment . jcb phones edit jcb licenses its brand for a series of rugged feature phones and smartphones targeted at construction personnel . the design and marketing contract was awarded to data select in 2010 . 20 marketing edit logo edit the jcb logo dates from 1953 ; from 1960 the company typewriters were given an extra key to render it accurately . the company has mainly advertised in the trade publications and their advertisements have won many awards particularly for photography . the logo was designed by leslie smith and is off set at 18 degrees from the horizontal and 22 degrees from the vertical the angles joe bamford liked . citation needed display team edit to demonstrate his faith in the hydraulic fail safes on jcb machines which lock the arms in the event of a loss of hydraulic pressure preventing them from crashing to the ground joe cyril bamford arranged to have several backhoes raise themselves up on their arms and drove his car beneath them . citation needed this has since developed into a world famous demonstration of the versatility of the backhoe configuration . the jcb display team jcb dancing diggers tour agricultural shows and produce videos showing some of the unusual ways in which such vehicles can support themselves or manoeuvre . for example it is quite common for drivers to support the vehicle on both buckets either for turning on the spot without damaging ground or for spinning the tracks in a puddle to