NEWS

At our Annual Event in Brussels on 22-23 November, EGMF members elected a new Board of Directors for the next two years.
 
Our Board is responsible for guiding the Association in the right direction, taking key decisions regarding our priorities and supervising the management of our Association.
 
We are happy to introduce you to the people taking a lead role in shaping EGMF activities!

To celebrate our 45th anniversary, we are excited to take a trip down memory lane with our members, remembering the origins of EGMF and acknowledging how we have evolved and arrived at where we are today.

We spoke with Fabio Ricci, Deputy Director General at FederUnacoma and Chair of our Technical Committee, to hear his thoughts on how our Federation has evolved!

What is your company’s mission?

FederUnacoma groups the associations of manufacturers in the field of machinery, equipment and technology for agriculture, gardening and green keeping and related components with the aim of promoting technological innovation, business culture and increasing the presence in the international markets. The Federation advocates for its members on policies and critical issues to help its members in facing challenges.

When did you become involved in EGMF?
FederUnacoma, through Comagarden – the Association representing and supporting the national industry of machinery and equipment for professional and hobbyist greenkeeping – joined EGMF at the end of 2006. The main drivers of becoming a member of EGMF were to be part of a wider network at European level and keep a closer relationship with the European Institutions and lobbying for the main technical regulations affecting the garden industry. In addition, one of the main objectives was to promote within the Federation a more representative statistical system for the memberships’ benefits.

How does EGMF help you to achieve your goals and support your mission?
Through the continuous update of discussions at European level regarding technical legislation and the possible impact on the garden industry, FederUnacoma is able to transfer this information to its members and gather a position to be shared within EGMF. Lobbying and building a relationship as one unified voice towards the European Institutions is more effective.

How have you seen EGMF and the industry evolve over the past years? What key change have you noticed?
EGMF became a structured and reliable entity capable of being up-to-date and able to adapt to changes, that is crucial to achieving positive results. Continuous improvements on the statistical survey and almost daily updates on technical issues bear witness to it. The industry has actually noticed that and the number of members has increased over the years.

What do you see as the biggest challenge and opportunity for the industry today, or in the near future?
The environmental and sustainable aspects will be more and more relevant for our industry in the coming years, together with economic and social ones. Implementing new strategies and ways to reduce the footprint of all operations in companies, as well as in the finished products, is essential to address sustainability concerns. Sustainability-oriented companies are more resilient compared to their competitors and more attractive towards present and future generations.

Where do you see EGMF’s role in helping your company to address these challenges and opportunities?
The latest technologies in digitalisation and solutions for fostering the ecological and energy transition are quite vital to respond to environmental and sustainability issues and EGMF’s role is to monitor the discussion at the European level and share it internally for the members’ benefit.

In an ideal world…teaching gardening from primary school and throughout education is a great and wonderful opportunity to learn respect for the environment and personal growth. In addition, it can be a way to teach subjects such as science and mathematics. Gardening conveys important values such as responsibility, kindness, patience, self-confidence, respect for the environment and others.

Find out more about FederUnacoma, the Italian Agricultural Machinery Manufacturers Association here, and you can read about the history of EGMF here.

To celebrate our 45th anniversary, we are excited to take a trip down memory lane with our members, remembering the origins of EGMF and acknowledging how we have evolved and arrived at where we are today.

We spoke with Carlos Aragonés, a member of our Board, to hear his thoughts on how our Federation has evolved!

What is your current role and responsibilities?
I have the great opportunity to lead the European Sales & Marketing Turf & Golf business for John Deere, a company I have been with for 19 years with different responsibilities within the agriculture and turf business.

What is your company’s mission?

WE RUN SO LIFE CAN LEAP FORWARD

We conduct business essential to life. Running for the people who trust us and the planet that sustains us, we create intelligent connected machines that enable lives to leap forward. We run to create solutions that sustain the livelihoods of our customers and communities around the world for generations to come.

When did you become involved in EGMF?
John Deere became an EGMF member soon after its establishment in 1977. We had a clear goal to support the development of the Garden Machinery Industry, driving its quality, innovation and safety standards, ultimately offering customers more efficient and sustainable solutions.

How have you seen EGMF and the industry evolve over the past years? What key change have you noticed?
EGMF has been doing things very well and in a very professional way over the past years, and we are seeing a positive outcome when you consider increasing alignment across the industry, adapting to new trends, overcoming challenges and working towards joint goals in a more proactive fashion. We are working as one, with one voice.

