Heavy-duty experts Conquest Offshore

Via Liutai 1, 40050 Castello d’Argile (Bologna) - Italy Phone: +39 051 6868611 | Fax: +39 051 6868620 www.borghi-impianti.com

Borghi Impianti Oleodinamici belongs to the Borghi Group which is a group of companies that thanks to the high know-how and experience is an ideal partner to design and produce tubes, hoses and fi ttings for hydraulic system in according to the severe OEM’s technical and quality requirements, in Automotive and Industrial applications. All Borghi products are made internally.

Borghi Impianti Oleodinamici SpA, established in 1960 by its founder Mr Oliviero Borghi, is the company leader in design and production of bent rigid tubes for Industrial Application, EarthMoving, Construction Equipment, renewable energy.

The products manufactured are not supplied directly to the final customers, as the widespread Komatsu network of distributors plays this intermediary role.

“Europe is our main outlet market, generating 70 per cent of turnover, although we experience drastically different demand levels according to the country,” said Mr Prandini. “Generally southern Europe is suffering, central and northern European countries vary from a slight decrease in demand to showing signs of recovery, but eastern Europe is doing very well, thanks to the fact that there there is a need to complete smaller or residential infrastructure projects, which requires the size of machinery that we produce.

“Similarly, outside Europe we fare well in all the markets where there is a shift from manual to automated work and/or where utility or midi-machines are required for smaller projects. Significant outlet markets are Australia, South-Africa, Turkey, Egypt and Gabon. Russia is also a fundamental market for us, which we follow directly, as it is outside the scope of our European organisation. We are also strong in countries where there is a need for infrastructural work but where this is carried out by small construction companies which do not utilise larger machinery in their work. Examples of these are Angola, north Africa and some south African countries, as well as some Asian markets.”

Growth expectations

Future geographical development will depend on the group’s strategy. “We are obviously happy to manufacture for any market selected by our group,” said Mr Prandini. “I expect growth in Africa, following on Komatsu Global’s footsteps , particularly in Kenya and neighbouring countries. What I think is important for us as Komatsu Italia Manufacturing is consolidating our recovery in all the markets where we used to have very high volumes.”

For the future Komatsu Italia Manufacturing will concentrate on producing machines which offer high quality, high performance and good value for money. “We are very much part of the global strategy of the group and must optimise our production flexibility to fulfil its requirements,” said Mr Prandini. “I think that we have delivered on this and that this is the reason why we have been asked to manufacture the two midi models described earlier. The advantage of being part of a strong Japanese group is their long-term vision, thanks to which we have never stopped investing in innovation, not even at the worst times of the recent recession. While keeping our Italian roots, we have totally adopted the Japanese production philosophy, which I consider to be the best in the world.”

Being an innovative and flexible production site manufacturing high-quality Komatsu products is the real added value of the Italian company, which in line with the rest of the group presents a top of the range offering. The company holds all the certifications required in its industry in terms of quality and environmental sustainability (ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 14001). Being totally in line with the Japanese vision, the company welcomes visits from customers, allowing them to view the site and the production process. n

Hydraulic cylinders.

FAROIL is a company with a strong industrial vocation, which has rapidly grown at international level. The company, achieving a high level of success, thanks to the attention that it has always paid to customers’ specific requirements and their products. In this way, it has established effi cient co-design partnerships for continuous product improvement.

FAROIL still wholly designs and manufactures its products in Italy. This has ensured a continuous growth, fi rst in the agricultural fi eld and then in the industrial sector, where FAROIL is a well-established player, trusted by all the leading European manufacturers, which use its products.

Tel: 0039 0376 527580 | E-mail: info@faroil.it www.faroil.it | www.facebook.com/faroilsrl

HEAVY-DUTY EXPERTISE

Conquest Offshore BV is a leading Dutch specialist in the provision of heavy-lift equipment for operations involving onshore, offshore and near-shore marine projects. Philip Yorke talked to Floris Bomers, the company’s operations manager about the complex role it played in the re-floating of the stricken Italian cruise ship, the Costa Concordia and its strategy to expand its marine operations.