Countertrend: investing in Italian industry

Located in Campogalliano (Modena, Italy), one of the internationally best known Italian industrial districts for plastics processing, LAR vindicates those who believe that investing in Italy and in industrial production in this country is still possible and profitable. The Modena area was among those struck by the earthquake last May, but the company has recently been pulled out of its decline by a family of enlightened entrepreneurs.
After a temporary slump, production is growing again and it has been possible not only to save the jobs of forty-one employees but actually to hire more. LAR has recorded a 20% increase in revenues in just a few months and boasts over 4,500 customers throughout Europe in its portfolio.
Founded in 1939 as an artisanal workshop for the production of makeup cases, eyeglasses and combs, the company got its big boost in the 1950s, supporting the secret experiments of Giulio Natta that led to the production of the first object in Moplen isotactic polypropylene (PP-H). The year 2005 marked record revenues of 27 million euros, thanks to polyurethane foam insulation, grape-drying racks, pails and buckets, and jugs and bottles made by injection or blow moulding.