JLG Industries has announced an expansion of its manufacturing footprint into Jefferson City, Tennessee. 

A new 60,000 sqft. (5,600 sqm) space, which is being leased from the Oshkosh Defense segment, along with the addition of new lines at the company’s Bedford and McConnellsburg, Pennsylvania plants and its Leon, Mexico manufacturing facility, will support the increased production of boom lifts and scissor lifts, as well as JLG and SkyTrak telehandlers.  

“We have been pursuing a number of initiatives to establish a more agile and stable business model to support long-term, sustainable growth,” says JLG Industries president Frank Nerenhausen. “The investment in additional manufacturing space and technology-rich manufacturing lines is indicative of our commitment to supporting customer needs in today’s dynamic marketplace.

“JLG is leaning in, looking at everything from how to optimise digital twins during the design/engineering process, to regionalising supply chains, to additive manufacturing, to the autonomous and semi-autonomous solutions required to assist a now five-generation workforce and reduce the load/gap caused by labor shortages,” adds Nerenhausen. 

Heading into 2022 with a record USD3.6 billion in backlog, combined with unprecedented inflationary pressures, labour constraints and supply chain disruptions, required JLG to think differently about its manufacturing facilities and processes. 

“Expanding and integrating new state-of-the-art technologies into our plants will allow us to optimise operational capacity to better absorb peaks in demand, while improving worker safety and flow management,” Nerenhausen continues. “We are investing in the connected and autonomous solutions that will make it easier to do business with us.” 

JLG’s new Tennessee facility and the additional manufacturing lines in Pennsylvania and Mexico are already operational and in the process of ramping up to full capacity.