Idra Group

Idra Group (Idra S.r.l.; originally Idra Presse S.p.A.) is a manufacturer of die casting machinery, founded in 1946 in Brescia, Italy. The company is notable for producing the largest high-pressure die casting machines in the world.

History
The company was originally founded by Adamo Pasotti in 1944 or 1946 with the factory located on via Triumplina in Brescia.

By 1956, Idra was seeking to export its die-casting machines outside Italy.

By 1971, an Idra OL-1200 S machine was being used to cast motor components weighing 7 kg for Porsche cars.

In March 2024, Riccardo Ferrario retired as general manager of Idra, with the role being taken over by John Stokes.

Hot years
During Italy's Years of Lead in the 1970s, Giovanni Maifredi worked at Idra as a warehouse worker, having been provided with a job without having any qualifications. Following the Piazza della Loggia bombing in Brescia on 28 May 1974, Idra factory workers organised a fifteen-day strike action and picket line outside the Idra factory.

Original site
The original factory site at via Triumplina 43 in the north of Brescia was developed into the Triumplina Retail Park, requiring construction of new roundabout junctions.

Ownership


, Idra was 30% owned by the Intesa Sanpaolo Bank, with 70% of the remaining shares acquired by LK Machinery, a company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

For the year 2015, Idra employed 161 people, and had a turnover of €87 million, with a profit of €3 million.

By 2016, LK Machinery had acquired the remainder of the outstanding shares.

Development


In 2000, Idra filed a patent application for die casting machine designed to produce two separate castings simultaneously from a single injection of liquid metal.