JCB employees celebrate the company's one millionth machine milestone.

JCB employees have marked production of the company's one millionth machine - enough diggers to stretch from the UK to Australia - with colourful celebrations.

The entire glass frontage of the company's world headquarters at Rocester, Staffordshire, UK, was encased in a graphic wrap to commemorate the achievement. The picture covers more than 900 sqm (9,688 sqft.). A section of the print covered 207 separate windows.

Behind the glass in the reception area is the one millionth machine, a 22 tonne JS220 tracked excavator. JCB chair Sir Anthony Bamford says it took the company more than 67 years to produce the milestone machine.

"Incredibly, one third of those machines have been produced in the last six years," he says. "Reaching the million milestone is the result of a huge effort by the JCB team past and present and it's an achievement everyone can be justifiably proud of."

He expects JCB's two millionth machine to be produced in considerably less time "given [JCB's] continuing growth".

More than 2,500 JCB dealers and customers will join the celebrations in the next four weeks as the company embarks on the next phase of its global growth program by staging the largest product conference in its history. The Staffordshire event is showcasing all the latest machines in JCB's construction, agricultural and industrial ranges.

JCB CEO Alan Blake says unveiling the company's latest product innovations at the global dealer and customer conference will be "a key driver" for its future growth.

During the conference JCB will demonstrate more than 100 machines and present technical details on their features and benefits. A total of 4,700 hotel room nights has been booked for delegates.