ROLEC's History

The 1960's

The idea for the original enclosure originates

At the age of 26, Friedhelm Rose began working independently as an entrepreneur. He initially focussed on building switchgears. Sales increased year on year. The company was profitable as soon as 1964. 1967 marks the beginning of the "age of enclosures". One of Friedhelm Rose's customers was looking for an empty enclosure for a switch. At the time, nothing of its kind existed. No one had invented it yet. So, Friedhelm Rose gave it some thought and developed the original idea for sealed enclosures. He modified a limit switch box, integrated a small terminal block into it and added cable glands on the outside of the enclosure. The first enclosure was born. The new "enclosure" product group developed progressively.

The 1970's

Growth, expansion and new ideas

​At the beginning of 1970 the Rose company moved into a new, larger company building. In the same year, company founder Friedhelm Rose developed an ingenious concept for sealed housings with separate fastening channels that are integrated into the shape of the housing. This idea formed the basis for a market segment that did not exist anywhere at the time. This idea has meanwhile been taken up all over the world and copied many times. Today it has become the unwritten standard for the mass production of enclosures. The company's rapid growth required new investments, which Friedhelm Rose could only realize together with a financially strong partner. He brought the company Industriegas Cologne on board. The current company Phoenix-Mecano emerged from this. The partnership worked splendidly at first and business was better than ever. But soon there were more and more differences. Many points of friction arose in questions of staff management and treatment. While for Rose the motivation of employees through personal and humane treatment and participation in the company's success was an essential factor for success, his partners saw it a little differently. With a heavy heart, Rose signed an exit contract, which also contained a non-competition clause. This farewell seemed to be the end of the industrial housing inventor.

The 1980's

World exploration and a new beginning

Friedhelm Rose used his unplanned freedom to discover the world. He first drove through the United States for eight months and saw more states than most Americans in their entire life. Then he went on his greatest adventure. From Porta Westfalica he embarked on a year-long journey through Africa, which at the time was underdeveloped. He crossed the Sahara, the Congo and East Africa. After his trip he moved back to the USA. In Florida he founded the "Rose of Vero Beach Inc.". They built turnkey houses and sold them. At times he also ran a plantation with orange trees and got to know life as a farmer. But despite all the successes in the USA, his heart was still attached to the development of new housing ideas. In 1985, the housing pioneer registered a new patent: a housing with only one channel in each corner of the housing, through which both the wall mounting and the screw connection could be made. But the patent would be of no use to him without a company that also produced this case. So he sold everything he had in Florida and invested a large part of his capital in a new company: ROLEC Housing Systems GmbH. At 51 years of age, he dared to start again from scratch. A conversation with his son Matthias was decisive for his decision to get back into the housing business. He joined the new company in 1986 as an equal partner. In 1987 ROLEC moved into the newly built premises on Kreuzbreite in Rinteln. In 1989 his daughter Betty Rose, who had learned her trade at the Bernstein company in Minden, also joined the family business. The start of a company history that is still being rewritten.

The 1990's

New ideas, new products, new patents

With ROLEC Housing Systems GmbH, the Rose family has broken new ground in housing technology right from the start. ROLEC has always made it its top priority to develop and offer new, user-friendly technical solutions. And so ROLEC has already set numerous milestones in housing development since it was founded. Together with their well-selected employees, each of whom lives their job 100 percent, several new products have been developed and patent pending in the first ten years since the company was founded.

The 2000s

Thanks to the company's positive development, things quickly became cramped at the headquarters. New staff in administration, expansion to the machine shop and new product developments led to ROLEC massively expanding its headquarters. A new office wing and new production halls were created. Simultaneously, the development of new enclosures, suspension systems and control enclosures did not remain idle. Numerous new developments displayed the family company's innovative prowess.

The 2010s

Go new ways

At the turn of the year 2010/2011, the ROLEC development department under the leadership of the housing father Friedhelm Rose presented a completely new product. The first series of enclosures in a round design: aluDISC. A case that is reminiscent of a wristwatch in its shape. A design highlight. But that's not all. A short time later, the product developers show another design hit: profiPLUS - a designer support arm system that uses the shape of the earth and the rotation around its own axis as the basis for a spherical joint. When it comes to the choice of materials, too, ROLEC has always been eager to experiment and innovative. At the end of 2015, ROLEC brought another new product onto the market, which once again set a clear design standard. The premium control housing multiPANEL. A perfect symbiosis of design and technology. A product that met with enthusiasm among machine builders and users from day one. multiPANEL shows itself to be the product innovation of the 2000s. Numerous new elements were developed for the profiPLUS design support arm system as early as 2016, and additional components were also available for the multiPANEL command housing, which has been successful from the start, to complement the portfolio. In 2018, ROLEC added the design HMI / control housing profiPANEL. With its concept, the profile housing is in line with the current trend and is quickly becoming the favorite housing of many customers with HMI built-in panels.

The 2020's

Future-oriented product development

The beginning of the new decade sees the launch of a new product innovation: taraSMART - a modern suspension arm system for light to medium loads. The first interested customers quickly show up, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all trade fairs and customer visits had to be cancelled. But the new support arm system is convincing and so the product takes off with almost no advertising. The next sensation was introduced in the spring of 2022: aluDOOR a new generation of diecast aluminium enclosures. This unique-design housing series features an integrated hinge in the lid. A further development of the successful aluCASE series and nevertheless a fully new product.