Breakthrough of the super Cutting-Unit

Ingenious inventions often take quite a while to come to fruition. The two company founders Robert Piasecki, 39, and Klaus Volkert, 46, were colleagues at a construction machinery company for many years before establishing their own business: Rokla GmbH in Langenburg, Swabia. At the heart of their business: a compact, ultra-light hydraulic cultivator called ROCKWHEEL, developed by British designer Ian Webster 20 years earlier. "We were convinced that Ian's innovation would be hugely successful," says Robert Piasecki. "In the past, an excavator was just a machine with a bucket but we made it into a multifunctional device that can be used to accurately mill, cut or excavate."

 

 

The prediction of the co-founders came true. In the first three years after its launch in 2013, sales increased by 82 percent to 4.2 million euros. 80 percent of the business with the ROCKWHEEL cutter is abroad. For the three men their arrangement proved to be ideal. Ian Webster, who was never keen to run a business himself, is involved in the company as the chief designer and is free to concentrate on further inventions. Robert Piasecki and Klaus Volkert, on the other hand, focus on building the product into a globally recognized brand. "Our goal is for ROCKWHEEL to be used instead of the word milling, just as Kleenex stands for all paper tissues," says Piasecki. To try and achieve this the two managing directors leave no stone unturned. There are 60 trade fairs on their agenda in 2018. Piasecki is convinced that the market potential is not yet exhausted and that the next inventions of chief inventor Ian Webster could have the potential to "change the world". Such as the new excavator attachment with hammer function, which is to be built in series soon. Attachments for compacting, profiling and cutting already exist. But apart from the innovative product, fate apparently also played a part in the future of the company. Robert Piasecki still clearly remembers how he was once sent to the airport as a young apprentice at the machine manufacturer Schaeff to pick up an unknown Englishman. This man was Ian Webster. "At that time I did not trust myself to say anything," says Piasecki. "20 years later I asked him if he wanted to become our chief designer."

Info

Rockwheel made by Rokla GmbH

Hauptstraße 197

74595 Langenburg

www.rockwheel.com

Sabine Piasecki

Telefon +49 (0)7905 941 99-0

Fax +49 (0)7905 941 99-20

Mobil: +49 (0) 172 799 11 55

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