Viva Venieri!

Italy is a place steeped in construction machinery manufacturing history, and whilst my long awaited pilgrimage to visit the giant ACCO dozer in Portograro, Northern Italy, still alludes me, I was recently fortunate to be offered the chance to make a flying visit to the HQ and production facilities of manufacturer, VF Venieri in Lugo, Emilia-Romagna, in the heart of the widely renowned Motor Valley area which is home to famous motoring brands such as Lamborghini, Ferrari, and Ducati to name a few.

The company which is celebrating an incredible 77 years in business this year, was founded in 1948 by Ferdinando Venieri and his brother Carlo Venieri, who were both mechanical engineers, who had previously been engaged in repairing tractors and other construction & agricultural machinery.

The brothers first creation was a crawler tractor named the CINGOLETTA Venieri – Morris which was a 40hp tractor adapted from a military machine that had been abandoned by the Allied forces at the end of the second world war, this machine and others that followed were primarily aimed at the agricultural market.

In 1960 the company expanded in to producing earthmoving machinery, including small bulldozers and tracked loaders, and in 1968 Venieri introduced what was said to be the world’s first hydrostatic transmission installed into earthmoving machinery.

In the 1980’s VF Venieri’s focus became increasingly engaged in the earthmoving and material handling range of equipment, in particular wheeled loading shovels, backhoe loaders both compact and large models, and crawler tractors for the agricultural sector were phased out of the product line.

The company became a Ltd business in 1974 adopting its present-day name of VF Venieri S.p.A. In 1979 the company officially opened its brand-new assembly facility in Lugo, where it remains to this day, the premises had a restyling makeover in 2023.

Since 2010 the forward-thinking company has been 100% self-sufficient using green power sourced from solar panels, providing them with a 0% carbon foot-print long before it became fashionable.

Today the long established and now 3^rd generation family-owned company exports its machinery to over 53 countries and has over 85 global distributors/dealers, being a family focused business, they take great pride in offering a personal touch to their customers.

Venieri products are not so commonly found in the UK currently but for over 35 years the company has also been manufacturing compact wheeled loaders for a number of other OEM’s, most notably for CASE Construction Equipment, AHLMANN, YANMAR and even SANY, so if you have been operating any of those in the past, you have technically been driving a badged-up Venieri machine.

The company currently produce 14 different models all of which can be customised to meet individual customers requirements, these include wheeled loaders, telescopic wheeled loaders, compact and large backhoe loaders/tool carriers, with a further 5 new machines being added to the range soon.

The manufacturers impressive facility covers some 70,000m2 in total with a covered area of 20,000m2, which consists of assembly facilities, a research and development section and a testing ground for prototypes and finished machines. There is no metal cutting or forging work undertaken at this facility, most of the so-called dirty work is outsourced to trusted fabrication suppliers locally and the various components arrive in Lugo to be assembled by the Venieri team.

There are five dedicated assembly lines in the factory, comprising of large wheeled loaders, large backhoe, compact backhoe, small wheeled loader and medium wheeled loader. Where this facility differs to many that we have visited in the past is that one machine is largely put together by one man, which means it’s not like a regular production line where the individual does one activity the whole day in a repetitive format, which can be extremely boring and often frustrating for the employee.

In this way, the individual does over 40% of the build-up before it moves on down the line, where it will be finished off by another employee who specialises in the finishing aspects. There are nine spare parts stations located around the factory, and components such as the engines, cabins and wheels are delivered by forklift to the machine that is being built on the assembly line.

Smaller parts are stored in two large storage cassette towers, which by use of a clever computer system will robotically search for and deliver specific parts as requested. Every step of the build is logged so that in case of any issues they know where any problem could have happened and who was responsible for the fitting of any particular component.

Under the skin of these 100% Italian designed and assembled machines, they are all fitted with well-proven tried and trusted, leading blue-chip components from the likes of Bosch-Rexroth, Dana-Spicer, Deutz, Kubota and Yanmar, depending on models.

