SaMASZ – a Polish manufacturer that is gaining ground here in Ireland – brought a delegation of Irish dealers and customers to Bialystok (Poland) to get a look inside its new factory.

The company – via distributor Timmy O’Brien (based close to Mallow, Co. Cork) – is keen to build awareness of its brand-name and its products.

Also Read: ‘One-pass’ raking and baling in Ireland, but with a Polish twist

Readers might already be familiar with these machines; some have been in this country for several years.

A SaMASZ triple-mower outfit pictured at last year’s Grass & Muck event at Gurteen College

In any case, Timmy is encouraged by the new factory; it’s part of an overall investment stretching to over 90 million Polish Zloty (over €20 million).

At present, up to 750 people work there (at peak times); there is scope for that to increase significantly in future.

SaMASZ is probably best known for its mowers – both disc and drum-type machines. But it also builds a growing range of tedders, rakes, hedge-cutters and even snow ploughs.

In the vast dispatch yard behind the factory, we spotted a diet (tub) feeder (pictured below). It’s actually the result of a collaboration with a local manufacturer (and, unlike the other machines, is built off-site).

The company also has an agreement in place with Maschio Gaspardo, whereby SaMASZ supplies machines to be sold under Maschio Gaspardo’s brand-name (and in its colour scheme) in some markets.

All told, SaMASZ lays claim to being a significant player in the agricultural machinery manufacturing sector in Poland.

It, for example, says that it is among the top five in the country – in terms of output. Other key Polish players include the likes of Unia, Pronar, Metal-Fach and Ursus.

Production is now reportedly up to 9,000 machines per year, encompassing anything from basic two-drum mowers right up to contractor-spec ‘butterfly’ machines.

Here in Ireland, Timmy now has six dealers on board – dotted about the country.

These are:
  • Agrimann Ltd (Carnaross, Kells, Co. Meath);
  • Kieran McAteer (Banbridge, Co. Down);
  • McGrath Agri Contractors (Kiltown, Co. Kilkenny);
  • Tobin & Cantwell Ltd (Coalbrook, Thurles, Co. Tipperary);
  • West Waterford Agri (Ballymote, Tallow, Co. Waterford);
  • WW Doherty Ltd (Adare, Co. Limerick).

A brief history of SaMASZ

The SaMASZ story began in 1984, when mechanical engineer Antoni Stolarski opened his own 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.

Advent of 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.

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