Extrusion industry loses Alessandro Macchi

One of the leaders in the extruder manufacturing business, Alessandro Macchi, 46, director of the company that bears his name, was found shot to death on November 2 at his house in Rapallo, Italy. According to local newspapers, his longtime companion, Johanna Malgorzata Lohninger, has been charged with his murder as the result of a domestic dispute. She left a suicide note and had taken an overdose of drugs, but has recovered and been arrested. The two have a 20-yr old son, Luca, who was not in the home at the time of the shooting.

Macchi S.p.A. is a leader in the manufacturing of blown and cast film processing machinery. It was founded in 1965 by Alessandro Macchi's father, Luigi Macchi, as a films processor, one of the first to process coextruded films, but Alessandro, who joined the firm when he was 19, was the driving force behind the firm's development to its current status as a leading extruder manufacturer with 100 employees and annual turnover of about euro 55 million from customers around the world. Other members of the Macchi family, including the founder, continue working at the company. The company's Board of Directors and management say they will continue to run the business following the strategy and plans set down by Alessandro Macchi.—[email protected]