Picañol at Inlegmash in Moscow

At the Inlegmash-exhibition in Moscow, Picañol used the defeat of the Belgian football team against the Soviet Union at the World Cup in Mexico to attract attention. The Russian inscription reads: ‘Our looms are much better than our football team. Still, our sincere congratulations’. Pavel Popovitch, the Russian cosmonaut who made 49 revolutions around the earth in 1962, appreciated the humor of it.

New assembly hall

At the end of 1969, Picañol increased the level of recruitment. At that time, 2,137 laborers and 418 servants were employed at Ieper, causing an acute lack of space. Therefore, the surrounding area of the factory in Ieper turned into an enormous building site. In the spring of 1970, construction started on the new assembly hall, which had to be ready before the vacation. For the first time, a ring road was also built. The number of showers and water connections for washing were also increased and the "rolling stock" was renewed. For example, in March, new commercial vehicles were put into use. The cars, with closed bodies, answered to the name Hannomag (Hannover), with a loading capacity of 1,700 kg. Drivers Lucien Wyckaert and André Mechelen used both cars to organize shipments over domestic and international routes.

Start of casting work for third parties

In 1969, Picañol started performing casting work for third parties. In 1970, approximately two-thirds of the time was used for own production, and the other one-third was used for the production of casting work for external customers, such as Ford Tractor.

Picañol in Ethiopia and the visit of Queen Juliana

In the spring of 1969, Picañol took part in an exhibition in Asmara in Ethiopia. The exhibition itself was primarily designed to enable visitors to see what was produced in Ethiopia. Picañol was present with a C.M. President featuring a heavy twill fabric, with a speed of 230 wefts per minute. For the correspondents of Picañol it was a pleasure to see how many visitors stopped to admire the loom. Even a British competitor exhibiting its own looms could not believe how our looms could run this fast. Apart from visits from Sudan and Kenya, Queen Juliana of the Netherlands also visited the exhibition. She was very interested in the origins of our looms, stating - "Well, it's amazing all the things that are manufactured in the Benelux.”.

Picañol in the Far East

At the end of 1968 the Danish company Maersk inaugurated a new line to Asia, providing Picañol with direct access to the most important markets in the Far East. The "Charlotte Maersk "(13,900 GRT) was the first boat to ensure the new link between Europe and the Orient. After loading the familiar Picañol crates at Antwerp, some 164 President looms left for Hong Kong. Meanwhile, 100 looms went to our customer Textile Alliance, with the other 64 destined for East Asia Textiles Ltd.

The launch of Picanol Deutschland

On 18 January 1968 in Dusseldorf, a German subsidiary was established under the name Fa Picanol Deutschland GmbH. With this new plant, Picanol wanted to stimulate its looms sales in the large neighboring country. At that time, a significant percentage of the approximately 70,000 looms on the German market already came from the factory at Ieper. Germany was the most important export market for Picañol at the time, with around 7,000 Picañol looms delivered and installed over the previous ten years. The Board of Directors was formed by W. Vanhee and Emmanuel Steverlynck. The rest of the team was made up of G. Gebhardt and our regional agents - Müller, Ludwig, and Kuttler. The founding was divulged at a press conference, which was attended by plenty of journalists. One year later, Picanol Netherlands would also be founded in Almelo, for the local sales and service of the weaving machines, mechanical parts, and castings.