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CARRARO: THE ITALIAN HEART OF AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY
The entrepreneurial history of the Carraro company (www.carraro.com/ inglese/carraro.htm) can be summarised in one simple phrase: the force of diversification. Carraro began in Padua in the 1930s as a manufacturer of agricultural machinery, but it has since become one of the first global companies in the transmission systems sector. The breakthrough happened in the 1970s, against the backdrop of a very challenging market: as the world's leading tractor manufacturer (International Harvester) was folding, Carraro - which in the meantime had widened its market base from Italy towards the rest of Europe - realised that the agricultural machinery business was too risky and decided to focus on parts, launching a new "Axels and Transmissions" division. The new sector soon became Carraro's core business. The company subsequently refocused its Research, Development and Strategy towards new competitive standards, swiftly achieving levels of excellence.
Within a few decades the Carraro Group, listed on the Italian stock exchange since 1995 - became one of the world's leading manufacturers of power transmissions for road and off-road vehicles, stationary vehicles (e.g. escalators) and for the conversion of renewable energy. The Group employs over 2.850 people and its core business encompasses three divisions: project engineering, manufacturing, and marketing of integrated transmission systems. The latter are intended for use in earth-moving and material-moving vehicles, tractors, light commercial vehicles and automobiles. Thanks to a solid know-how, Carraro is able to design and provide state-of-the-art solutions whose mechanical and electronic components are closely integrated.
Carraro's leadership in its niche sector is complemented by an outward-looking approach, which has characterised the Paduan company since its inception.
Over 80% (EUR700 million in 2006) of its revenue currently stems from abroad. The Group's largest clients are the world's major manufacturers of agricultural (Cnh, John Deere, New Holland, Valtra) and earth-moving (Caterpillar, Terex) machinery. The company - with 15 plants throughout the globe - has also adopted an outsourcing strategy aiming to highlight the value of emerging markets in terms of production and purchasing potential.
Carraro has been present in India since 1998 with a production site (Carraro India) that by the autumn of 2007 will have doubled in size to allow for the manufacturing of new transmissions mainly destined for earth-moving machines. The growth of the Indian market in recent years has allowed the Group to build relationships with major local players, from Mahindra to Tata, from Escorts to Punjab Tractors. The intensification of these relationships as well as further growth prospects led in 2005 to the creation of Turbo Gears (a firm specialised in gearing manufacturing) and more recently in the opening of Carraro Technologies India - a new R&D centre employing over 30 engineers working towards state-of-the-art technological solutions (axels and transmissions) for the agricultural and earth-moving machinery markets. In addition, autumn 2007 will also see the launch of the new Carraro Qingdao Drives Systems plant (in China), which will seal the presence of the Group in the Far East.
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