JCB’s Joe helps NHS

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JCB’s Joe helps NHS: JCB and a team of volunteer employees have set up mini production lines to come to the aid of the nation’s NHS heroes in need of personal protective equipment.

Principal Electronics Engineer and father-of-two James Morley – who is normally based at JCB’s World HQ in Rocester – has converted the garage at his Derbyshire home to produce vital supplies.

JCB's Joe helps NHS

JCB’s Joe helps NHS

And inspired by his efforts, JCB has re-opened its Innovation Centre at the World HQ so colleagues and Tooling and Moulding Engineers Joe Mumby, 22, and Joe Bagley, 25, of Ashby de-la-Zouch can also volunteer and have free use of the company’s 3D rapid prototype machines to help produce medical grade visors for NHS staff. The World HQ and JCB’s other UK manufacturing plants fell silent last month as a result of the disruption caused by the Coronavirus and the vast majority of employees furloughed.

For Joe Mumby, of Hilton, Derbyshire, volunteering to produce the vital NHS kit has also taken on a poignant significance as he and his family come to terms with the death of his father’s cousin from Coronavirus in the past few days.

Joe said: “Helping with the production of visors is the least I could do as this is a very testing time for everyone, including my own family. It’s  fantastic that JCB has given us the opportunity to give something back to those who are the front line of the virus in what must be a very scary time for them.”

So far, the volunteer production line set up at JCB has produced 50 visors for distribution to surgeries in the Rocester and Uttoxeter area with the help of material donated by the JCB Academy.
With the visor material now exhausted, Joe and Joe are concentrating their efforts on producing hundreds of head bands required for the visors before despatching them to a Warwickshire company for final assembly.

Meanwhile James Morley, 43, who was the original inspiration for the project, has transformed his rapid prototyping machine in the garage of his home in Belper, near Derby from making toys for children Alice, eight and Joshua, five, to producing NHS kit.

Having made 20 visors, he is now diversifying his domestic production line to make components, which convert snorkelling masks for use with hospital ventilators. He is also rapid prototyping so-called ‘superhero nurse’ headbands which make face masks more comfortable for medical staff to wear as they fit on the back of the head rather than on to the back of ears.

James says he has been touched by the generosity of people during his voluntary work – including the donation of half a kilometre of plastic for his project from one well-wisher.

He said: “While browsing social media on the state of the Covid-19 situation, I was aware that there was a huge shortage of medical grade personal protective equipment for our NHS and other healthcare communities around the UK. It made me dust off my 3D printer and help contribute to the fight against Covid-19 and support our heroic NHS.

“I am glad I can help out and make use of my printer during this national crisis and keep myself active with volunteers during the furlough period. It is amazing what support there is out there and how much people would like to help.”

JCB Chief Innovation Officer Tim Burnhope said: “JCB is delighted to be able to play a role in helping provide the fantastic NHS with protective equipment. The volunteer employees who are part of this amazing effort are also to be commended for stepping up at this time of national crisis.”

3D printers take Computer Aided Design data and build it into a 3D object using very fine layers of melted plastic. The plastic is heated up to around 210°C and then extruded on to a flat metal plate, that is also heated up to around 60°C. Over the next few hours, the printer will finish the object before it is simply peeled off the flat plate and used.

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Look for the Standard

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Look for the Standard: Following its launch, the Amenity Standard is receiving widespread and enthusiastic support from all sides of the amenity sector and is already being incorporated into tender documents and specifications going forward.

The Amenity Standard, when held and displayed, demonstrates that all operational activities undertaken are at the highest professional standards and fully comply with all regulations, code of practice and good practice guidance.

Look for the Standard

Look for the Standard

The key reason for introducing this UK wide standard is to provide assurance to the public and all users of an amenity space. Displaying and holding the Standard means that the organisation and individuals undertaking the operations are members of an approved assurance scheme. The assurance scheme is audited fully before being recognised by the Amenity Standard. Holding the Standard demonstrates that all the work undertaken is of the highest professional level and meets all legislative requirements and fully follows the code of practice and good practice guidance.

Currently not all aspects of amenity management have assurance schemes recognised but work is on going to ensure this will be the case very soon. Seeking out the Standard provides reassurance on quality standards and confidence that the essential work being done is at a professional level with safety as a key objective.

