After the war: Picañol and people smuggling

The post-war era clearly showed a change in the textile market. Although often hindered by circumstances resulting from the war, the company’s sales area slowly extended into other European countries. A number of Omniums were delivered to Hungary shortly after the end of WWII. Whereas delivery of the machines ran rather smoothly, their installation met with quite a few problems: the Picañol mechanics that had to install the machines were seldom granted a visa. One of those men, Raphael Versavel, was therefore smuggled into Hungary from Austria, hidden in one of the boxes containing a weaving machine.