How does EGMF help your company to achieve your goals and support your mission?
EGMF and our values are very much aligned and so are our missions. We are both linked to the land and to the people that work the land, and are committed to improving the quality of people’s lives.

What do you see as the biggest challenge and opportunity for the industry today, or in the near future?
Regarding challenges, it is obvious nowadays considering what we are experiencing or have experienced over the last couple of years. We can list several but change is here to stay and we need to take it as an ongoing opportunity to develop and strengthen the industry with higher quality and more advanced and efficient solutions. In summary, the biggest opportunity is helping to create a more sustainable world through the solutions we provide and the customer we serve.

Where do you see EGMF’s role in helping your company to address these challenges and opportunities?
EGMF’s role, supported by all members and by the diverse task forces in place, is to help the industry grow via complexity reduction, aligning on requirements, standards, and opportunities across the different markets, while pushing the boundaries around innovation, quality and limiting environmental impact.

In an ideal world…we should see a strengthened and growing industry supported by sustainable solutions that meet customer needs and provide a fulfilling experience within the professional or private arena. It is up to us!

To find out more about John Deere you can watch their latest video here exploring trends in the industry and you can read about the history of EGMF here.

EGMF’s mission is to serve as the spokesperson for our members, manufacturers of outdoor power equipment, in Europe and internationally, by representing their views on key European policy and regulatory issues. This is only possible with the help and support of our members. A very good reason to get to know them better!

We spoke with Rudolf Harrer, Head of Sales Power Products at Honda Motor Europe Ltd, to hear more about the company, and how we help to support their goals.

What is your company’s mission?
Honda Motor Co., Ltd. is responsible for the development, production and sales of automobiles, motorcycles, power products and aviation products worldwide. Honda now delivers over 30 million products annually through its three product lines. Honda and its partners build products in more than 60 manufacturing plants in 27 countries, employing about 220,000 associates globally. On a global basis by 2050, Honda is striving to achieve carbon neutrality for all products and corporate activities, as well as zero traffic collision fatalities involving Honda automobiles and motorcycles.

How does EGMF support your company goals?
EGMF is supporting our industry in Europe as well as indicating current and future regulation of relevance, and their evolution and requirements. These tasks are performed by the outstanding work of the EGMF technical committee, with several task forces combining the specific strength of different EGMF member firms. This level of Pan European knowledge and expertise would be difficult to obtain as a single, stand alone company. The work of the EGMF marketing committee, alongside several task forces, is providing high value to our company. For example, market information, updated twice a year, provides us with market developments in the different product categories, as well as indicating current and future market and technology trends for different product categories. Finally, EGMF brings together executives of our industry, enabling us to make connections and reminding all of us that we are competitors but not enemies!

What are you most proud of about your company?
Honda is the largest manufacturer of ICE (internal combustion engines) worldwide, with annual sales of over 30 million products. The transformation to become a carbon free enterprise is therefore a huge task and challenge. But following our company statement “to be a company society wants to exist”, it is the only right way to be. Taking quite some business risks to finally achieve Honda’s company statement makes me really proud of being part of this big transformation process.

Where do you see the future of the garden machinery industry heading? What do you see as EGMF’s main priority in creating the right conditions for the industry?
The market forecasts are clearly showing a trend towards electrification in basically all product categories. Keeping us updated on upcoming future technical and governmental regulations, as well as political discussions, influencing this trend should be one of the key priorities of EGMF over the next years.

Find out more about about Honda here and check-out our members here.

To celebrate our 45th anniversary, we are excited to take a trip down memory lane with our members, remembering the origins of EGMF and acknowledging how we have evolved and arrived at where we are today.

We spoke with Andreas Rangert, our Vice President and member of our Board, to hear his thoughts on how our Federation has evolved!

What is your current role and responsibilities?
I work for Husqvarna Group and I have been with the Husqvarna for more or less my whole career, adding up to more than 25 years now. I have a Master of Science in Engineering, with Engineering Physics and Chemical Engineering, and have worked in several areas during my years at Husqvarna, such as  Lab engineer, Project management, Product & Portfolio Management, R&D management, Sales & Marketing and, as of today, Business Unit Management. One notable thing about Husqvarna is that the company was founded in 1689, 333 years ago, manufacturing muskets for the Swedish military. That is also why the Husqvarna logo actually originates from a musket’s barrel and sight.

