'Staying competitive through continuous evaluation.'

Van Leeuwen United Kingdom and JCB
JCB is a family business and one of the world’s top three manufacturers of construction equipment. The company has 22 factories, ten of which are in the United Kingdom. Other locations are in India, Brazil, the United States and China. JCB employs around 15,000 people, including 7,500 in its British factories. The company, founded in 1945, produces more than 350 different machines for the construction, agricultural and industrial markets. The company is a market leader in backhoeloader combinations and telescopic handlers. Van Leeuwen has been supplying custom cut chrome-plated bars and hydraulic cylinder pipes to JCB since 2006. At the end of last year, JCB ordered significantly more custom cut hot rolled seamless pipes for its Backhoe Loader Division. David Blakey, Business Manager Industry Van Leeuwen United Kingdom: ‘Kirstie Hampshire and Mark Bellamy manage JCB’s needs from our office in Sheffield. The required products are accumulated at our main warehouse in Middlesbrough on an almost daily basis. Van Leeuwen is able to meet JCB’s demand by working closely together with our suppliers in Europe and our own internal logistics team. We stay competitive by constantly evaluating our operating methods and by achieving cost reductions. We achieved a recent cost reduction by implementing an efficiency improvement in the way in which we process the materials. We are currently investigating how to achieve savings by adopting a smarter material packaging method.’