Lord Bamford celebrates 60-year JCB milestone

Anthony Bamford, front right, receives his 60-year long service award from JCB CEO Graeme Macdonald at a presentation attended by JCB Directors.

Anthony Bamford, chairman of UK-based OEM JCB, is celebrating 60 years with the company.

Having joined the company on 24 February 1964 as an engineering apprentice at its Rocester facility at the age of 18, Lord Bamford has gone on to play a significant role in the growth of the company and helped it to become one of the world’s largest OEMs with annual turnover of £5.7 billion.

He helped to establish JCB’s first overseas subsidiary in France in 1969 as well as a business in India, which is the company’s biggest single market for construction equipment.

As well as factories in India and the UK, JCB has expanded into North America, Brazil, and China during his tenure. He has held the position of chairman since 1979, when he took over from his father, the late Joseph Cyril Bamford CBE.

At the same time, he opened the JCB Academy in Rocester in 2010, a £22 million school for 13-18 year-old students aspiring to become the engineers and business leaders of the future. 

To mark the milestone, Lord Bamford was presented with along service award at the JCB World Headquarters by JCB CEO Graeme Macdonald last week and was presented with an oak tree from company Directors.

Reflecting on his tenure with JCB, Lord Bamford said, “It is hard to imagine that I have been here that long, but I really haven’t known anything else. As a family company, I was introduced to the business at a very young age and have been involved in it ever since. In fact, my earliest memory was going with my mother to take tea and sandwiches to a handful of men who were working for my father when the business was based in stables at Crakemarsh Hall, near Uttoxeter.

“So much has happened over the past 60 years. When I first worked at JCB, we had one factory. Now there are 22 all over the world employing more than 19,000 people. We were also making around 3,000 machines a year in 1964 and today we manufacture well over 100,000 every year.

“JCB’s success is very much down to the whole team around the world and, while it’s nice to reflect on the achievements of the past, my focus is very much on what our team can achieve in the future.”

JCB CEO Graeme Macdonald added, “The whole JCB team sends its congratulations to Lord Bamford on what is a momentous milestone. Such an achievement is unprecedented at JCB and almost certainly unmatched in British industry. Lord Bamford’s contribution to JCB and the business world over the past 60 years has been truly remarkable.”