On Wednesday, April 19, the BLSS faculty students on the International MBA course had the opportunity to visit the headquarters of JCB based in Staffordshire. It was a day trip which was an hour by coach from the Curzon Building. 42 students along with three staff reached the company site at noon and we were immediately welcomed with custom-made BCU VIP tour IDs and some delicious lunch. We thoroughly enjoyed the hospitality of the JCB staff and we appreciate the quality of food as all of the ingredients are from the Daylesford Organic farms. They also catered for vegetarian options.
After our lunch at the JCB canteen, we were divided into five small groups and each group was led by a JCB staff Tour Guide (some of them have been working at JCB for more than 40 years!). All students were given safety vests, glasses and wired headphones as the Tour Guides talked us through the tour.
There were two parts of the tour which kicked off with an introductory video about the rules and regulations for Health and Safety for the visit.
During the first half of the tour at the JCB Story, we got to travel back in time and experience how the company was set up, and where and how the origination happened. We got to see the innovative mindset of Lord Joseph Cyril Bamford on display and how he came up with new futuristic designs. The rich history was inspiring and well documented in the museum. Hats off to our energetic and lovely Tour Guides for making it interesting and fun.
In the second part of the tour, students got to see the manufacturing, operations, and supply chain management of the company. It was surreal as it was the first time we got to see such a renowned British manufacturing company producing at a massive level and yet it was so well structured and systemised. Our group witnessed the step-by-step manufacturing of the famous “Digger” from moulding to assembly and finishing with a quality check. There are integrations of Robotic and manual operations throughout the complicated processes, with most of their parts and assemblies produced in the house with their engineers and operators. Many thanks to our experienced tour guides for providing a lot more detailed understanding and sharing their knowledge and experience throughout different stages of the processes. They even have their on-site medical centre and dentists to take care of their employees.
The JCB visit was a phenomenal opportunity for the International MBA students to get an in-person experience for applying what we have learnt from the course to the application of theoretical knowledge. This visit was very insightful because everything we witnessed directly aligned with the Global Operations Management and Strategic HRM modules in the International MBA course. JCB being one of the most famous family businesses in the UK which produces and sells their machines around the world, the scale of production and operation was celestial, and we had an enthralling opportunity to tour through it.
We would like to thank our course leaders Jenny, Ashikul and Rob for organising this wonderful experience for us.
Authors: IMBA Student Representatives, Syed Abraar Nawaz, Malhar Bhojane, and Course Leader Dr Juanling (Jenny) Huang
