Roll-Kraft

Welcome to Roll-Kraft . Our headquarters is located in Mentor, Ohio; and satellite manufacturing locations are located in Chicago, Illinois; and Woodbridge, Ontario, Canada; and Houston, Texas.    It all began in 1963 in Willoughby, Ohio, when founder and roll tooling maker, George F. Gehrisch started Roll-Kraft in a small house and garage. He had a simple business philosophy that incorporated understanding the customers’ needs and making them the very best roll tooling. This philosophy has enabled us to become a world leader and has generated prosperity for our customers.    In 1978, we constructed a modern new facility allowing us to expand our presence in the roll tooling marketplace. Expansion included the hiring of innovative design engineers and pioneering the utilization of computer-controlled equipment to manufacture rolls.

The steady growth of the company turned to rapid expansion in the early 1990’s. Roll-Kraft Northern, a satellite manufacturing facility was established to better service the Midwest, and the company’s ever-growing North American footprint triggered an international expansion. In a short time frame, Roll-Kraft’s tooling was sold in more than 50 countries. In addition, the offering of products and service was increased. Robert Sladky was hired as V.P. of Tube Mill Engineering. An expert in tube mill operations and maintenance, Robert led Roll-Kraft’s seminar and training program. These formal and hands-on training seminars have been provided worldwide, and create great value and insight for owners, managers, and operators of roll former systems. A natural extension of Robert’s talents was the rebuild of equipment to help our customers become more efficient.    In 1995, the company expanded into a different area of metal roll-forming. From inception, products and services were directed at producers of welded tube and pipe. A natural progression was to offer similar products and services to metal roll form manufacturers of open profile (non-welded) shapes. This roll form market expansion required the development of a testing and research division and hiring the brightest design engineers. Today, we have the largest roll tooling engineering staff in the industry. In 1999, continued growth prompted the company to construct a new, 110,000 square foot, state-of-the-art design and manufacturing facility in Mentor, Ohio.