Paulo Balugani behind new Italian manufacturer Sky Aces

Former Oil & Steel executive Paolo Balugani and three other investors have formed Sky Aces srl, a new manufacturer that will focus on producing special platforms for niche applications such as tunnels.

Mr Balugani was a co-founder of Oil & Steel and was for many years responsible for new product development. His partners in the venture are Adelchi Ascari, an experienced crane and aerial work platform designer; Marco Sabattini, who has design and production expertise, and Giuseppe Manenti, chief executive officer of CMF, the metal fabrication company whose plant will be partially used for the production of Sky Aces machines.

Equipment buyers will have their first chance to see the new company and its machines at the APEX exhibition in Maastricht on 14-16 September.

Mr Balugani said Sky Aces would differentiate itself from the many other Italian platform manufacturers in the market; "Sky Aces will produce aerial work platforms for specialised applications, [because we are] aware of the existence of a number of niche operators (both Italian and foreign) who are not satisfied with the standard equipment currently available on the market.

"The first example of such philosophy is the platform that we will show at APEX, a machine specifically designed for the needs of tunnel maintenance contractors". That machine will be the truck mounted TUN LIFT 737-500

Mr Balugani said the model had been commissioned by a company outside Italy and would be followed by other machines; "We are sure the need to build underground roads and railways will boost the demand for equipment dedicated to tunnel maintenance.

"Italy, among others, is one of the European countries with the highest number of tunnels. We are already working on a tracked version of the platform and a combined rail/road version for working in rail tunnels, too."

Sky Aces is headquartered in Mirandola (Modena) with the production facility located in Cigole (Brescia). The facility includes laser and plasma cutting machines, bending machines, sandblasting equipment and two painting ovens.