With pyrotechnics, backhoes standing on their booms and golden shovels, U.K.-based heavy machinery maker JCB broke ground Tuesday for the South Side plant it said will represent the biggest single investment in the company’s history.
Lord Anthony Bamford, JCB chairman, right, takes a photo of his daughter Alice Bamford, center, during a groundbreaking event Tuesday for the future JCB manufacturing plant on the South Side of San Antonio.
Josie Norris/San Antonio Express-NewsLocal officials joined Lord Anthony Bamford, company chairman and son of founder Joseph Cyril Bamford — JCB — and Alice Bamford, the founder’s granddaughter, for the ceremonial event at the 400-acre site.
“JCB really has come a considerable way since we sold our first machine here 60 years ago and it gives me immense pleasure to see how our business has grown in North America,” the elder Bamford said. “The time is now right to invest in our manufacturing capacity.”
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The privately owned company has said the 720,000-square-foot factory will employ nearly 1,600 workers over the next five years. It will be the company’s second largest plant after JCB’s world headquarters in Rocester, Staffordshire, England.
The new factory will initially produce Loadall telescopic handlers and aerial work platforms, but JCB North America President and CEO Richard Fox-Marrs said its product line could be expanded after production begins in 2026.
“The Loadall telescopic handler is JCB’s biggest-selling product in North America and it is also the single largest market for aerial access equipment worldwide, and therefore it makes great sense to build these two ranges here,” he said.
RELATED: San Antonio City Council green-lights $14M in tax breaks, grants for British manufacturer’s plant
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In documents it filed earlier this year to win about $26 million in tax breaks and grants from the city of San Antonio and Bexar County, JCB put the construction value of the plant at $269 million. On Tuesday, though, Fox-Marrs said the company’s investment would total $500 million.
JCB has 22 factories around the world, including 11 in the UK, and others in India, Brazil and China. Its first U.S. plant opened in 2001 in Savannah, Ga., its North American headquarters. JCB employs about 1,000 people there.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect JCB’s announced construction value.
