Founded by F. H. Hodler in 1946 in Territet, Montreux, on the lakeshore of Lake of Geneva the company was first known as FONDAREX F. HODLER & Cie SA.

Fondarex started as an aluminium die caster and die maker well known for producing challenging parts. The first Vacuum systems were developed in 1952 to meet these challenges and in order to solve filling and porosity problems. Although this system was only developed for internal use, the increasing demand from other die casters lead to the creation of the brand OPTIVAC and the commercialisation, under licence, of the vacuum valves. It is from this first valve, that over the years most of vacuum systems today on the market under different names have developed.

In 1956, FONDAREX developed another equipment for the die casting industry that was well ahead in time. The Telemetal (an automatic metal transport system) was a unique ladling system. The ladle would move vertically into the metal and dive under the bath surface to collect metal. It was also possible to fill the ladle with inert gas. This system allowed a constant, turbulence free and oxide free dosing. This system is still in use at various die-casting shops all over the world.

In the early 70's, FONDAREX decided to focus exclusively on the development, marketing and worldwide sales of vacuum systems and "Telemetal" dosing system. The die casting production was stopped in 1978 and the first commercialised vacuum valve, the "Membranovac" was launched to market. This valve already had an absorption mechanism to damp the pressure peaks at the end of the filling process. Also here, some of these valves are still in production today and we keep supplying spare parts!

In 1989, after the death of the Founder, Mr. Hodler, the company was taken over by Mr. Baumgartner and the name transformed to FONDAREX SA.

With the success acquired over these 50 years, FONDAREX has become the leader in pressure die casting vacuum systems.

Based on a "Teamwork" philosophy that is not only lived inside the company, the customer forms integral part of our activities. The new facility in St-Légier and a highly skilled and experimented staff of 25 people enables FONDAREX to assist customers for a vacuum system integration from the early stages of the die concept all the way to the production start.

The evolution of the pressure die casting technique has reached such a high level, that each customer has to strive for perfection in his production. It is therefore important to provide precise prediction of what benefit will result from the use of a FONDAREX vacuum system.

In many occasions, after providing a vacuum application drawing to a potential customer, we then propose a trial run at the customer location. This is for the customer the best way to evaluate the results and for us of course the perfect way to show the facts that a vacuum system integration is not only solving filling, porosity and aspect problems, but it is also giving additional insurance that the production process is under control.

FONDAREX has a standard line of equipment, but is also capable of engineering and designing equipment for specific vacuum applications. Providing such a service is necessary in order to find the right technical answers to the new die casting techniques. It also gives us the certitude to bring the products customers need to the market.

Trough our philosophy, we remain very close to our customers, a large portion of the building is dedicated to customer technical training and research and development, while our standard products are sold worldwide, the next generation is being tested at key account customers for final evaluation and the following generation prototypes are build and tested in our R & D department. By doing so, we can truly say that we always are at least one generation ahead.

FONDAREX is present today in 47 countries. Our office branches in Hong Kong, in the USA and 20 agents spread around the world are here to ensure a fast and efficient customer advice and service.

In order to react quickly to customer demand, finished products and spare parts are readily available on short notice. Thanks to this type of precise organization, FONDAREX was certified ISO 9001 - 2000 last year.

F O N D A R E X   S A
Route Industrielle 13
Z.I. du Rio-Gredon
CH-1806 St-Légier (Switzerland)

Phone : +41 21 943 00 00
Fax : +41 21 943 00 01

Internet : http://www.fondarex.com
Email : info@fondarex.com

 

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