Marco Poretti, Managing Director of electroplating supplier La Fonte, interview: Robert Piterek
Mr. Poretti, your company sells pumps and filters to electroplating companies. Which markets do you supply your products to?
We sell to over 50 different countries around the world. Europe remains the reference market with Germany, which together with Italy, is our main market. The USA and Brazil are markets that have been served for years by retailers in the region, while in recent years we have paid particular attention to developing the eastern markets, especially India and the countries in the Indochina region, with good results and prospects.
"Germany is our main market alongside Italy!"
How is business developing in Germany?
After coronavirus, the market recovered unexpectedly quickly and we practically reached our pre-crisis sales results in 2022. However, with the start of the war in Ukraine and the rise in energy costs, as well as the start of the international crisis, we saw a slight decline in sales in 2023. We can compete with our competitors in Germany thanks to the expertise we have developed over 50 years of activity. Another point in our favor is that we are able to adapt our pumps and filters to various specific customer needs. Our often customized solutions also have an excellent price-performance ratio.
With the start of the war in Ukraine and the rise in energy costs, as well as the start of the international crisis, we had a slight decline in sales in 2023
Our business in Germany has always been represented by various distributors or manufacturers of electroplating systems throughout Germany. In order to provide better service and support to our partners and end users, we have become increasingly aware that we need someone to represent the company here and take care of the various areas where our products are needed. Salvatore Bongiorno has been our representative here in Germany for about two years. He knows our products and has a long technical background in selling chemical products and equipment in the electroplating industry. He grew up in Germany and speaks perfect German and Italian.
Another line of business is metal recovery. This is very promising, as metals are becoming increasingly expensive. How do you see this?
We have two main markets. The electroplating and printed circuit board business and the jewelry business. Over the last ten years, we have developed machines to recover precious metals such as gold, silver, palladium and other metals from the process. This is waste from the process: powder and parts that remain in the process and can be recovered and reused by our machines. This is a great advantage for our customers. It is a market that has grown strongly in recent years. The jewelry industry is strong in Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
La Fonte has been around since 1975, why don't you tell us about the history of your company?
Our company was founded by my father. The idea came about when he was on Lake Maggiore with Antonio Andriolo and another friend, where the three friends liked to spend summer weekends with their families. One of the three already had experience in the electroplating industry and wanted to do something in the field of filtration. It started from there. Antonio, who remained a partner in our company until 2021, has always been involved in casting the various plastic parts of the systems, while the other friend decided to leave the company shortly after it was founded. My siblings Sonia, Andrea and I started working in the company in the late 1980s. We became owners of the company in 2021.
INFO
La Fonte is an Italian supplier of pumps and filters for the electroplating and jewelry industry, based in Vedano Olona in northern Italy. The company employs 32 people in its own 4000m2 production facility. The founder Roberto Poretti, father of Marco Poretti, is now 82 years old and continues to run the family business. The management is in the hands of sons Marco and Andrea and daughter Sonja. Marco is responsible for exports and part of the Italian market, Andrea for the Italian market and the gold sector and Sonia manages the administrative part of the company. Marco Poretti is married and has three children. Giacomo and Simone, Sonia and Marco's sons, started working in the company while studying at university.
