Pagliero celebrates 100th birthday with party for 500

Multitel Pagliero celebrated its 100th anniversary with an enormous party at its headquarters in Manta, Italy, on Friday 30 September. The event drew around 500 customers, dealers and suppliers from all over Europe.

Pagliero, now jointly managed by brothers Renzo and Sandro Pagliero, was founded in 1911 by their grandfather Lorenzo and is still owned by the family, with the fourth generation now involved - four of Renzo and Sandro's children are working in the business. The company built its first aerial platform in 1959.

Although the mood was celebratory, there was serious business to attend to as well, with Pagliero using the gathering to launch several machines, including its latest crawler, the SMX250 - a 25 m working height model using the superstructure of the recently introduced MX250 truck mount - and the MJ320 truck mount, a 32 m unit on a twin-axle 18 t truck.

Despite the big turnout for the event and the feel-good factor of the party, Pagliero is being realistic about business prospects. Jerry Kist, the company's long-standing export director, told AI that Pagliero was prepared for a significant fall in sales in 2012 if the poor economic forecasts for the Eurozone are realised.

He said the worst case was that the company's production would fall from around 750 units this year to closer to 600 next, which would be almost the same as in 2009 when the crisis was at its height.

"You have to react to it", he said, "Right now, the only market that is not concerned is Germany - they are still talking about investment because their numbers are still healthy. Italy and France are a lot slower and the UK is not as active as it was a year ago. All of that makes you cautious."

The company was in the process of building a fifth production hall near its Manta base, but that development may be postponed if the European economy slows down. "We have to follow the economy", said Mr Kist. A decision on whether to continue with the new production facility will be made in the coming weeks.

Despite these uncertainties, Pagliero continues to develop its export infrastructure. It is likely to open a subsidiary in Germany, only its second in Europe, at a leased location in Aachen in the west of the country. Pagliero's other subsidiary is in France, where it enjoys a good market share. (Many of the small truck mounts now going through the factory are in Loxam's red livery.)

Mr Kist said the Aachen facility - which could open as soon as January - will be used to support the sales activities of its German dealer, Johannes Becker, whose role is unchanged, and also to increase sales efforts to eastern Europe. The facility will stock both new and used Multitel machines.

For Melvyn Else, managing director of Pagliero's UK dealer, Access Industries, it is the new 32 m machine that is key. Mr Else, speaking to AI in Manta, said the MJ320 is an ideal replacement for the 34 m Bronto model which is no longer in production. Many of these are still in service in Europe - including up to a hundred in the UK alone - and are approaching their replacement age.

The new platform has a shorter wheelbase than the Bronto and a 0.35 m narrower outrigger width. Platform capacity on the standard 2.0 m long cage is 320 kg - around 40 kg more than the Bronto - reducing to 280 kg on the hydraulically extendable 3.2 m long cage.

Mr Else said the unit's outreach at the top end of the envelope was also better than the Bronto. Like many of Pagliero's machines the lower boom is made of steel while the upper boom is aluminium.

"If that's not an ideal replacement for all the ageing Brontos in the UK, I don't know what is", said Mr Else.

A full report on the event and further details of the new machines will be published in the November-December issue of Access International.