When the machines reach the end of the line, every single unit is delivered to a dedicated hot-test area towards the rear of the building, where they are put through a thorough 6-hour testing process, to ensure there are no leaks and that everything is functioning as it should be, nothing is left to chance as they do not believe in sample testing, not one machine leaves the factory without a full test period.

During our tour of the factory, we saw a number of machines sporting military drab green livery, these were part of a significant order for the 1.33C compact backhoe loaders from the Italian armed forces. Frank Alberoni, Venieri’s Press and Marketing specialist, told us that the company supply machines to 10 NATO/OTAN entities, and not just consigned to the military forces, but to fire departments, and regional embassies too.

Unfortunately, we were unable to take photos inside the assembly area, however I was permitted to take photos of an order of machines that were being loaded into a container including a large backhoe loader, that would be heading for Canada, which according to Venieri’s Managing Director Filippo Muccinelli Venieri, has become a very successful market for the company, especially in winter time when the machines are so often deployed on snow clearance work. The backhoe itself is loaded with its wheels removed, driving into the container on dummy wheels, with the regular wheels being loaded into the container last on a pallet.

Following lunch, pasta of course, we were invited to get up close and personal with some of the machines, which had been assembled in front of the service and parts building. For the focus of this article, I chose to concentrate on two examples from the backhoe loader range.

The compact 1.33C in its original format, was designed by the in-house Venieri Style Centre team and is one of the company’s best-selling models, the unique looking machine was first launched as far back as 1992 and could be considered as a trailblazer for the compact backhoe loader concept.

With a maximum operating weight of 4,550kgs, power for the 1.33C comes from a side mounted Stage V emissions compliant, 3-cylinder Kubota D1803-CR-T diesel engine which offers a power output rating of 39kW (53hp) @2,700rpm. A large gull wing style bonnet raises up to facilitate good access for all daily checks and routine servicing.

Stepping up into the cab, I had a feeling this is just the right size machine for someone of my stature, getting myself comfortable in the seat and surveying the surroundings, I can’t lie, it does feel rather cosy in there, although this was the new style XL cab, which has apparently been widened by 15cm to allow more space.

Controls for the loader arm/bucket and the integrated forward and reverse button are totally intuitive and comfortable to use. Rotating the seat to face the rear I found there is definitely a knack to performing the move, but once mastered it was plain sailing.

Having a play with the backhoe, it was quite refreshing to be handling a pair of traditional cross pattern joysticks again, all movements were smooth and precise, it kind of had an old school feel, but with a modern twist. The machine offers a maximum reach at ground level of 3,535mm and a maximum dig depth of 2,750mm or 3,250mm with the optional extending dipper.

I took the machine for a little spin around the yard area to see how it performed, featuring a hydrostatic transmission it features two gear settings, in 2^nd gear this little compact backhoe can achieve a top speed of 20km/h in both forward and reverse, while the 4-wheel steering allows it to be highly manoeuvrable offering an external tyre turning radius of 2,310mm and a front bucket turning radius of 2,790mm.

This machine was a lot of fun to play around on, but it’s easy to see the big potential of this compact backhoe in the right working environment, with a vast array of attachments available, this machine can turn itself to a wide variety of applications, such as local municipality work, landscaping, small building and materials handling, it was easy to see how this little pocket rocket has become such best seller for Venieri.

A short walk back through the building and across a road and we arrived at Venieri’s own dedicated demonstration area, where we assembled to watch the largest backhoe loader offering, the 10.23E being put through its paces by their regular demonstration operator, who certainly didn’t hold back in his performance to show the machines capabilities.

Described as a multifunctional machine, as with the other large backhoe loader models in the Venieri range, it features central articulation, a rigid front axle and a 20^o oscillating rear axle. I likened it to some of the machines we see from the Nordic regions, such as Huddig, Lannen and Hydrema, but I would imagine, a much more competitively priced option.

Essentially with its front loader Z-bar tipping linkage the machine performs like a conventional loading shovel with a backhoe mounted on the back, it’s an impressive combination, especially for those who dare to be different.

With a maximum operating weight of 9,920kgs, the 10.23E is powered by an EU Stage V emissions compliant 4-cylinder, Deutz TCD 3.6 L4 diesel engine which offers a maximum power output of 78kW (106hp) @2.300rpm.

