JCB Machinery news and articles

AUSTRALIAN FARMER OF THE YEAR CHOOSES INNOVATIVE JCB TELEHANDLERS

Friday, January 20, 2017

The incredible versatility of JCB’s telehandlers has made them the perfect choice for one of Australia’s leading farming families, who put the machines to work across every aspect of their sugar cane processing plant.

Rocky Point Mulching is Australia’s only family-owned and operated sugar cane farm and mulch processing plant. The owners are the Keith family, who recently took out the Australian Farmer of the Year title last year.

The business has always been owned and operated by the Keith Family, and today 13 members of the family work full-time within their operations. They have an annual turnover of $30 million, and earlier 2016, they launched a new division called Rocky Point Recycling, where they turn waste timbers into garden mulches to ultimately reduce landfill.

Josh Keith is Rocky Point Mulching’s Operations Manager. He says the seven JCB telehandlers the business owns are always hard at work and are used across all divisions.

“We’ve been purchasing JCB machinery for the past 10 years and we haven’t looked back as they are so versatile. We use them for picking up the large square bales of the mulch, site maintenance and cleaning, and also general duties around the operations.

“JCB is the only brand of telehandler we buy as they are productive, efficient and help us maximise uptime.”

Josh says that what impressed him the most about the telehandlers is their versatility and their high tech features.

“We especially find the engine upgrades with the speed cooling fan and transmission electronics most helpful, as well as the boom dampening which all add at the end of the day to our operators comfort and machine efficiency,” he says.

“The engine speed cooling fan is great in the hot and humid Queensland temperatures, as it reacts to changing temperatures, which maximises our fuel efficiency.

“The all-round visibility with tinted glass is another plus as well,” Josh says.

Josh also says the service and support they receive from JCB exceeds their expectations.

“Most of the time it feels like the JCB team is working only for us, which is great. They are always helpful when it comes to service questions, maintenance or when we are looking to upgrade.”

Josh says he is now looking at adding a JCB skid steer to the fleet, to help with the general duties around the operations.

“JCB’s constant product improvements make purchasing a JCB an exciting time, and we try to add a new machine at least every 12 months to keep the fleet up to date with their technology changes.”

Josh says, “They are so versatile that we are always using them for something, it’s hard to find a spare JCB here!”

For more information on telehandlers please contact your local dealer on 1300 522 232.

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