became commonplace in formulations of coatings for cars and other vehicles. Lechler was the first in Italy to develop, make and sell a product based on such a raw material, i.e. Lechleroid which dried fast, could be sprayed and came in a broad range of colours. In those same years, as the first alkyd resins became available the company developed a product line made up of coloured synthetic resin-based enamels Syntex. The 1930s and 1940s: Onnik Manoukian Between 1929 and 1944, the first generation of Italian Lechler partners gradually passed the baton to a new leadership team: Onnik Manoukian, a Zurich Polytechnic chemistry graduate who had joined Lechler in 1925 as Technical Director, and Aldo Bruschi, a manager hired in the same year. Onnik Manoukian was the man who drove Lechler's technology renewal for many years to come. The years after WWII: development of the sales network In the years after the Second World War company's growth was built on the small facilities in Ponte Chiasso, a lean internal organisation and a small network of sales agents covering the entire market. Sales were promoted and boosted by product quality itself, brand image investment was minimal. Relations with distributors and users were on a personal basis. The 1950s and 1960s: new resins, new markets Like in the 1920s the development of new raw materials by large chemical companies allowed paints and coatings makers to develop a whole new generation of innovative products. Thanks to novel polyurethane resins Lechler was fast to launch some products: Isofan, a name in vehicle painting, Dermophan, in leather painting, Acriplast and its derivatives for painting plastic items used in the automotive and interior design fields. The 1970s: the start of a systemic model in product formulation and the organisation The 1970s marked the beginning of modernisation for Lechler: the management team got renewed with the entry of the sons of the two owners (engineer Noubar Manoukian and Renato Bruschi), and the organisation and technical structures were reinforced by the hiring of numerous technical staff and some graduates. The new facilities in Como-Rebbio were a reflection and a mirror of this renewal and a true industrial landmark. The new facilities embodied the convergence of the innovative industrial engineering drive of engineer Noubar Manoukian and the architectural vision and talent rooted in Italian rationalism of architect Manouk Manoukian. The company's modernisation was accompanied and supported by the progressive