Josh Blake, a manufacturing engineer at JCB, joined the company as an apprentice in 2016 after training at the company’s academy.
He spoke of how JCB had invested in other countries, including the US, in recent years and said he was happy to see the firm continuing to back its UK headquarters.
“I think it’s great that it has come to Staffordshire – the heart of where this company started,” he told BBC Radio Stoke.
Joseph Cyril Bamford – whose initials form the company name – started the business by using surplus World War II parts and scrap metal.
One of its first vehicles was the JCB all-steel tipping trailer, which was made with wheels and tyres from a Grumman Hellcat fighter aircraft and hubs from a howitzer.
JCB has since gone on to create 22 manufacturing plants across four continents with more than 750 dealers worldwide.
