SaMASZ is one of a huge hoard of manufacturers represented today (May 17) at Grass & Muck. The venue is Gurteen College (close to the Tipperary/Offaly border).
Pictured above is a front-and-rear combination mower from the Polish-based manufacturer; it was photographed on Egmont Agri’s stand.
Headed up by Timmy O’Brien, Egmont Agri (close to Mallow, Co. Cork) is the main agent here in Ireland for SaMASZ. It also imports Metal Fach machinery.
Timmy is well known in agricultural contracting circles; his own fleet includes several McHale Fusion baler-wrappers and New Holland tractors.
He is also an active member of the FCI (the Association of Farm & Forestry Contractors in Ireland).
Brand awareness
The SaMASZ brand-name is becoming increasingly familiar – not just in Cork but elsewhere around the country.
The manufacturer is, meanwhile, in the process of completing a new factory – at its base in Poland. This video (below) provides a glimpse inside the new plant.
It, says the company, is part of an overall investment stretching to over 90 million Polish Zloty (approximately €21 million). When fully up and running, it will employ 1,400 people.
The new facility also incorporates a new R&D (Research and Development) centre – within the complex.
Where did SaMASZ come from?
The SaMASZ story began in 1984, when mechanical engineer Antoni Stolarski opened his own (car repair) business in a rented garage in Bialystok (Poland).
That same year, he built his first potato digger (harvester). He sold 15 of these – taking on two employees in the process.
Within two years, he had built his first drum mower – a 1.65m-wide machine. By that stage, he had built 90 potato diggers. The workforce had grown to 10 full-time people.
By 1988, 15 staff were employed at SaMASZ; a new 1.35m-wide drum mower had joined the fledgling product line. Continued growth prompted a move to a new premises.
In the mid-1990s, the company was building more than 1,400 mowers per annum; exports sales to Germany also kicked off.
Disc mowers
1998 saw the advent of SaMASZ disc mowers; it also saw the beginning of a raft of new distribution arrangements – in New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Croatia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Norway, Lithuania, Latvia and Uruguay. Exports accounted for over 60% of total output.
By 2005, following the launch of several new products in the interim, up to 4,000 mowers were being built and sold each year. In that year alone, 68% of the factory’s output went beyond Poland’s borders.
The 50,000th mower was completed in 2008 – a year when the MegaCUT and GigaCUT (with working widths 8.6m and 9.4m) joined the product portfolio.
During the past decade, the entity has continued to grow – adding more machines to its line-up in almost every one of the intervening years. It’s a fascinating story.
