(L-R) JCB UK and Ireland sales director Yvette Henshall-Bell; Jo Bamford JCB Compact Products MD; A-Plant procurement director Andrew Winlow and Tom Greenshields, Greenshields JCB Group aftermarket director.

JCB has secured one of its biggest deals this year after UK firm A-Plant ordered 550 machines worth GBP16 million (USD25 million), and promised future orders.

The deal is part of a phased investment program, with the plant hirer buying 1,089 JCB machines in the last nine months. The latest order includes more than 400 mini and midi excavators and 50 JCB 8085 eco midi excavators, Loadall telehandlers and rough-terrain forklifts. Dealer Greenshields JCB will supply the machines.

JCB UK and Ireland sales director Yvette Henshall-Bell says the deal is a testament to the JCB machines' quality and shows market confidence."We are delighted to have won this business, which cements a relationship going back [several] years."

A-Plant is part of the Ashtead Group, one of the world's biggest equipment hire firms with extensive UK and USA operations. Ashtead's USA operation, Sunbelt, has also ordered 494 machines, including nearly 400 Loadall telehandlers and more than 40 tracked excavators, backhoe loaders, Vibromax compaction equipment and rough-terrain forklifts. The A-Plant and Ashtead deals are worth GBP36 million (USD56 million).

JCB will manufacture most of the A-Plant and Sunbelt machines at its world headquarters in Rocester, Staffordshire; JCB Compact Products, Cheadle, Staffordshire; JCB Utility Products, Cheadle; and JCB Heavy Products, Uttoxeter. JCB Vibromax, in Gatersleben, Germany, will make the 19 compaction machines Sunbelt ordered.

A-Plant procurement director Andrew Winlow says the order "reflects the strength of our relationship and our positive outlook towards future market growth, which will see us add further JCB models to our fleet".

A-Plant is one of the UK's largest plant, tool and equipment hire companies, hiring out a range of equipment for industry and construction. Its hire fleet comprises more than 110,000 plant, tool and equipment items and the company invests a "multi-million pound" figure annually in new equipment and state-of-the-art technology.

The Derby Evening Telegraph reports JCB plans to hire more than 300 agency workers in Derbyshire and Staffordshire, and about 40 at its Wrexham plant, to cope with rising overseas demand.

JCB needs welders, machinists, paint sprayers, fabricators, assemblers and forklift drivers. The firm is also recruiting 100 engineers across the group.

The report quotes the company saying in the past six months 180 agency staff working at JCB have been offered permanent positions.