JCB Employee Retires After 42 Years’ Service

One of the first employees to clock on at JCB’s Wrexham factory has retired, saying farewell to his colleagues after 42 years service at an ‘engineering paradise’.

Business Live reports that Nigel Crump was of the first ten recruits at the JCB Transmissions factory in 1978, which had only been open for two weeks. He now retires with the distinction of being the longest-serving employee at the Wrexham plant.

Grandfather-of-eight Nigel said: “I only got the job then because one new recruit turned up for work, saw the modern CNC lathe, asked where the knobs and handles were to operate it and decided the factory was too high tech for him and left.”

Nigel explained that he had always had a love of engineering, and studied his father in his workshop on Saturday mornings, who was a bodyworker. An affinity for JCB followed in the 1960s when his cousin owned and operated a classic JCB backhoe loader.

“When I came to JCB it was like engineering paradise, and it has been ever since. I’ve had a fantastic career and JCB has been very good to me,” he added.

His retirement falls short of JCB’s 75th birthday, on 23 October.

Joining Nigel are 11 other colleagues, who have a combined 250 years of service at the Wrexham factory.

Tim Barker, general manager at JCB Transmissions said that Nigel was an exemplary employee, who was well known for being helpful and approachable, and his machining experience was ‘second-to-none’.

“He will be sorely missed. We wish him and his colleagues a long and happy retirement,” said Tim.

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