Lechler

Lechler is a medium-sized Italian companies in the paint industry with over 400 employees and about 100 million euros and a brand that has the development of paints and coatings in the work areas car paints, industrial coatings, architectural coatings and boat paints actively involved in its 150-year history. Today, the company produces the two Italian locations Como ( Lombardy ) and Foligno (Umbria ) and sells mainly through retailers in Italy, by means of four European subsidiaries in Manchester ( UK ), Grenoble (France), Barcelona ( Spain) and Kassel ( Germany ) and in a further 60 countries by importers and their distribution network.

History

The present company Lechler Spa comes from the Italian branch of the German company Christian Lechler and son successor, which was founded by pharmacists Christian Lechler, 1858 in Stuttgart, further developed by his son Paul Lechler and discharged therefrom in 1878 to the officers, to move on to other activities to devote in the field of chemistry and spray systems for liquids. Two features have marked the long company history: a continuous ownership succession and corporate governance, resulting in the company itself developed with a discontinuous presence of a same family, but for decades was instrumental in founding, then do not, to allow for the later development of the company again an role to play.

The Italian branch of the German Paint Factory was established in 1889 under the direction of German engineer Hermann Spindler in Ponte Chiasso (Como ). The first clients were small, not yet specialized in paints traders, artisans and companies that need to coat especially the materials wood and iron: coaches, wagons, trams and furniture.

After the decision of the German parent company to close the Italian branch, the three officers Brizzolara, La Regina Rizzi turned to the local banker Edoardo Clerici ( later known as Banca Amadeo renamed ) so that it brought together a community of owners, in the company invested where they would be shareholders and directors. In a short time he managed the banker to win a sufficient number of partners, so that the limited partnership Chr Lechler & Figlio Successori was founded in February 1910 which came into the ownership succession and corporate leadership of the former branch. This operation is a compelling example of the funding model, which in Italy was the engine for industrial development in those years. Using electric power only machines, setting of a trained chemist in the laboratory: Under the new leadership the industrialization of paint production began. Also the image was renewed: As with other paint factories, one animal was in the hallmark introduced for Lechler an " eagle with outstretched wings."

In the second half of the 1920s, the gradual conversion of the naturally occurring raw materials synthesized products was performed ( linseed oil, resins, pigments based on naturally occurring metal compounds ) on chemical processes. The nitrocellulose, which was used in World War I in large quantities for the production of explosives, found its way into the formulation of coatings for cars and trucks. In Italy Lechler was the first to develop a product of this type, and sold ( Lechleroid ), which dried quickly, applied by spray application and was offered in a wide range of colors. In the same period, the first alkyd resins allowed the introduction of the pigmented resin lacquer series ( Syntex ).

Between 1929 and 1944 the first generation of leaders leaving gradually the company's management at the at the Federal Polytechnic of Zurich ( now ETH Zurich ) chemist Dr. Onnik Manoukian, the technical director came in 1925 in the company and long time operation, the technological innovation of the company, and Aldo Bruschi that was set in the same year for the administrative management.

The growth after the Second World War has been realized with a clear workforce at the small location in Ponte Chiasso, which served the market with only a few sales representatives. Advertising and sales growth were based mainly on the high quality level of products and very little on investments in the company's image. The communication was based on the direct relationship of the Company's personnel with the dealers and users of the products.

As in the 1920s brought the big companies in the chemical industry in the 1950s and 1960s, new paint raw materials on the market that allowed the development of a completely new generation of products with innovative features. The new polyurethane binder enabled Lechler, early develop market-leading coatings: ISOFAN was the product name, who made history in the Omnibus coating, Dermophan enabled the re- use of historical methods for leather coating and Acriplast with its various derivatives was the solution for the coating of the numerous new plastics, both in the field of automotive manufacturing, as well as in house facilities played a major role.

In the 1970s, the modernization of Lechler began: The two sons of the owner, Noubar Manoukian and Renato Bruschi joined the company management, and technical and administrative organization was reinforced by a variety of settings by engineers and graduates. Concrete sign of renewal was the new factory in Como- Rebbio, which simultaneously marked a new era of industrial buildings in Italy: The interaction of the system technically innovative idea of Noubar Manoukian with the sensitivity and the architectural expression of the architect Manouk Manoukian, who in his roots had Italian rationalism. The renewal process was supported by an increasing use of computer science of all divisions, from production to management, research and development, and accompanied. In the product development was the great innovation, the rationalization and integration of the formula and tint stock in a systematic platform to mixed systems ( ISOFAN, BOD, Extralucido, Isoacryl, RS ) that on the basis of the continuously growing number of different market demands both in paint technology, as well as could be met in shade -specific perspective.

In the 1990s, a new production facility in Foligno, central Italy was opened, which was originally planned for decorative paints and then gradually for the production of water-based paints all work areas has been expanded. In the same period the internationalization of sales fell: first, by the opening of the European stores in the UK, France, Spain and Germany, and then worldwide through the distribution network. During these years the major research topics were the development of environmentally friendly product lines for automotive refinishing ( Hydrofan and Macrofan ) and further developed polyvalent industrial coatings and architectural paint mixing systems ( Lechsys ) and DAC ) for which the Lechler Training Center (Centre for Excellence ) training for the Fahrzeuglackierer and refinishers in various fields took place.

In the 2000s the company a corporation with a business model based on market segment-specific brands and business fields for Automotive Refinish ( Lechler ), industrial coatings ( Lechler Tech), architectural coatings ( Chrèon ) and boat paints was based ( through the acquisition of the historic brand Stoppani ). Since the 1990s, Lechler collaborates with the Italian Historic Vehicle Association (ASI Auto Moto Club Storico Italiano) in the research, preservation, and unification of the archives of specific product and color information that was used for the coating of vintage vehicles. Result of this collaboration is the Official Register of Historic Motorcycle colors Lechler -ASI, which lists the colors used for all manufacturers by brand, model and year of manufacture. Furthermore, Lechler contact for artist Fabrizio Musa, Mariko Mori, Marco Della Torre and Raymundo Sesma to find suitable lacquer solutions for their needs.

Constitutive Act of the company Chr Lechler & Figlio Successori