Professor John Moverley, Independent Chairman of the Amenity Forum said ‘’Our aim is to ensure that all involved in amenity management operations meets the requirements of the Standard and we wish for all involved to look for The Standard and its logo to provide full assurance of the quality of operations and commitment to best practice. As I often say, what happens in amenity management impacts upon every UK citizen every day and the introduction of the Standard provides assurance to the public of adherence to requirements to provide safe, healthy amenity areas fit for purpose.

We are delighted with the way those involved have welcomed the Standard and it has strong support from all national governments in the UK. Integrated approaches are core to this, making use of all methods available to achieve optimum results’’

Alan Abel from Complete Weed Control, said ‘’We are proud to hold the Amenity Standard and show our commitment to best practice, integrated approaches and meeting all requirements. We urge all seeking to employ operators to ensure the organisation involved meets the Standard requirements and is a full supporter of the Amenity Forum.  The Amenity Standard is designed to give assurance to all who use such facilities that operations are carried out to the highest professional levels of best practice giving assurances equivalent to seeing the Red Tractor when buying food’’

For further information about the Standard, visit the website, www.theamenitystandard.co.uk . Public facing information on what happens in amenity management and how it is done can be found at www.getbritainmoving.uk

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Hayter restores vintage Harrier

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Hayter restores vintage Harrier: As part of the 50th anniversary celebrations of the Hayter® Harrier® range of lawnmowers, Darren Hummersone along with members of the Hayter team, worked to restore a vintage 1970’s Harrier model.

Forming part of the yearlong celebration of the Harrier’s golden anniversary, the search began at Hayter to source a vintage Harrier, to be set alongside the current models. The team eventually found a 1970’s model available for purchase online and went about ordering the mower.

Hayter restores vintage Harrier

Hayter restores vintage Harrier

When the team received the Harrier from its previous owner it was in good working order, but work was needed to bring it back to its original appearance – the work was superficial as the mower itself still functioned. Darren Hummersone, Grounds & Golf Product Specialist at Reesink UK Ltd., a distributor for Toro products, was primarily in charge of the mower restoration.

As the red and green colours on the classic Harrier had faded over time, Darren had to colour match the paint, and repaint all of the parts of the mower. This involved disassembling the entire mower, cleaning all of the individual parts, repainting them, and reassembling the mower. Some of the original labels and smaller components also had to be replaced as, due to the age of the machine, not everything had lasted or had been lost over the years. Some parts were also shot blasted in the Hayter factory to enable them to be painted again.

Darren Hummersone said: “It was a real treat working on the 1970’s Harrier and to restore it to its former glory was a privilege. The mower itself worked well when we managed to get hold of it, so the process of restoring it wasn’t too complex – I mainly had to repaint the machine to get it looking as good as it used to.

“The Harrier range of mowers has always been a hugely popular and prestigious product range and one that has always enhanced the British gardening experience. I am really proud to have been able to help with celebrating the Harrier’s 50th anniversary.”

For more information please visit www.hayter.co.uk.

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ICL Coronavirus service statement

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ICL Coronavirus service statement: As the coronavirus situation continues to develop, we thought it important to inform you about how ICL Turf & Landscape in the UK & Ireland has adapted over the past few days and how we are currently operating.

We are still open for essential business. We are following and adhering to orders, guidelines and procedures issued and published by relevant regulatory authorities and we have adopted appropriate steps and measures within our facilities to minimize the risk of coronavirus.

ICL Coronavirus service statement

ICL Coronavirus service statement

  • All non-essential business travel, including face to face meetings can no longer take place – until further notice
  • Our technical and sales team are working full time and can be reached by telephone, email or video call (Microsoft Teams or Zoom)
  • Our office teams are now working from home to support all customer order processing and accounts
  • Drivers and our warehouse staff are applying stringent safety measures including strict social distancing guidelines and contactless procedures
  • We are stringently reviewing key raw materials and packaging inputs to anticipate any issues affecting manufacturing or supply of product

Our websites www.icl-sf.co.uk and www.icl-sf.ie provide information on all our products.

There is no doubt that these are challenging, unprecedented and uncertain times for everyone.

However please be assured that we are working hard with our partners to ensure that we provide the best possible service to help and support you through this.

