ROWI
| ROWI GmbH
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| legal form | GmbH |
| founding | 1885 |
| resolution | 2019 |
| Reason for dissolution | insolvency |
| Seat | Pforzheim , Germany |
| Branch | Manufacturing |
ROWI was a Germany-based manufacturer of fashion jewelry and watch straps , best known for its stretchable Fixoflex metal straps . ROWI is the abbreviation for the surnames of the two company founders, Eugen Rodi and Wilhelm Wienenberger.
history
Foundation and early successes
On October 15, 1885 Eugen Rodi and Wilhelm Wienenberger opened in Pforzheim , in a factory site with four employees, a factory for jewelery . In 1888 they switched to the production of doublé items ( metal goods refined with precious metal coatings). The first larger business premises were occupied in 1890. The company flourished, employed 80 people in 1890 and gradually increased to 350 employees at the end of 1899. In 1894 the company moved into a newly built factory building and employed around 700 people. In 1899 the company was converted into a stock corporation with a capital of 500,000 marks . A year later the company co-founder Eugen Rodi retired and the overall management was handed over to Wilhelm Wienenberger. In 1902 the company building was expanded by one floor, in 1906 an extension was added and a new five-story factory building was finally built in 1910/11.
Interbellum
After 1918, when business was fully up and running again after the First World War , the factory site had to be expanded again, which was done by purchasing the adjacent property
In addition to jewelry, cases for pocket watches are now also produced.
In 1924 Wilhelm Wienenberger resigned from active management for health reasons and joined the supervisory board . His place at the head of the company was taken by Karl-Wilhelm Katz, who played a leading role in the international export of the company's products.
Metal watch straps and watch cases were produced for the first time in 1929. ROWI now has around 1,500 employees. The company building in Pforzheim was almost completely destroyed in a bomb attack in 1944, but was quickly rebuilt under the direction of Katz.
The quarter around the company premises is called the ROWI quarter in Pforzheim.
Fixoflex: Post-war success and international expansion
The greatest success of the post-war period was the stretchable (watch) tension strap Fixoflex, which was invented by Karl E. Stiegele in 1952 and patented by ROWI worldwide, except for America .
For America, the inventor granted his technology to the Pforzheim relatives named Speidel, who marketed their tape under the names Twist-o-Flex and Expandroflex in the USA.
Since then, ROWI has produced around 500 different versions of the Fixoflex watch straps (made of steel, double, titanium and precious metals) and sold more than 200 million pieces. ROWI had also worked in partnerships with some leading watch manufacturers, such as Omega or later Swatch, in order to integrate the Fixoflex strap with certain watch models directly with their cases. ROWI also sold watches , mainly jewelery wristwatches , under its own brand name or, later in the 1970s, under its own brand UNIVERSA.
In 1960 Rodi & Wienenberger AG employed around 2,500 people and was able to sell its products in around 100 countries. In the 1960s, ROWI was one of the most dividend-bearing stock corporations in Germany. To secure the patents, subsidiaries, some of which are producing, were founded in England, Spain, France, Italy, Argentina, Brazil and Canada. Participations in the USA and Hong Kong were later added
The Fixoflex belts are now largely produced automatically using specially developed special machines.
In 1975 the turnover with approx. 590 employees was around 45 million marks. The business field was supplemented by an own precious metal separator and a semi-finished product production. In 1984, ROWI launched the Fixoflex 2000, the world's flattest stretchable watch strap, and in 1985 celebrated its 100th anniversary.
In 1991 the then board member Horst Dangelmayer took over the company as managing partner and converted it back into a limited liability company, from then on the company operated under the name Rowi Rodi & Wienenberger GmbH. In 1996 the old ROWI site is vacated and a modern new building is moved into the new industrial center of Pforzheim. In 1999 another patent application was made for the Fixoflex C with closed side panels.
In 2000 the business model was expanded to include ROWI precision, turned and milled parts technology.
Takeover and bankruptcy
In 2006 the company was sold and renamed Rowi Schäfenacker GmbH & Co. KG. It carried this name from 2006 to bankruptcy in 2010. After the takeover by a Vietnamese investor group under the management of Nguyen Trong Luat, the company operated under the name ROWI Präzisionstechnik GmbH from 2010 to 2019.
In October 2018 the company became insolvent again; after no new investors could be found, the company ceased operations in January 2019. There were interested parties, but the potential investors were ultimately of the opinion that it would be difficult to pass on the existing know-how to new employees in order to maintain the production of Fixoflex bracelets. This was because of the old workforce only two people remained in the production facility, both of whom had already reached retirement age .
Individual evidence
- ↑ ROWI Rodi & Wienenberger - Stadtwiki Pforzheim-Enz , accessed on January 12, 2020.
- ↑ History - RoWi Quartier. Retrieved on February 11, 2020 (German).
- ↑ ROWI Werbung 1975 HIFI Archive, accessed on January 12, 2020.
- ↑ User report company ROWI, Pforzheim :: The specialist department moved to the service data center. Retrieved February 11, 2020 .
- ↑ After 133 years - the Pforzheimer-based company Rowi puts the lights on from Pforzheimer Zeitung, accessed on November 15, 2014
