29.06.2020

JLG to close Romanian plant

JLG has submitted plans to the union for closure of its manufacturing facility in Medias, Romania. The initial plans are looking to cease production by the end of June 2021.

Karel Huijser general manager JLG in the Europe, Africa & Middle East region, said: “In an effort to optimise and better align operations to support our customers and enable sustainable growth, JLG conducted an assessment of its global manufacturing footprint and has made the decision to close the company’s manufacturing facility in Medias, Romania. This move follows significant investments that we recently made in a new manufacturing facility for Power Towers and a JLG Customer Innovation Centre in the United Kingdom and a state of the art JLG Service Centre in Stockholm, Sweden. We remain committed to our customers in the region, and production will be redistributed across other global JLG facilities.”

Vertikal Comment

The Romanian plant has been building JLG’s mid-sized European orientated boom lifts since 2012 (see: JLG to build booms in Romania). In 2017, it took over production of other boom lifts, large scissor lifts and telehandlers from the Maasmechelen plant in Belgium when it wound down production in 2017 (see: JLG announces plant closures). But with an increasingly global product line, JLG has plenty of spare capacity at its plants in the USA and China for these products, while Toucan mast booms are built at its plant in Tonneins, France and low level platforms at the new Power Towers plan in the UK, both of which supply the global market for these products.

The challenge now though is how to maintain high volumes and efficiencies for each individual model, while maintaining a more environmental sourcing policy.