JCB has unveiled a new university partnership aimed at bringing in welders for its new South Side manufacturing plant in San Antonio, Texas.
The program, formed with the South Texas Vocational Technical Institute and launched on August 27, offers pre-employment weld assessments for 22 candidates, and those who are selected will join JCB’s core team for establishing production processes at the new plant.
The assessments were conducted at the university’s San Antonio facility with its welding equipment and material from JCB for skill demonstrations. JCB group leaders administered and evaluated the assessments.
JCB’s new $500 million San Antonio plant — the single largest investment in the company’s history — is set to begin production this year and employ 1,500 people. The new San Antonio factory will manufacture Loadall telescopic handlers and aerial access equipment for customers in North America, JCB has said.
The new welding assessment program, according to JCB, provides the company with access to a labor force consisting of both beginners and seasoned workers looking for a new opportunity.
“STVT brings together people with different backgrounds, experiences and career paths, and that’s incredibly valuable as we build our team in San Antonio,” said Charles Johnson, welding engineering fabrication, JCB.
Powered byThe San Antonio plant is already set to be much larger than it was originally planned. In response to increased tariffs announced April 2, 2025, by President Trump, JCB said it would increase the size of the new factory.
“In the short term, the imposition of tariffs will have a significant impact on our business,” said JCB CEO Graeme Macdonald in making the announcement for the England-based equipment manufacturer. “However, in the medium term, our planned factory in San Antonio will help to mitigate the impact.”
JCB said at the time that its original plan of a 500,000-square-foot plant in San Antonio had been increased to 1 million square feet. (A previous announcement of the plant’s groundbreaking in June had said the plant would span 720,000 square feet and be the company’s second-largest factory.)
JCB’s North America headquarters is currently in Savannah, Georgia, where it has been for 25 years and employs about 1,000 people. That 500,000-square-foot facility makes skid steer loaders, compact track loaders and Teleskids. It also builds the High Mobility Engineer Excavator and Light Capability Rough Terrain Forklift for the U.S. military and other NATO-aligned forces.
