JCB lines up new waste range for ‘one-stop’ shop

JCB's long tradition of combining engineering innovation with the ability to get its message over in the marketplace, established by the world-wide group's founder, the incomparable Joe Bamford, some sixty years ago, has entered another chapter with the launch of the company's latest range of Wastemaster materials handlers, custom built for the waste and recycling industries.


LAWE Editor Alexander Catto talked to Ken Bainbridge, UK & European Director, Demolition & Waste Recycling, about JCB’s leading role in the waste handling sector and discusses significant trends in this developing market.

JCB’s new purpose built fleet should go a long way towards confirming the Rocester-based materials handling manufacturer in its leading role in supplying the UK waste and recycling industry.

The latest line-up under the brand, examples of which be will be on show and in action at the RWM 2005 Exhibition at the NEC this month, includes a brand new JCB 456 Wastemaster, a brand new JZ 140 Wastemaster, the JS200W Wastemaster, the JCB 436 Wastemaster, the TM300 Wastemaster, the 540-70 Loadall Wastemaster, the TLT 35D Wastemaster and the 722 ADT Wastemaster.

The man responsible for ensuring the continuing success of this JCB brand is Ken Bainbridge, appointed earlier this year to the new post of UK & European Director, Demolition & Waste Recycling.

Explaining his remit in this new role to LAWE, Ken Bainbridge, who told visitors from the sector at JCB’s Waste & Recycling event earlier this year that the company is supplying a “fast and growing” market, said: “We have had a focus on the waste and recycling markets particularly in the UK for some years. We know ourselves from independent research to be the leading supplier of mobile plant to the waste and recycling industry and my role is to strengthen that position and maintain JCB’s leadership of the market in whatever way that may mean, in distribution development, in promotional activity, in product development and focus on an industry that we believe has some growth yet to come.”

He said that the sector had grown substantially over the past three or four years, and although research shows that the market was rather flat during this year, it was expected to continue growth through 2006 and 2007.

Mr Bainbridge pointed out the market clearly had grown in the UK, which was a relatively small recycler, ranking pretty low in the league table of Europe as a percentage of municipal waste that is recycled.

He said that the UK “is clearly going to invest heavily in waste transfer stations and general recycling projects and we expect to increase our business accordingly.”

Developing the range

Turning to the development of the Wastemaster brand, JCB’s waste and recycling director said: “We have invested heavily in broadening the range of products for the waste industry having had for many years a loading shovel that was branded the Wastemaster. We have extended and developed that product. We have now introduced a Wastemaster variant to our telescopic handler range, and a Wastemaster to both our tracked and wheeled excavators, including materials handling and scrap handling rigs on the excavators. We now have a Wastemaster spec of our articulated dumptruck for both carrying landfill cover and for carrying demountable bodies with a hooklift system. We’ve got a Wastemaster specification to our Teletruk, which is particularly useful in many scrap handling and end of life vehicle applications.”

According to Mr Bainbridge, the eight model line up of Wastemaster products was “the broadest range of mobile plant available from one manufacturer. We want to be a one-stop shop – we are a one-stop shop to many local authorities and private recycling businesses. And you will see more products, more attachments, and more focus as time goes by.”

Designed for waste

“Our strength,” he added, “particularly in the UK, but generally in Europe, is that we are able to take a product that is designed specifically for construction and adapt it for waste. So when we talk about a Wastemaster, we don’t talk about a label on the side of a machine, we talk about pressurised cabs, recycling reversible fans, wide core radiators, underbelly protection, and hydraulic raised cabs. And this we can do because of the type of business JCB is. We can do this by listening to the customer, responding to his needs in the sector and producing the product that he wants in a relatively short period of time. We are flexible enough to produce a machine bespoke to the industry.”

Discussing the key role that attachments play in the waste handling and recycling industry, Ken Bainbridge said: “We have our own attachments division, so we develop our own range of the more popular attachments that we design and manufacture and supply ourselves. That’s a broad range of buckets and, in the recycling industry, loader buckets with clamps is probably the most popular front end attachment.”

JCB also has very close relationships with the attachment suppliers.

There is also a new role for the six wheel drive JCB artics that can operate on landfill.

