Charles Nicklin
I am… Head of Engineering on JCB’s iconic Fastrac
Charles Nicklin has worked for JCB for 17 years, beginning as a design engineer and now heading up a large team himself. It all began with a BEng (Hons) in Agricultural Engineering at Harper Adams.
“I come from an agricultural background and wanted to go to an Agricultural institution,” says the 42-yar-old, from Cheshire. “I was impressed with the engineering and general facilities at Harper Adams, as well as the good social life and location. The teaching and facilities are second to none for agricultural engineers. The course covered a variety of subjects and the lecturers were knowledgeable. It is a very applied degree that suits the JCB ‘can do’ attitude.
“On leaving Harper Adams I went farming for a while and then decided to get an engineering job. I initially worked for an Agro chemical company in Northampton for a couple of years, working on salmonella treatment of animal feed. It was good as I travelled all over Europe with the job. I always hankered to get back into machinery, so I applied for a job at JCB and gained a position as a Design Engineer on their telescopic handlers, Loadall. I started in 1996 and worked my way up to Principal Engineer and eventually Agricultural Product Manager. In 2005 when I was offered the chance to be Head of Engineering on JCB’s iconic Fastrac I jumped at the chance. I now oversee the design and development of all of JCB’s tractors with my team of engineers and technicians.
“The best part of the job, for me, is seeing our tractors going out of the factory on trucks and seeing them in use by our customers, and bringing new products to life for the first time.”
Watch a video of Charles here: harper.ac.uk/cmvcharlesn
