The undercarriage experts Sampierana

With its three divisions – Sampierana undercarriages, Eurocomach and U/C Spare Parts – the Sampierana Group is a top ranking manufacturer of undercarriages, spare parts and machinery for the construction and earth moving sectors. Mr Mosconi, sales director, explained to Barbara Rossi how his company is particularly able to listen to its customers and respond to their needs.

ThE uNDERCaRRIaGE ExPERTS

The roots of Sampierana SpA go back to 1950, when Aleardo Para set up the company as an agricultural and earth moving machines repair workshop. In 1974 his two sons, Moreno and Cesare, joined the company, in which they are still involved today; two years later, Sampierana became an authorised Berco undercarriage components dealer. A further development came in 1984, when it started manufacturing ‘Sampierana’-branded crawler undercarriages, an activity which is still one of its core businesses. Further milestones were reached in 1993 when Eurocomach (which Sampierana had acquired the previous year) started designing and manufacturing articulated wheeled loaders, mini-excavators and skid-loaders with increasing success, and in 1998, when the group achieved the ISO 9001 certification for all of its divisions. Since the turn of the millennium Sampierana has been broadening the boundaries of its work, continuously developing new products and widening its distribution network, whilst at the same time keeping its strong link with the area in which it is based and the earth moving sector.

Sampierana SpA is located in San Piero a Bagno, in the Forlì-Cesena area of north-eastern Italy, where it occupies a 90,000m2 area (12,000 of which are covered) employing 160 people (15 of whom are dedicated

to design and R&D). The synergy existing among the three divisions of the group allows a transfer of skills amongst technicians and mechanics, as well as a more widespread service network.

Sampierana undercarriages

The growth of Sampierana as an undercarriage manufacturer started with the production of undercarriages for special machinery which required extendable undercarriages to ensure high performance in terms of sturdiness and stability, while allowing for ease of transport. Since 1984 it has been designing and producing side frames, crawler undercarriages with crossbars, fixed crawler undercarriages and extendable crawler undercarriages (of the coaxial, telescopic and parallel extension types). These can be generally mounted on perforation machinery, such as excavators, demolition equipment, cranes, crushers and crawler units with an operational weight ranging from 1 to 400 tonnes. Moreover, it has been offering customised special systems according to clients’ specifications, as well as over one hundred standard models. Thanks to more than 40 years of experience in the earth moving sector, today Sampierana is one of the world leaders in the crawler undercarriage manufacturing industry and is able to offer a comprehensive range of products and solutions fulfilling the needs of any application, including those with special requirements. Because of the competence and skills developed over the years by its technicians, an undercarriage is no longer an assembly of components, but a machine designed for a purpose.

eurocomach and u/C Spare Parts

As mentioned, in 1992 Sampierana acquired an Italian company already renowned for the manufacturing of small articulated backhoe loaders, and decided to improve and broaden its range. This is how the Eurocomach brand was born. The chosen name already conveys the will of the Para brothers to broaden their entrepreneurial activity beyond the national borders. In fact, Eurocomach is short for European Construction Machinery and, while at the time the name might have appeared as being a bit ambitious, over the years it has proven to be the right choice. Thanks to the construction of the new plant and the achievement of the ISO 9001 certification, Eurocomach became ready to wholly design and manufacture a new range of products at its premises, to respond to essential market needs. Today it designs and manufactures mini excavators, skid loaders and articulated backhoe loaders ranging from 10 to 70 CV and from 1000 to 10,000kg. Its wide range is continuously updated and developed to fulfil the changing needs of its customers and different markets. All its mini excavators are short radius or zero tail, the engines of its skid loaders are regularly improved and two new skid loader models will soon be added to the range. The division also regularly takes part in all the main sector fairs, such as Bauma Munich, ConExpo USA and Intermat Paris, amongst others. Despite the crisis affecting important markets, including Italy, in recent years Eurocomach has experienced significant growth and now exports over 70 per cent of its production.

Eurocomach also offers a special platform (ESP - Eurocomach Special Platform) which functions as a basis for any type of equipment (ranging from perforation to lifting, and also including demolition and maintenance of green spaces) on which manufacturers with different sector specialisms can build their machinery.

There is also Geo-service, a satellite control system, which Eurocomach makes available as a standard on many of its models and as an optional on others. Geo-service is able to continuously monitor the position, state and main functional conditions of the work machines. Moreover, thanks to this system it is possible to exactly ascertain maintenance needs and ensure visits from technicians for non-routine work, while knowing in advance the nature of the issue and the location of the machine. In this way production is optimised and machine downtime is reduced, while the machine lifespan is extended and costs are cut. Furthermore, the fact that the location of the machine is continuously known increases security against thefts and frauds in the machine hire sector.

Thanks to the experience acquired through these two divisions (Sampierana undercarriages and Eurocomach) and to its 40 years’ experience as a Berco dealer (of which the group is particularly proud) in 2008 Sampierana SpA decided to create its own line of undercarriage parts in collaboration with reliable partners and employing continuous production

control processes. This was the beginning of U/C Spare Parts, which was set up to be able to respond to the requests of an increasingly demanding market and fulfil the needs of a wider range of clients. For the same reason in 2009 the company created the rubber track range, which gradually became a reference point in terms of performing, highquality products of this type. Today the two-arrowed logo of Sampierana U/C Spare Parts - a synonym for quality, competence and reliability - appears on an increasingly wider range of components, representing a valid alternative in a market with a vast offer, but where not all products offer value for money. “As well as offering spare parts for the products of the other two divisions, U/C Spare Parts supplies its clients with own brand undercarriage spare parts, with more than 10,000 products in stock. The product range is a continuous work in progress, combining market strategies with customers’ needs. For clients Sampierana SpA is a valid partner focused on listening and responding to their needs,” Mr Mosconi explained.

“Today our aim is that of consolidating existing markets and finding new ones. For this reason, alongside trying to improve and widen the range of products on offer, Eurocomach is implementing its own spare parts warehouse to make order processing more efficient and effective, as well as optimising delivery times and costs, so as to be able to offer customers the world over the best possible service.

“In terms of market segments, for years the undercarriage division of the group has focused its production mainly on collaboration with large perforation specialist OEMs (such as Soilmec, Casagrande, Abi and Reichdrill, amongst others). The construction and earth-moving sectors are the main segments served by Eurocomach, but the field of application of its products is wide, thanks to the flexibility of the Sampierana Group and its ability to listen and respond to customer needs.”

Geographically, the group has a widespread consolidated presence in many European countries, particularly Germany, France, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Poland and Russia (plus Scandinavia). Oceania is also a market which responds very well. In terms of development, currently efforts are mainly channelled into entering and developing the South American and Canadian markets. “The US has also become an object of increasing attention. Shortly our products will become available there, thanks to the fact that we are making our engines compliant with the current local legislation.”