Over 30 years of experience in manufacturing lifting platforms

The first ideas to facilitate the apple harvest.

The roots of our company reach back many years before the firm was founded in 1995.
Walter Windegger, as the oldest child on his parents’ farm, was familiar with a variety of agricultural jobs from a young age. He realised the need to make the work easier and quicker by using suitable machinery. In 1988 he began, together with friends in Tscherms, to develop the “Luan I” and “Luan II” machines. These were examined and approved by the Italian technical supervisory body (ISPESL).

We had to work solidly for three days before the arrival of the inspector who was due to issue us with the final approval. We took it in turns to grab a quick nap and then afterwards continued working, welding, bolting, altering, sweating and almost despairing. The machine was only finished literally at the very last second. When the inspector arrived we were more than just a little flustered. The last test was to cut through the hydraulic hoses, because the machine needed to hold steady without collapsing in the event of a loss of oil pressure. I had volunteered to be the “guinea pig” that would stand on the working platform during the test. As my colleague cut through the hose, the oil sprayed out, covering the inspector’s clothes. What a sight! But everything went well! The machine did not move an inch and received the necessary approval. The funny thing was that we had never tried the machine out beforehand! That was a crazy time!”

Walter Windegger

In 1992 Walter Windegger was entrusted with the running of the sprayer testing centre by the South Tyrolean Advisory Board. An empty office building in Zollstrasse in Niederlana was rented for the purpose. In 1995 after the purchase of a part of the Margesin premises in St. Florian Gasse in Lana, Walter Windegger’s sole trading company became the “Walter Windegger & Co. KG” private limited partnership.

Windegger has always been a technical pioneer

The swift increase in lower growing trees in the South Tyrolean apple producing region and the associated increase in the amount of work needed to care for them resulted in new engineering challenges. As a result, from 1995, Walter Windegger constructed the Model K6 diesel engine driven elevating platform, which was produced and sold from 1997 to 2005.

Walter Windegger was in constant pursuit of newer, better solutions for his customers: For the many smaller farms, a smaller model – the K4 – was developed and sold from 1999 onwards. The patented system for emptying picking baskets was a unique innovation and remains unparalleled to this day. The K6 was then upgraded to the more modern K7, and, over time, electric motors superseded diesel engines. Windegger was the first-ever company to manufacture lifting platforms powered exclusively by electric motor.

Continued success came in the form of the neo crate transporter, a compact, highly manoeuvrable implement during orchard and vineyard harvests. Over the course of the years, the company went on to become Windegger GmbH.

In 2012, Windegger launched the new K8, a lifting platform that set new benchmarks. With its travel inclination of 58%, it was streets ahead of all its contemporaries even at that time and could be used for work on even the steepest of terrain.

Windegger harvesting machinery and lifting platforms have always been ahead of their times in their technological sophistication and undergo continuous development to ensure that they meet the most exacting of requirements. A digital networking link to the Windegger Connect system has now brought Windegger lifting platforms into the digital era.