Unlike traditional rigid backhoe loader models, the Venieri has its engine centrally mounted in a transverse position, which effectively means no need for an engine housing bonnet at the front, offering improved weight distribution over the axles, increased stability, and improved forward visibility.

A massive cooling pack/fan is mounted on the offside of the machine, once again, unlike traditional backhoe loaders where the cooling pack/radiator is at the front of the machine where it can all to often draw in the dust leading to debris build-up. This system appears to be a great idea and not so vulnerable to dust build-up.

A hydrostatic transmission with automatic power regulation and closed circuit with variable displacement pump and motor is the standard set-up. The gearbox features two work speeds and two road speed selections. Top speed on the road is an impressive 40km/h.

The machine has a total steering angle of 70^o with an outer tyre turning radius of 5.312mm and an outer bucket turning radius of 5.662mm.

The hydraulic system comprises of two gear pumps, with the first one dedicated to the loader circuit, and the steering component, with the second for the circuit of the cooling fan. A combined flow circuit feeds the rear control valve block.

This example was fitted with the optional 6-in-1 front bucket with a capacity of 1,30m³ and an overall width of 2.350mm, on the backend it was fitted with a standard dipper arm and a direct mounted bucket, an extending dipper option is available and in the UK market we would assume it would be expected by most customers. In this configuration the maximum digging depth would be 5.000mm, while maximum reach at ground level would be 5.300mm.

I was invited to try out the machine, in fact my first time ever using one of these Venieri models, I climbed into the seat and got my bearings, my immediate reaction was of a feeling I was driving a wheeled loader but all the basics of operating a backhoe loader came flooding back very quickly.

The front loader arm joystick falls nicely to hand and also controls the travel direction by means of a rocker switch, which has become pretty standard across all brands for some time, it’s a very convenient feature. I put the machine to work to emulate what the superb demo operator had been doing, excavating a hole with the front bucket, all be it more tentatively on my behalf until I became accustomed with how the machine reacts.

It had plenty of poke in the dig and would spin the wheels if you let it as it powered into the face of the excavation. It was lively moving around the demo area, very user friendly on the controls and I found the seat and driving position to be very nice indeed. I especially appreciated the articulation aspect, which would be extremely useful in tight job scenarios.

With time ticking away rapidly my attention turned to the back end, spinning the seat around was a little bit of a challenge again, as I had found in the compact BHL, only due to the fact that I was not familiar with the combination of levers. But once in position I was delighted to see that this example was fitted with adjustable servo lever pods.

The joysticks can be set to either ISO or SAE control patterns, by means of a switch on the right-hand lever pod, however this one was already set up for the more familiar ISO style. Cranking around the throttle dial I was looking for the jack leg levers, only to discover that they are conveniently activated by the means of electro thumb switches on the rear of the levers.

With the legs down I swung out the boom and dipper and dove the standard 600mm bucket into the heavy Italian soil, the hydraulics were super smooth and had plenty of power in the dig, maximum bucket breakout force is quoted at 6.100kgs, while maximum dipper arm penetration is 4.700kgs.  This example also featured the full hydraulic side-shift function which is extremely useful in a wide variety of situations, with a full bucket at full stretch over the side it presented no unbalancing, as you would probably expect with such a small bucket fitted.

Overall, it was a pleasant experience on this machine in the short time I was able to use it, it would be really nice to have one on site for a few days to really get a feel for it, and evaluate its full potential, but from my experience on the day, I was very impressed with it.

Photo: Left to Right - Nick Drew and Filippo Muccinelli Venieri

In the UK Venieri is now being marketed by Conagri as a South West dealer and the group is actively looking to recruit others in East and West Scotland, Cumbria, the North West and North East, North Wales, West Midlands, East Midlands, The Midlands, South East and South (Surrey, Sussex, Hampshire).

Conagri director Andrew Venton said: “The innovation and passion which Venieri brings to the UK market makes them an especially welcome addition to our stable.”

Checkout some of the highlights from the visit.