Von Roll® is a Swiss industrial company that focuses on products and systems for power generation, transmission, storage and distribution as well as e-mobility and industrial applications. Von Roll is a global market leader for electrical insulation products, systems and services and has a worldwide presence in 14 production sites with 1,450 employees. The company supplies customers in over 80 countries.
Von Roll® provides Essex Active with many products that are both high performance as well as high temperature which can endure multiple stages of manufacturing before arriving at its final product. Essex Active sells direct mica products as well as converts laminates and other raw materials that are primarily associated with the power generation sector.
The reputation for quality that comes with Von Roll® products is well known in the industry.
“We have had some of our larger customers specify Von Roll laminates because of their quality and their capability to produce a good product,” said Dave Bilbos, Production Planning & Inventory Control Manager for Essex Active. “It is a long-standing partnership and an excellent partner for us.”
Essex Active also has a reciprocated relationship with Von Roll® where the in-house team will produce the material, ship to Von Roll® for secondary operations to enhance it, and then have it returned to the Essex Active site for final manipulations.
Its Wiki page tells a the unique story of Von Roll® and its roots in the Eisenwerke der Handelsgesellschaft der Gebrüder Dürholz & Co. (Ironworks of the commercial firm of the Brothers Durholz & Co.) which was established in 1803.
The firm was taken over in 1810 by Von Roll® & Cie, newly formed by Ludwig Freiherr von Roll (1771–1839) and Jakob von Glutz. In May 1823, Ludwig von Roll founded the Gesellschaft der Ludwig von Roll’schen Eisenwerke which benefited from industrialization and railroad construction that demanded a lot of iron.
Following this, the business developed into one of the most important industrial groups in Switzerland with more than 10,000 employees in the 1970s.
Von Roll® suffered during the oil crisis of 1973 – like many companies – and had to reorganize its operations. Currently, the main shareholder is the August von Finck Jr. family with above 65% of the publicly traded shares.