In memoriam: Vincente Fisas Comella

Vicente Fisas Comella, founder and honorary president of La Farga, a Spanish manufacturer of semifinished copper products and their alloys for the electrical, metal packaging, railway, tubes, automotive, billets and special conductors markets, died 10 April 2016, in Sant Joan de les Abadesses (Girona), embraced by his wife, his 12 children and more than 30 grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

A ceremony will be held in his honour Friday, 15 April, 2016, at the Colonia Lacambra Church, located on the company’s premises.

 Fisas’ association with La Farga hearkens back to 1980, when the law firm he was part of was entrusted with resolving the industrial and financial crisis the company Francisco Lacambra of Masies de Voltregà, Spain, faced. Rather than declare bankruptcy for the company, Fisas and his son-in-law Oriol Guixà sought to restructure the company, founding La Farga Lacambra SA.

The company’s position has changed greatly since 1980. The company supports its employees, which today numbers more than 300 people, and pursues an innovation and reinvestment policy. As a result, over the past 35 years, La Farga says its invoicing has grown exponentially as it has increased its production capacity and international presence and taken on a global leadership role in copper refinery technology, with technological patents sold all around the world.

According to La Farga, Fisas leaves behind a company that is prepared to face the challenges brought about by the market. In 2015, the three Les Masies de Voltregà companies invoiced €887,994,775, with 181,977 tonnes produced at the consolidated level, with more than 40% of direct exports, and an after-tax cash flow of €11,010,976.

Fisas also was a key player in creating La Fundació La Farga, a foundation that dedicates more than €100,000 annually to higher-study scholarships. The annual budget is €250,000.

In a news release announcing his death, the company states, “We must not forget his great contribution to the success of the family company, in having created a strict family protocol governing standards of good company governance, currently a point of reference in our country.”