JCB celebrates supply deal with Briggs in Cannock
A cross-Staffordshire deal has seen JCB celebrating one of the first orders for its new access equipment division.
Cannock-based Briggs Equipment, which sells and hires out fork lift trucks and materials handling equipment, has snapped up 10 JCB scissor lifts including one model that can lift 320 kilos 10 metres in height.
Briggs has invested more than £9.5m so far this year on expanding its fleet of short term hire equipment and will be doubling the number of access platforms, including scissor lifts, to 200 machines.
The deal is an important once for JCB, which has been developing and engineering a line-up of powered access machines in secret for the past two years. By the end of 2017 the newly-launched JCB Access business will be offering a total of 27 new platforms.
Briggs Equipment’s national rental manager Allan Parsons said: “From building contractors and heating engineers to commercial window cleaners and security installers, more and more businesses are engaged in day to day tasks that involve working at height.
“JCB has a deserved reputation for well-engineered products that are built to cope with the toughest challenges, so we had no hesitation in adding its new electric scissor lifts to our equipment fleet.
Briggs Equipment has been a long-standing customer of dealer Gunn JCB and the company currently runs more than 80 JCB machines on its fleet, ranging from forklifts and telescopic handlers to the new aerial work platforms.
JCB’s move into the powered access market is designed to grab a slice of a market where 130,000 units a year are sold – generating an annual revenue of $8 billion. Powered access platforms are a common sight around the world where temporary access is needed for people to work at height, particularly on construction sites. The new JCB Access products - designed in-house to meet the needs of rental companies and contractors worldwide - will initially be offered in the UK, France, Germany and North America.
By the end of 2017 JCB’s range of access platforms will include nine electric and three diesel scissor lifts from which can lift to 45 feet, five articulating booms which can go to a height of 81 feet and 10 diesel telescopic booms which can go to 136 feet.
