The Imer group opens the new production plant in Turkey

The Tuscan group opens a new site in Aksaray for the production of truck mixers, aiming to answer to the commercial opportunities offered by the Turkish and Central Asian markets with an investment of 5 million Euro. Kursad Tuzmen, the Turkish Foreign Trade Minister, inaugurates officially the production plant attending to the opening ceremony.

The IMER Group of Poggibonsi (Siena) aims at Turkey. The Tuscan Group, leading European manufacturer of construction machinery, mortar spraying and conveying machinery, machines and plants for the production, transport and laying of concrete, specialised in the sector of earthmoving machinery, opens the new Turkish production plant in Aksaray, in the presence of many Turkish and Italian authorities. Kursad Tuzmen, the Turkish Foreign Trade Minister, inaugurates officially the production plant and his presence shows the importance of the operation developed by the IMER Group. The new plant, dedicated to the production of truck mixers, has a total surface area of 35 thousand square metres (of which 8 thousand are covered) and, once in full swing, it will employ about 70 people. Overall investment in this operation totalled 5 million Euro.
The IMER-L&T company, result of the joint venture signed between the IMER Group and the Turkish partner Metin Uygur, gets concreteness with the opening of the production plant in Aksaray, a fundamental step for the development of the IMER Group. The establishment of the new plant is part of a wider strategy which aims at strengthening the positioning of the Tuscan Group on an international level. The Turkish market has a decisive role in this strategy. The IMER Group aims to increase its market share in the truck mixers sector in Turkey but also in the Middle East and Central Asian markets. Within three years the Tuscan Group intends to increase its export share in Turkey from the current 11% to 15%.
"Our development strategy - explains Silvano Bencini, President of the IMER Group - has always involved expansion on foreign markets. We have therefore decided to open this new manufacturing plant to grasp all the opportunities offered by Turkey, a market with excellent development potential. The important fact is also that we have found a strong willingness in the Turkish authorities, interested in the creation of new development prospects on their territory". The Aksaray manufacturing plant stands on a fast-developing industrial area close to production plants of important international companies operating in the engineering sector and part of a development programme of the Turkish government. In addition to the production of the truck mixers, the new plant will be capable, in the close future, to produce and provide the logistics for the other product lines today produced both by the Concrete Machinery Division (the division that produces machines and plants for the production, transport and laying of concrete) and by the other divisions. In Aksaray, the IMER Group aims to produce over one thousand truck mixers per year within the next three years.
The establishment of the new plant in Aksaray is part of the strategy fostered by the IMER Group on an international level, targeting export growth by tackling new markets and setting up new manufacturing plants and commercial branches. In addition to the creation of IMER-L&T in Turkey, the IMER Group established in 2006 the IMER Middle East commercial branch in Beirut (Lebanon). Indeed, the headquarters are strategically based in Beirut owing to the influential commercial and financial role played by Lebanon, which is one of the most important crossroads between Western and Middle East markets. Within two years, the Sienese Group thinks to increase its export share in the Middle East market to 10 million Euro. "Our global dimension - states Silvano Bencini - has been achieved by pursuing an ever-increasing diffusion of our products and trademark in foreign countries. In addition to developing products capable of readily meeting the markets' evolving demands, we focus on strengthening our position on particularly strategic market areas, such as Central Asia, the Middle East and South America".
Today, the IMER Group is present in more than 42 countries worldwide owing to a production plant in Turkey, to its 9 foreign commercial branches (in France, the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain, Russia, Singapore, Central America, the Middle East and Morocco), and to the commercial agreements with partners operating in European Union and Eastern European countries, Scandinavia, Canada, Vietnam, South Africa, Tunisia, India and China. In 2005, the IMER Group's exports accounted for 62% of the turnover. Beyond doubt, the most important foreign market for the Tuscan company is the European Union, which in 2005 accounted for 66% of the export share. After Europe, a relevant role is played by Asian countries (20%) and the American continent (7%), followed by Eastern Europe (6%) and the African market (1%).
Economic results demonstrate that the internationalisation strategy undertaken by the IMER Group is now bearing its fruits. Indeed, the Poggibonsi (Siena) group has closed the 2005 accounting period with a positive performance. In 2005, the aggregate sales revenue reached 173 million Euro, with a 6% increase compared with the previous year. The expectations for the year 2006 of a turnover of 180 million Euro have been surpassed, rising above the prearranged goals. Now the IMER Group has over 500 employees (without taking into account the personnel employed in foreign branches) operating in 4 production plants located in Rapolano Terme (Siena), Certaldo (Firenze), Cusona, close to San Gimignano (Siena), and Basaldella di Campoformido (Udine) with an overall surface area exceeding 336 thousand square metres (of which 70,900 are covered). All the machinery and the accessories are produced with high quality materials, as they are made for the professional use, and they are strictly tested in continual work conditions. The production ensures the respect of the balance between industrial development and environmental protection, aiming at minimizing the formation of waste. Each year, the IMER Group makes sizeable investments in research & development and process and product innovation. In the 2006-2008 three-year period, the Tuscan Group expects to invest 3% of its yearly sales revenue in product and process innovation.
Established in 1962 as manufacturing firm for construction machines and equipment, the IMER Group is now an international industrial concern organised in four production divisions: the Construction Machinery Division (that produces concrete and mortar mixers, hoists, saws and machinery for soil compactation) and the Mortar Spraying and Conveying Machinery Division (that produces plastering pumps for traditional and ready mixed mortars, screed conveyors, continuous mixers and transfer systems for silos) which together cover 26% of the proceeds of sale, the Earthmoving Machinery Division (which accounts for 38% of the proceeds of sale) and the Concrete Machinery Division (that produces machines and plants for the production, transport and laying of concrete) which represents the remaining 36% of the proceeds of sale.