LEM Metals

It was in May 1974 when Dino Gualdani and Franco Rosadini planned the creation of LEM; they were both polishers in the field of metal buffing and polishing for important haut couture firms in Florence but they did not know that they would have been the forerunners of a “movement” that before long it would have changed all the manufacturing hub in the Valdarno area.

Owing to the econimic crisis of 1973 Mr. Gualdani and Mr. Rosadini were forced to change their initial project of electroplanting into a metal buffing and polishing one. Soon their firm became one of the most important in this sector giving a job to 50 employees (at that time this was really a great number). Many other workers (some of them were trained by LEM) following the LEM’s founders’ footsteps, gave birth to what is nowadays the most important manufacturing hub in Valdarno with more than 1,000 operators so that this area has become, at the national level, the leader in the metal buffing and polishing for the haute couture accessories (this represents more than 70% of the whole production).

In 1982 LEM reached its goal which was the realization of the first electroplating; soon after Mr. Rosadini leaved the firm and Mrs. Piera Debolini who was Gualdani’s wife took his place. In this period LEM became more and more a leader in the realization of high quality items and its commercial partners strongly appreciated the high quality standards of its production. Nowadays LEM’s customers are acknowledged leaders of haute couture on a worldwide scale.

In 1994, Mr. Gualdani’s death left LEM without a supervision; it was after this sudden event that Mrs. Piera decided to put their son Daniele in charge of the firm. At that time Daniele was a twenty year old boy without any kind of working experience but thanks to both workers and some loyal customers’ support LEM managed not to fall even facing lots of troubles. It is only after four years that the situation at LEM is stabilized thanks to the hard work of its young owner in all the departments of the firm.

1998 was the turning point for LEM; in fact Daniele realized that the future of the firm was the electroplating (tumble finishing together with metal buffing and polishing that was dismantled even with some regret because this last one was the boast of the firm).

In a very short time, what once it was only a little firm it soon became an emergent firm in the field of electroplating thanks to both the high quality of its products and the early age of its employees (less than 25 years old) which become the backbone of the firm itself.

Soon the old building became too small and in 2001 the firm moved to a new building (at that time the employees increased from 13 to 35). Nowadays, the firm has a 60% annual growth, 110 employees and a daily production of 150,000 items (5,000 of them are part of the pre-production samples). For these reasons LEM can be considered one of the most important electroplating firm in metal processing for the reailzation of haute couture items for the most famous Italian, French, English, German, American and Swiss brands.