Customer Services:

Call  01473 237123 or email prof.sales@icl-group.com

Sales & Technical Contacts:

Ireland – Colman Warde, 00353 8777 99527, colman.warde@icl-group.com

Scotland – Jamie Lees, 07500 992464, Jamie.lees@icl-group.com

North/East – Craig Lalley, 07824 528252, craig.lalley@icl-group.com

Midlands/West – Emma Kilby, 07748 111965, emma.kilby@icl-group.com

South East/ East London – Andrew Pledger, 07387 056659, Andrew.pledger@icl-group.com

South/London/Channel Islands – Darren Hatcher, 07787 697684, darren.hatcher@icl-group.com

South West/ West London – Nick Martin, 07900 666691, nick.martin@icl-group.com

North West – Phil Collinson, 07824, 473699, phil.collinson@icl-group.com

South Central – Matt Nutter, 07810 656240, matthew.nutter@icl-group.com

Landscape & Industrial, UK & Ireland – Barry Browne, 07552 269138, barry.browne@icl-group.com

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Stage V M-Series arrive in UK

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Stage V M-Series arrive in UK: Boarcross Ltd, based in Driffield in East Yorkshire, has taken delivery of the first of the new Bobcat Stage V M-Series skid-steer loaders coming to the UK.

The new S450 loader was supplied by AMS Bobcat Limited, the Authorised Bobcat Dealer for Lincolnshire and East and South Yorkshire. It represents the latest generation of Bobcat loaders at Boarcross, which has been using the Bobcat brand for more than 10 years.

Stage V M-Series arrive in UK

Stage V M-Series arrive in UK

Company Director, Andrew Corrigan, said: “We did consider other makes but based on our good experience with the Bobcat loaders over several years, we decided on the Bobcat range for the replacement for our existing S450 unit. I was also impressed by the increased service interval and higher reliability of the new Stage V machine.”

Boarcross carries out the complete pig farming process from farrowing to finishing. The company has two breeding locations from which piglets are taken to various pig finishing units around East and North Yorkshire. The new S450 Stage V model and the other five Bobcat loaders in the Boarcross fleet are used to handle the straw used in the sow units and for mucking out the finishing units. The compact nature of the Bobcat loaders is also ideal for cleaning out the company’s poultry sheds which house around 90,000 hens.

More Power, Less Noise, Lower Emissions, Yet Still Compact

As well as the new generation S450, Bobcat has also launched new versions of its market-leading M-Series S510 and S530 models, the first in the Bobcat range to feature a specially developed Stage V compliant Bobcat D24 engine. The new Stage V M-Series loaders provide operators with increased performance, enhanced comfort and optimised maintenance requirements to maximise job site efficiency

Skilful design work has ensured that even with the Bobcat Stage V engine incorporated, the small dimensions of the new S450, S510 and S530 skid-steer loaders are maintained, offering a truly compact size and low weight, so they can work/manoeuvre easily in tight spaces and can be easily transported.

The new Bobcat engine provides 37% more torque and fast recovery from overload compared to the previous machines, which ensures increased comfort for the operator as they can work with the same power at lower RPM, at lower noise levels and with lower fuel consumption for the same jobs.

By offering the same power at lower RPM, the new Bobcat engine provides a significant decrease in noise levels, reducing operator fatigue and lowering fuel consumption for the same type of work. In addition, with an engine equipped with a diesel particulate filter (DPF) as standard, users can work in emission-regulated zones such as city and town centres.

The new Bobcat engine has also allowed the company to extend maintenance intervals with the first service now being after 500 hours and to reduce the number of fuel filter replacements required.

The new Stage V loaders now feature the previously optional Deluxe control panel as standard, offering a choice of different languages and telematics to protect machines and to monitor their performance. Bobcat has also extended the choice of factory installed tyres for the three models, ensuring they can be more closely matched to customers’ applications right from the start.

More Than 25 Years as a Bobcat Dealer: Over 3500 Machines Sold

Established in 1992, AMS Bobcat, based in Scunthorpe, is one of the longest standing Bobcat dealers in Europe with well over 25 years in partnership with Bobcat in the UK. Over the intervening years, AMS has sold well in excess of 3500 new Bobcat units into a wide range of industries, including construction, agriculture, shipping, plant hire, mining, landscaping and demolition.

AMS is responsible for sales and service of Bobcat skid-steer, compact tracked and all wheel steer loaders, compact excavators, telehandlers and attachments in its area. AMS also offers a full selection of genuine Bobcat accessories and parts to support both new and existing Bobcat customers in its area. Customers benefit from AMS’s well-established on-site service network, covering everything from emergency repairs to routine maintenance.

With well over 25 years of experience in the plant hire industry, AMS has also built up a state-of-the-art rental fleet of over 100 Bobcat machines, comprising compact loaders, compact excavators and telehandlers, complemented by a fleet of Bobcat attachments.

For more information about Bobcat and Bobcat products, visit the website www.bobcat.com

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