09.11.2022

Amilcare Merlo 1934 - 2022

We have received the sad news that Amilcare Merlo, founder and president of Italian telehandler manufacturer Merlo died in a Cuneo hospital earlier today.
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Amilcare Merlo

Amilcare Merlo was born in November 1934 and would have celebrated his 88th birthday on the 24th of this month. He began working in the family’s metal working shop at an early age, joining his elder sister Natalina. His father - Giuseppe Amilcare Merlo - had established the business in the centre of Cuneo in 1911. While Natalina went on to take over the accounting and administration, Amilcare eventually took over the production.

In 1964 the two siblings teamed up to establish a new Merlo company to manufacture equipment at a facility in the nearby town of San Defendente di Cervasca. In February 1972, the roof of the factory building collapsed under the weight of snow, after a heavy storm. A number of employees, including Amilcare, fell from a height of around eight metres when the roof fell in, but miraculously, they all escaped serious injury. The small band of employees worked around the clock, and with the support of their bank completely rebuilt the building and resumed production.

The rest, as they say, is history. Today the company is one of the top four global manufacturers of telescopic handlers and is a significant player in the agricultural equipment market. The highly vertically integrated plant in Cervasca occupies an area of more than 300,000 square metres, with 1,400 employees. Merlo was also responsible for numerous telehandler innovations, such as the 360 degree concept with its Roto, and side mounted engines which has completely changed the layout of fixed frame models.
Overseas the company operates through half a dozen overseas sales and service subsidiaries and an extensive network of independent distributors, with revenues of more than €500 million. link[https://vertikal.net/en/news/story/38630/natalina-merlo-1929-2021[(Natalina sadly passed away last year) at the age of 91.
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Amilcare Merlo on the company’s SAIE stand a few years ago

Over the past 20 years or so Amilcare Merlo has been recognised with numerous awards and accolades, including the Légion d'Honneur from the French Republic along with the order of Agricultural Merit, and the Order of Merit of Labour - or the Cavaliere del Lavoro - from the Italian Republic.

Merlo was also deputy vice president of Cuneo’s industrial confederation between 2010 and 2013, and since then has been a member of the confederation’s General Council. He has also been a director of the local Chamber of Commerce since 2004.
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The Merlo web site this afternoon

As a sign of respect, the factory and offices closed at 14:00 today and will remain closed until the funeral. He leaves behind his wife Denise and their five children, Cristina, Paolo, Silvia, Andrea and Marco.
We will of course update this item when we learn more and on receiving any contributions, which we welcome.

Vertikal Comment

Amilcare Merlo was a very special person, he loved to innovate, he loved to man the company stands at trade fairs and not to sit in a swanky top floor office, but be outside with the equipment, talking about his machines with a personal passion. In fact, you would be hard pressed to find a person more passionate than he about his company and its products. He wanted to be involved in and was enthused by everything from press visits and conferences to customer visits and everything in between. He would upset carefully laid visit plans by insisting on showing you some new product idea he had even when it had been agreed in advance to keep it secret.

He would be involved in developing a new concept and then insist it was squeezed onto the stand at the next big trade fair, prior to any feasibility or market studies. On more than one occasion he would devise some interesting new product or concept and then demand it was built and if he liked it displayed prominently at Bauma, or SAIE, often never to be seen again.

He was warm and generous - at least with his time and attention, for example at Bauma he would often stop by the Vertikal stand and have a chat, a catch up and find out how we were doing - he always seemed interested. He was polite, courteous and had one of the world’s most heart warming smiles.
A true gentleman and unique entrepreneur, his passing will be mourned by many.