JCB: inside and out
“Every opportunity is a step to success!” Under this slogan, JCB, the global leader in the manufacture of telescopic loaders, held a practical on-field seminar for its dealers from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan at the facilities of the Belgorod branch of AgroCentreLiski. Here the dealers could study the machines at full length.
The range of telescopic and front-end loaders, from mini to maxi types, included both well known and new models. Following a theoretical briefing, the company specialists got down directly to practice. The trainees fully tested all the loaders' capabilities, not omitting a single model. Sure enough, they set their sights on the new products.
The audience's sympathy prize went to the new wheeled and tracked mini-loaders PowerBoom 225 and 225T that looked rather like toys. The unique PowerBoom design employs a single bar jib instead of the normal double bar type. The single jib design impedes the operator's all-round observation capability less, thereby increasing the system’s efficiency and on-site security. The safe operation of mini-loaders is assured by the lateral exit and by the door size, which has been increased by a factor of 2.5. The concealed emergency exit is conveniently located in the windshield.
“The future of the JCB PowerBoom 225T mini-loader is very promising”, said Vladislav Zhukov, sales manager of the Orel branch of AgroCentreLiski. “This is a real transformer doing an excellent job under direction of the operator. The smooth performance of caterpillars, remarkable compactness, and excellent visibility will make these machines bestsellers in Russian agriculture”.
Yevgeny Ankudinov, head of the Orel branch of AgroCentreLiski, fell for the new Loadall 550-80 Agri Plus. This telescopic loader, the strongest among its counterparts, can lift up to 5 tonnes to a height of 8 metres. JCB specialists worked on the creation of this machine for 18 months. The telescopic loader is powered by the JCB DIESELMAX 145 hp engine. The Powershift transmission enables the machine to move at a speed of up to 40 km/h. An unprecedented pull force of 6.5 t is assured by the solid Z-shaped carriage drive. In order to stabilise the machine under such loads, the designers made its chassis from 25 mm thick steel.
“This ‘weightlifter’ is ideal for large farms”, says Yevgeny Ankudinov. “It copes quite well with all the tasks assigned to it. Starting this year, AgroCentre will supply the new machine to Russian farmers.”
An updated loader, JCB 527-58 Agri, known to Russian farmers as a super-manoeuvrable and multiple-use machine for jobs on small stockbreeding farms, was a major focus of interest. The JCB specialists improved this model for work on poultry farms by adding options expressly developed for the Russian and CIS markets. Those include blue headlights that do not disturb the birds and reduce their stress, heated mirrors, 2,000 mm forks for removing bird cages, and a large bucket, 1.6 cubic metres, for loading and unloading grain, bird fodder and bird droppings.
The JCB specialists also spoke about the company's new software, Live Link. It fully controls the telescopic loaders, i.e. determines their location and output, and it also computes fuel consumption and operating and idle time.
“The training ought to focus on practical sessions at which the trainees can test the equipment in operation, learn its operating principles and compare the JCB models against the rivals”, says Semyon Kostin, business adviser on JCB agricultural equipment for Russia and the CIS. “It's only then that the sellers will be able to recommend correctly a specific model to farmers with due regard to the specifics of their business”.