Mr Bainbridge reported: “We have sold some machines that can also do the job using the basis of the 722 articulated dumptruck but with a specially adapted chassis and a hooklift system for carrying demountable skips and containers from the transfer site to landfill. With very low ground pressure it is ideal for working on the landfill site. With all the underbelly protection, the protection for the brake pipes and protection for the discs, protection for the operator in this air conditioned cab, it’s not just an off the shelf truck – with a specialist hooklift system you then have a machine that’s ideal for waste transfer.”

ELV handling role

Ken Bainbridge said that motor vehicle handling attachments demonstrated at this year’s Waste Days illustrated the company’s focus and determination to supply a growing sector with what it needed. He commented: “End of Life Vehicles is a rather exciting and significant bit of legislation.”

Elaborating on that role, he said: “We have started as a base with a traditional wheeled and tracked excavator and we have now developed our own design and built materials handling rig and scrap rig on the JS200W and the JS200 tracked. But it could be fitted to other models if the customer wanted it. We think the most popular model will be on our 20 tonne tracked and wheeled machines. We would supply that for metals recycling and we would particularly supply Teletruks and compact Loadalls for handling cars as part of the End of Life Vehicles process.”

He also explained: “We are linking demolition with waste and recycling because the demolition industry is actually one of the most successful recyclers.

“Demolition is thought to recycle 70% of its waste and much of it is done on site for the good of the environment and indeed the customer. There is a commercial opportunity associated with crushing your own demolished building and then using the material or selling the material.”

On plant hire he said: “I believe that the recycling industry will see a place for contract rental, as the quarrying industry has moved towards third party providers of plant, on a contract of perhaps two, three five years. I think recycling is showing signs of moving the same way. But it will be done through specialists.”

In dealing with different aspects of the market JCB works closely with trade associations and is a member of several, including the Composting Association, the Motor Vehicles Dismantlers Association and the NFDC. Mr Bainbridge says: “We are members because we do see that JCB is a supplier but we try to be a partner to the industry and understand what it needs from a supplier of plant. And we encourage our distributors to do the same.

“We really do take very seriously being part of the industry, which is why we invite trade associations to have their meetings at JCB.”

Distributor network

JCB uses its established distribution network for the waste and recycling market.

Ken Bainbridge said that JCB’s distributors represented an “enormous strength.”

“We have 46 distributor depots throughout the UK. We have 300 factory trained service engineers. We use that to support the products that we sell into the waste and recycling industry. To ensure that we understand the industry well not only does JCB have specialists, but our distributors do as well. Each distributor has specialist business development staffs who focus exclusively on waste and recycling.”

He added: “The waste industry is a production process more than the construction industry. Machines work long hours often continuously over two or three shifts, so downtime is critical.”

On the European dimension he said: “We been leading the game in the UK for many years but there are opportunities throughout Europe.

“It’s dead simple. The growth in the UK is stimulated by Britain’s need to meet the targets set by the European Union. We now have got 25 member countries of the European Union all under pressure to achieve similar targets, all needing to invest, all at different stages of their development I would add. All of these countries are challenged to achieve increases in their recycling performance, particularly the likes of Portugal and Spain, the UK, Italy, Ireland and Greece who are particularly low down in the league. Clearly the investment will be required at a local level to bring them up to the same European standards.”In the longer term he also saw opportunities world-wide.

Health and safety features

Discussing operator comfort and health and safety, which are key issues in the waste field, in the light of the drive by HSE to improve a poor record in the waste and recycling industry, revealed by last year’s Bomel report, Mr Bainbridge said: “The waste and recycling industry has a mountain to climb.”

He added that it was the company’s experience that this was one of the reasons why customers specified equipment that met h&s requirements.

He cited the h&s features that JCB offered on a typical machine sold to the waste industry. These included, for protecting the operator, an air conditioned, pressurised cab, a carbon filter to keep the “nasties” out of the cab, ROPS and FOPs cab, but also screen guards on the front and roof guards on top.

Ken Bainbridge said: “The operator himself is in a safe and comfortable environment, and he has got his air suspension seat, but, as for the safety of

the people around him, he’s got exceptionally good levels of visibility, additional mirrors as approved by us, and rear view CCTV. It can be specified on any kit.”

Dealing with hazards posed to people wandering around waste sites, he explained: “It’s one of the reasons why our Wastemaster range includes the JZ140 because it’s a zero tailswing machine. We’ve developed this machine for the waste industry which

makes it much safer for the bystanders.

We take health and safety acutely seriously.” JCB also practices what it preaches on

the recycling front, designing its own products so that they are environmentally safe and recyclable.

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