Guido Testore realised that in the aftermath of the Second World War, reconstruction of Italy and the re-establishment of industry was going to need heavy equipment. The crane, already known in the USA, was little seen in Europe at the time, and Testore reckoned there was a future in these lifting machines. It was a time when several other notable crane manufacturers started out, such as Tadano in Japan and Liebherr in Germany.
Testore’s company, Autogru Ormig, was founded in 1949 and manufacturing began in a 13,500m2 factory in Ovada town centre, moving to a larger 100,000m2 plant 25 years later. This facility, which includes 48,000m2 of covered area, remains the company’s home today.
Testore began with industrial pick and carry cranes, contributing to Italy’s industrial development. Production then moved from cranes with booms controlled by a rack to ones equipped with a winch, producing 5,000 units of the model 75M over the years. Ormig patented the articulated quadrilateral, a mechanism to keep lifting radius constant when the boom angle changes, thus allowing the crane to handle the maximum load with a horizontal boom and so move indoors with the load. This mechanism is seen on the model 120i.
The middle years In the 1960s Ormig moved into bigger lattice boom truck cranes with 360O rotation and mechanical outriggers. Another Ormig patent, the hydraulic kinematics design, allowed the boom to raise in a balanced way so as to keep the lifting ropes under equal stress. This range included the 1750 TG, a 150t-capacity lattice boom truck crane with a 94m boom, mounted on a six-axle carrier.
The 1970s saw production of telescopic hydraulic cranes begin and today Ormig claims that Testore was one of the earliest pioneers of all-terrain technology in the mid ’70s.
Come the 1980s, Ormig began to address to growing use of containers in transport and turned its attention to producing a vehicle specially designed for container handling. The result was what it claims is the world’s first and only machine with two booms.
This innovative, patented, design enables the two booms to be operated either in synchronicity or separately, with each boom alone being able to lift maximum capacity. The configuration formed by the derricking cylinders and connecting rods allows the container to be moved horizontally or vertically, without changing the boom lengths, thus maximising performance, speed and reliability, the company claims.
The best known of these was the M60, which was exported all over the world, but has today been succeeded by the M300 model which can lift 45t and stack containers five high in two rows.
Ormig has also produced lattice boom mobile harbour cranes, such as the 4535 PTM, which has a capacity of 45t at 35m outreach. In the early 1990s it produced the 200t-capacity 2006 TR.
Present day
Over the past decade Ormig has concentrated on three main product ranges:
Industrial pick and carry cranes, including electrically powered models in which it claims world leadership
An enlarged range of all-terrain cranes
Container handlers with new models having either single or double booms to meet various end-user requirements.
A new field for Ormig is the truck crane mounted on a commercial chassis, to overcome the tightening constraints of highway regulations. This year it launched the 804 AC, an 80t truck crane with a six section, 33.15m boom. It was exhibited at Italy’s Samoter show in March mounted on an Iveco chassis, though is available on any chassis requested (Italian fashions May99, p15).
Autogru Ormig is still managed and owned by the family of Guido Testore, but the founder himself died in 1983. His daughter, Gemma Testore Aschero, succeeded him as president of the company the previous year and remains at the helm today.
Gemma’s two sons – the grandsons of Guido Testore – are senior managers in the organisation, with 32-year-old Guido Aschero working on the production side of the business and 29-year-old Gian Paolo Aschero in sales and marketing.
