JLG Industries is ramping up production of telehandler, boom lift, and scissor lift product lines.
The company is adding a new 60,000-sq.-ft. factory in Jefferson City, Tennessee, and adding new production lines at its factories in Bedford and McConnellsburg, Pennsylvania, and plant in Leon, Mexico.
"We have been pursuing a number of initiatives to establish a more agile and stable business model to support long-term, sustainable growth," said Frank Nerenhausen, executive vice president, Oshkosh Corporation, and president, JLG Industries. "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."
Nerenhausen says JLG is also looking at optimizing digital twins during product designing and engineering, regionalizing supply chains, and incorporating additive manufacturing. He also says that adding autonomous and semi-autonomous manufacturing solutions will help the company’s five-generation workforce and reduce the load gap caused by labor shortages.
A record order backlog of $3.6 billion, combined with unprecedented inflationary pressures, labor 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 optimize 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."
Digitization has enabled automation and machine learning from the earliest design stages through the manufacturing and field use of products. JLG foresees that customers will eventually be able to track a machine from its being ordered through the end of its lifecycle, enabling a greater depth of insight into each unit's true use and ROI.
"We are driven to provide the most holistic and transparent customer experience possible to enhance customer satisfaction and improve the value stream of JLG products well into the future," concludes Nerenhausen.
JLG's new Tennessee facility and the additional manufacturing lines in Pennsylvania and Mexico are operational and ramping up to full capacity.
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