Lombardini S.r.l.

Lombardini S.r.l. is an Italian manufacturer of Diesel engines up to 65HP.

History

The company was founded in Reggio Emilia by Mr. Adelmo and Mr. Rainero Lombardini in 1933 under the name of "Lombardini Fabbrica Italiana Motori S.p.A.". Adelmo Lombardini had already been manufacturing combustion engines since 1922 with a company called "Società Anonima Cooperativa Metallurgica" in Novellara (RE).Along with engines, the company of the two Lombardini brothers manufactured finished products such as pumping sets. After II world war this trend increased with production of agricultural tractors and tillers.

In 1963 a new premises were built in the outskirts of Reggio Emilia, which marked the transition to large scale production. Taking advantage of the tumultuous growth of the Italian economy and of the ever increasing demand for agricultural machineries, Lombardini enjoyed a long and steady expansion resulting in the company becoming an undisputed leader in small agricultural equipment. At this stage the company decided to abandon production of finished products in order to focus on bare engines alone. This change reflected a strategic decision of the company not to compete against their own customers.

During the years Lombardini became the most prominent Diesel manufacturer in Italy in its range to an extent to buy out its competitors one by one. Slanzi, Cotiemme, Acme and lastly Ruggerini company were all bought out and finally incorporated into Lombardini.

As the growth of the company went on its structure became more and more that of a modern industrial group. Commercial branches were established in UK, Spain, France, Germany and US. Aside the main premises in Reggio Emilia, new factories were established in Rieti (Rome), Czech Republic and India.

In 1999 Lombardini was sold to Mark IV Inc. and in 2007 to Kohler Company becoming part of its Global Power Group.

Products

Lombardini manufactures air and water cooled Diesel engines. It also has a small range of gasoline engines.

Air cooled engines:The Lombardini single cylinder air cooled engines are a classic. Old 3LD and 6LD have been sold for decades to the five continents and still today continue to power tillers and other application.15LD family is the latest single cylinder Lombardini manufactures. It goes from 220 to 500 cc and from 3.7 to 12HP.Twin cylinder and three cylinder engines are also available to reach a power output of 37HP.

Water cooled engines:Water cooled Lombardini engines range from 440 to 2200 cc and from 11 to 65HP. They come as twin, three or four cylinder. Lombardini has engineered a 440cc engine with common rail which is today the smallest common rail in the world.

Gasoline engines:The range of Lombardini gasoline engines has shrieked in the years. Today only two models of gasoline are available: a 9 and a 11 HP. Also a water cooled gasoline engine 20HP is still in production. Lombardini being part of Kohler group is now marketing the Kohler gasoline engines which range from 4 to 40HP and come in a variety of models and configurations.

Applications

Since its early days Lombardini has had a preferential link with agricultural machineries. This results in many such applications coming with a Lombardini. Tillers, motor-hoes, small tractors, professional lawn-mowers are often powered by a Lombardini. Many Italian OEMs like Goldoni, Ferrari, SEP etc would be in the count.A very famous mower binder of BCS has always been powered by Lombardini engines.

Construction industry is the second field of application of Lombardini engines. Machineries like trench rollers, reversible compactors, single drum rollers, vibratory plates, mini rollers etc are and example of that. Most of major European OEMs have some Lombardini in their production.

Automotive: this is one of the latest market Lombardini has entered. It includes Micro cars (Ligier, Chatenet, Giotti etc), Quads, ATVs and similar. For this market Lombardini has engineered a special engine 440 cc with common rail.

Other applications include Gensets and welders, tower lights, sweepers, high pressure cleaners, pumping sets, cranes, aereal platform and so on.

Licenses

During the years Lombardini has had license agreements with companies in different countries. Such agreements allowed a local manufacturer to assemble Lombardini engines for its local market under the direct supervision of Lombardini.All such agreements are expired by now and nobody is now authorised to assemble engines under Lombardini brand except Lombardini itself. Lombardini is also no more involved in ensuring the quality of such productions and where they continue the engines can not be considered genuine Lombardini engines.

External links

Lombardini website [http://www.lombardini.it]

Kohler website [http://www.kohler.com]