19.03.2013

Oil & Steel senior management confirmed

PM group has announced that managing director Luigi Fucili will also serve as chief executive of its Oil & Steel division, permanently replacing Andrea Certo, who left the company last October. See Certo leaves Oil & Steel
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Luigi Fucili

The move is part of a restructuring that will merge the PM and Oil & Steel operations into a single larger organisation. As part of the change, PM sales director Giovanni Tacconi will also assume permanent responsibility for global sales at Oil & Steel. The two executives initially took over these responsibilities in October.
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Giovanni Tacconi

The PM group comprises PM loader cranes, Oil & Steel truck mounted platforms and spiders and Pilosio/Electroelsa scaffolding/formwork systems and mast climbers.

“The reasons for this reorganisation are strategic and functional,” said Fucili. “On the one hand, it allows us to speed up the process of internationalising the Oil & Steel brand outside Europe, an area in which our brand has made a name for itself, with a strong identity, in the last 20 years.”

“On the other hand, we know that this cooperation will be important to achieve greater supply coverage at a global level, by integrating the two company’s networks to create a greater capacity to respond to our target clientele.”

The factors that will drive this process are:
1) Very strong collaboration with the distribution network
2) The development of new products

“Within the next two years, PM will have redesigned and its entire hydraulic crane range, with the introduction of more specific products, topped out by a crane of over 100 metre/tonnes.”

Tacconi added: “Oil & Steel will focus on satisfying the global market, for some areas this means low weight, while for others it means stability and a perception of rigidity. New electro-hydraulic machines will be developed for the former, with thinner, stronger steels. For the rest of the world, we will continue to develop all hydraulic machines for heavier vehicles, that can also be marketed in kit form."

“Globalisation is pushing us to improve quality, which we are pursuing by increasing the efficiency of our organisation, this is now a necessity if we wish to compete at a global level. Oil & Steel and PM are aware of what it means to design and build products that are valued in any country. This means having full control of the entire production chain from the selection of suppliers to all of the manufacturing and testing processes.”
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Oil & Steel Snake 2815

Vertikal Comment

This is an interesting move on the part of PM, probably driven more by economic need than anything else, although Oil & Steel has struggled for the past two years or so, in spite of some excellent products. A large number of key personnel have left in that time and helped build up some strong competition.

Loader cranes and aerial lifts are different markets, particularly in terms of end customers, although outside of Europe and North America it is quite common for distributors to carry both products in their portfolios.

As with all these things a great deal will depend on how well the strategy is executed. If the company maintains dedicated design teams, improves build quality and reliability, offers good value for money, supports the products well and tops it all off with good sales and marketing it will succeed and benefit from a larger, more efficient organisation.

Bauma will be a key opportunity for the new organisation to show how serious it is to regain its Oil & Steel's former market position.