FRENCH firm JPM Group has announced the appointment of West Midlands-based Bevan Group as its sole UK distributor.
UK-based operators of light tippers and dropsiders can take advantage of ‘ultra-quick’ turnaround times on a comprehensive range of aluminium and steel bodywork.
Bevan Group said that initially, provided it has at least six weeks’ notice of a chassis’ arrival, it can fit a JPM body and have the finished vehicle ready for collection the following day. Going forward, Bevan plans to carry stock bodies for even shorter lead times.
Roy Shelton, Bevan Group sales director, said, “This is great news for operators across a broad spectrum of business activities, who in some cases have had to wait months to get their vehicles built.”
Under the new agreement, Bevan Group will assemble JPM’s complete product portfolio across three of its production facilities in the Black Country and another in Merseyside. Bevan Group is already working on its first order, which is for 164 all-aluminium rear-end and three-way tipping bodies. These are being fitted to 3.5-tonne Nissan chassis and will then be delivered to a number of local authorities in Scotland.
JPM Group is one of Europe’s specialist manufacturer of aluminium dropsiders and tippers for commercial vehicles up to 7,500kg. With headquarters in Naucelle, in the south of the country, it produced some 10,000 bodies last year.
The company is a trusted Europe-wide ‘one-stop shop’ partner to Renault, Renault Trucks and, the Stellantis brands of Citroën, Peugeot, Fiat and Opel (Vauxhall), fitting its bodywork on line at their factories. JPM also has direct supply agreements in France with Iveco and Mercedes-Benz.
Bevan Group explained that the JPM range is designed for and can be perfectly tailored to suit a host of applications, including landscaping and gardening, arboreal services, carpentry, building and civil engineering. The line-up comprises dropsiders and rear-end tippersin aluminium or steel; three-way tipping bodies are available in aluminium only.
Complementing the core products is a ‘huge array’ of options, Bevan Group added. This encompasseseverything from door configurations and load securing solutions such as nets, lashing rings and stops, to lockable storage boxes and vehicle access aids includingfolding ladders and handles, as well as tool holders and cone carriers.
Prospective customers can use the configurator on the JPM Group website to design their vehicle body, and Bevan Group will cover all products it fits in the UK with a three-year warranty on behalf of JPM.
Exports account for some 30% of JPM Group sales. The company has a distribution network of bodybuilders throughout Europe and is particularly strong in Germany, Belgium and Spain.
JPM Group export manager, Nathalie Bordas, commented, “Bevan Group is exactly the kind of partner we like to work with. Our two companies are similar in size, both family-owned, and share a philosophy of driving growth through premium products and high-quality service.”
General Manager Daniel Bevan and Roy Shelton made a fact-finding tour of JPM Group’s production facilities last summer, while Bevan hosted Ms Bordas and colleagues in December, when the agreement was signed.
“Bevan Group has a very good reputation,” she continued. “Roy and his team have excellent contacts with the manufacturers and customers here in the UK, and we areconfident that they can be trusted to develop our business and protect our brand in this important market.”
There are now more than 40,000 aluminium tippers by JPM in service on the continent, and the company has particularly high hopes for its light-weight ‘FULL ALU’ range in the UK. “Of course, aluminium offers big advantages in terms of productivity and environmental compatibility,” said Ms Bordas.
“But with JPM’s products, there is also no compromise when it comes to strength and durability – they are designed and manufactured to be every bit as strong as steel. Indeed, Bevan’s ‘Built better for longer’ ethos could equally apply to our own aluminium bodies.”
