Foundation laid for company’s sixth plant at Vadodara
JCB has committed a further investment of Rs. 650 crores in India, for its sixth plant in the country, as the company prepares to celebrate 40 years of manufacturing in the country.
Mr. Subir Chowdhury, COO, JCB India
The new factory will be located at Vadodara in Gujarat and will manufacture parts for global production lines as the company prepares to meet the growing demand.
The JCB Chairman, Lord Bamford, laid the foundation for the new plant which will be the company’s sixth factory in India – a country which has been JCB’s biggest single market since 2007. The announcement follows the start of work on a new £50 million factory to build cabs for JCB machines in Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, UK, which will be completed later this year.
The Chairman said: “With major investment in manufacturing capacity in the UK and India, we are very well placed to grow our business in the future. This year we celebrate 40 years of JCB India, and our success over those four decades is due to our continual investment. It’s fitting that we mark the 40th anniversary with an investment in a factory which will give us enormous manufacturing capacity.”
JCB India already has factories in Delhi, Pune and Jaipur. Production at the new facility at Halol-II, Vadodara, on a 44-acre site will begin next year. It will house the most modern laser cutting, welding and machining technology and will be a fork-lift free operation. It will be capable of processing 85,000 tonnes of steel annually.
Mr. Vipin Sondhi, MD and CEO, JCB India, said: “This new factory will be manufacturing engineered components and sub-assemblies for JCB’s many factories around the globe. It will add to the capacity at our existing plants in India. Vadodara presents us with the advantage of being close to the Surat port and also to our key suppliers.”