Primultini from Marano Vicentino, a renowned company with a rich catalog of sawmill solutions, has acquired the Bongioanni brand, a business in the same industry, part of Pezzolato spa since 2001. According to the agreement, Bongioanni’s machinery production will be moved from Pianfei (Cuneo) to Marano, while the service for thousands of machines installed all over the world will still be managed by the engineers of the Piedmont-based group.
“This is an important agreement, ensuring the continuity of a great Italian story”, said Lorenzo Primultini, president of the company that bears his name. “We agreed on all terms with Riccardo Pezzolato and we could find the best match between the respective interest of our companies: Primultini has acquired Bongioanni’s “intellectual property”, including brand, technical and sales information, customer portfolio, drawings and designs, while Pezzolato spa, whose revenues increased by approximately 20 percent in 2014, will be able to focus on their future core business, namely the supply of equipment and technology for energy generation from alternative sources, having secured the ongoing presence of a big brand in the most important sawmills around the world”.
Many positive reactions from the wood industry, which sees a new European and global leader arise from the merger of two stories. Bongioanni, born 1907, and Primultini, born 1923, not only merge the value of their respective stories and the solid technology and process expertise proven in thousands of installations around the world, but also strongly reaffirm the determination to look ahead, to live a “second youth”.
“As a result of our decision, we can offer an even more comprehensive portfolio of machines and solutions”, added Gaetano De Lai, sales manager at Primultini. “For instance, we have complementary solutions for log carriages, an area where the two companies have different approaches, so we can now provide our partners with the most effective solution for all needs. Or operations for small logs with a diameter between 120 and 250 millimeters, where the Primultini-Bongioanni “joint catalog” boasts respectable references”.
Andrea Oliana, sales manager at Pribo, another brand of the “Primultini galaxy”, expects tangible benefits from the new acquisition: “This incorporation represents a new phase in the landscape of woodworking machinery and automation: the combined know-how of two companies of great renown will surely improve the quality of machinery and mechanism design”.
The real assets are the valuable references that both companies have in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Africa and Northern Europe. “Our sales strength, plus the possibility to develop diverse technical solutions, is the key to open several doors in the near future”, De Lai added.
And everybody is looking forward to a thousand opportunities offered by what can be considered, to all effects, a business group. As a matter of fact, the Bongioanni and Primultini catalogs are complemented by Pribo‘s expertise in logistics and handling, and by MecLegno, specializing in the production of sharpening machines and in plant maintenance.
“We were market leader already, now we have further expanded our scope”, Lorenzo Primultini continued. “We are reference partners for the supply of turnkey sawmill plants, with great experience in all process stages, and with Bongioanni we can offer even more advanced technical solutions. Our know-how starts from the log yard, including cutting, debarking, measuring, sorting, handling and orienting logs for the most effective cutting, headrigs and board output, trimming, then again measuring and selecting, up to stacking, strapping and packaging… Today, Primultini, Bongioanni and Pribo can do all of this, deploying the most suitable techniques for the product our customer wants to obtain or the “method” he wants to apply”.
The new “group” is already working in synch: at the upcoming Ligna in Hannover (Hall 27, Stand D06), machines signed by the new coalition will be presented. But not only: in September, the first “joint plant” made with Bongioanni and Primultini technology will be commissioned, purchased by German company Häberlein GmbH.
An important installation, built around Primultini’s headrig and canter combined with a log carriage from Bongioanni. And this is only the first example of many projects currently developed by the Marano engineers.
“All we can do is invite industry media, opinion leaders and industry people to Hardthausen-Gochsen in September, to see the new plant in action at Häberlein”, Lorenzo Primultini concluded. “We believe that the open house we are organizing with all our partners is the best vehicle to show the effective technology mix of our two brands”.
