JCB Makes a Change at the Top: Founder's Grandson George Bamford Named Co-Chairman

JCB has named George Bamford as joint chairman, alongside his father, Lord Anthony Bamford, marking the company’s first change at the top in more than 50 years.

The announcement comes on the heels of a $134 million upgrade at the company’s U.K. headquarters and a new $1 billion factory in Texas.

JCB has been chaired by Lord Anthony Bamford since 1975 after he took over for his father and company founder Joseph Bamford. Since its founding in 1945, JCB has grown to become one of Britain’s largest privately owned manufacturers, with 23 factories and more than 20,000 employees worldwide.

The company reported “resilient performance” in 2025, despite mixed geopolitical tensions, flat demand in North America and a market contraction in India. Sales turnover totaled $7.64 billion, profit before tax was $860.2 million, and machine sales reached 113,498 units, while the business remained debt-free with no net borrowings, JCB said.

The manufacturer ranks 10th in new financed sales in the U.S., according to Fusable’s EDA data, with 2,181 machines sold from July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2026. Top models include the 3TS-8T teleskid, 270T teleskid and 35Z-1 mini excavator. (Equipment World and EDA are owned by Fusable.)

[Watch: Review of JCB’s Largest “Teleskid” – A CTL with Telescopic Mono-Boom]

Growth on Both Sides of the Atlantic

While JCB originally announced a $500 million, 500,000-square-foot factory in Texas in June 2024, increased tariffs in 2025 pushed the company to double the size and the investment to $1 billion and 1 million square feet. The factory, which opens next month, will be JCB’s largest factory in the world. It will build Loadall telescopic handlers and aerial access equipment for North America and employ approximately 1,500 people.

The company’s North America headquarters is currently in Savannah, Georgia, where it has been for 25 years and employs about 1,000 people. That 500,000-square-foot facility makes skid steer loaders, compact track loaders and Teleskids. It also builds the High Mobility Engineer Excavator and Light Capability Rough Terrain Forklift for the U.S. military and other NATO-aligned forces.

The manufacturer is also pumping $134 million into the transformation of its Staffordshire headquarters, the company’s home since 1950.

Updates include an $80.4 million fully automated powder-paint plant and a modernized shop floor, employing more than 8,000 workers.

Hydrogen-Powered Future

Beyond operations, JCB is also investing in future technologies. Hydrogen-powered machines are now in production following JCB’s $134 million program to develop hydrogen combustion technology.

JCB says it is the first construction equipment company in the world to bring a fully approved hydrogen-fueled combustion engine to market. The engine was approved for sale in Europe in 2025, following a landmark ruling from 11 licensing authorities across the continent. 

Last month, two of those engines powered JCB into the record books at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. The JCB Hydromax hit a top speed of 406 mph to become the fastest ever hydrogen-powered vehicle — more than doubling the previous hydrogen combustion record and beating JCB’s own Dieselmax diesel record, set 20 years earlier.

Over the past several, JCB has debuted several hydrogen-powered machine prototypes, including a backhoe loader, a Loadall telescopic handler and a 220X excavator, as well as a mobile refueler for the hydrogen-powered machines.

Commenting on the transition, JCB Chairman Lord Bamford said: “Last year JCB celebrated its 80th birthday and, as we look ahead, we are investing heavily in the future of the business — from the transformation of our Staffordshire headquarters and pioneering hydrogen technology, to our new factory in Texas. As part of that next chapter, I’m delighted that my son George will become joint chairman of JCB. We have never been a company that stands still, and these investments will ensure JCB is well placed to seize the opportunities ahead.”

George Bamford added: "From the day my grandfather founded JCB in 1945, innovation and investment in Great Britain has been at the heart of everything we do. JCB Hydromax showed the world what British engineering can achieve. That same spirit is in every machine we build. While JCB has expanded globally over the years, our home has always been here, and the record investment we are making in our facilities and in new products is good news for Britain and good news for JCB."