What is your company’s mission?
Husqvarna makes a difference to people who shape green spaces and urban environments through our leadership in user-centered and sustainable solutions. With our passion for innovation, we create products and services for customers around the world. We are also very dedicated to sustainability and how we can contribute to reaching the overall global targets.

When did you become involved in EGMF?
Husqvarna has been a member of EGMF for many years, and I have been in the EGMF board for three years, where I currently hold the Vice President position.

How does EGMF help your company to achieve your goals and support your mission?
For me, EGMF is a truly important organisation for our industry as we have a stronger voice together, rather than as single companies. The world is moving in an ever-increasing speed and in order to keep up with all the changes, we need to make sure we have an even playing field where our different members get the same information and ensure that we share a common industry understanding. EGMF can help us all to achieve that with our industry’s best interests in focus. EGMF is also monitoring developments in the European markets which helps members to get a good understanding of business dynamics. This is important as we have such a high seasonality in many parts of our business.

What do you see as the biggest challenge and opportunity for the industry today, or in the near future?
In my opinion, our main challenge today is to keep up with all new legislation and certification requirements that follows with reshaping our industry and the technology development that is ongoing.

Where do you see EGMF’s role in helping your company to address these challenges and opportunities?
EGMF can help provide input so these requirements get as synchronised as possible, within Europe but also globally. We  know that we face some major technology shifts, moving from petrol to battery, getting more and more connected etc, so here we need to understand how this will impact our industry and our customers. We have a very interesting decade ahead of us where we will see a lot of changes, and we all need to transform. Here I see that EGMF has a vital role to play in helping our members to understand how to tackle some of these challenges in time.

To find out more, you can read about the history of EGMF here.

To celebrate our 45th anniversary, we are excited to take a trip down memory lane with our members, remembering the origins of EGMF and acknowledging how we have evolved and arrived at where we are today.

We spoke with Wolfgang Simmer to hear his thoughts on how our Federation has evolved!

What is your current role and responsibilities?
I am Sales Manager British Isles, Northern and Eastern Europe and STIHL Central and Director Marketing and Sales Services at STIHL Tirol. I have been involved in EGMF for many years, both in the working groups and governing bodies. Following my role as Vice-President, I took the role of EGMF President from 2016-2020 and I continue today to be involved in EGMF’s Board.

What is your company’s mission?
Founded over 90 years ago, the STIHL Group became a global powertool manufacturer. Today, STIHL develops, manufactures and distributes power tools for professional forestry and agriculture as well as for garden and landscape maintenance, the construction sector and private garden owners. To make work easy for our users in and with the nature. STIHL has the power to grow, we are close to our customers, we believe in our strong roots and we grow by the tasks that challenge us.

When did you become involved in EGMF? What inspired to join?
STIHL was among the founders of EGMF and I became involved when Dr. Nikolas Sthil was the President. I entered EGMF’s Marketing Committee to represent VIKING and from the very beginning I felt the dymanics and chance to shape the Federation for the future.

How does EGMF help your company to achieve your goals and support your mission?
We cannot fight alone. A federation like EGMF brings our branch together. Our task forces enable us and our competitors to elaborate solutions and speak as one voice. STIHL (and all other major members) brings in a lot of manpower, ideas and expertise.

How have you seen EGMF and the industry evolve over the past years?
EGMF has developed a lot over the past years and we have been successfully established as a strong partner for our industry, overcoming many challenges including changes to legislation and regulation, economic crisis and evolving social trends. As an example, digitalization and the shift from petrol/electric cable powered machines to battery powered tools and solutions have brought major changes to our industry. EGMF has gotten a new face over the last couple of years and become much more dynamic and modern. We are ready for the future.

What do you see as the biggest challenge and opportunity for the industry today, or in the near future?
The biggest challenges are the shortage in supply for a growing industry, the lack of skilled workers, the transformation towards battery, the EU agenda and the strong competition from outside Europe.

Where do you see EGMF’s role in helping your company to address these challenges and opportunities?
We must work and stand together united, represented by EGMF. EGMF is our forum to deal with the challenges, it represents our branch at the EU. Reliable market data and information- provided by EGMF is also a basis to make decisions.

In an ideal world…our industry will continue to grow and be an attractive place to work, despite all the expensive political inspired regulations we are being and will continue to be confronted with.

To find out more about the history of EGMF you read our article here.