Ronal AG is a manufacturer of aluminum alloy

wheel A wheel is a rotating component (typically circular in shape) that is intended to turn on an axle Bearing (mechanical), bearing. The wheel is one of the key components of the wheel and axle which is one of the Simple machine, six simple machin ...

s for

car A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people rather than cargo. There are around one billio ...

s and

commercial vehicle A commercial vehicle is any type of motor vehicle used for transporting goods or paying passengers. Depending on laws and designations, a commercial vehicle can be any broad type of motor vehicle used commercially or for business purposes. Classi ...

s as well as shower solutions and bathroom furniture based in

Härkingen Härkingen is a municipality in the district of Gäu in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. History Härkingen is first mentioned in 1080 as ''quendam comitatum nomine Härichingen in pago Buchsgeowe situm (Kopie)''. In 1101 it was mention ...

, Switzerland. The company employs approximately 7000 personnel and produces both cast and forged wheels. The company is active in both the OEM and aftermarket for cars and commercial vehicles. In 2023, the former SanSwiss Group became Ronal Bathrooms, the company's bathroom and wellness division. The Ronal Group has 12 wheel production facilities, six bathroom furniture production plants, two factories for tool manufacturing, and a logistics center and has its own sales locations in eleven countries. The company produces approximately 16 million wheels annually for the

automotive industry The automotive industry comprises a wide range of company, companies and organizations involved in the design, Business development, development, manufacturing, marketing, selling, Maintenance, repairing, and Custom car, modification of motor ve ...

and its own brands Ronal and Speedline Truck. Ronal AG develops and produces its own production tools. This takes place at the sites Cantanhede in Portugal and

in Switzerland. The company also has its own research and development center in Forst, Germany. Ronal also owns Ronal Bathrooms AG (shower solutions and bathroom furniture), based in Gunzgen, Switzerland. Ronal AG headquarter

History

Ronal was founded in Germany in 1969 by Karl Wirth. The entrepreneur and

Formula V Fórmula V is a Spanish pop musical quintet founded in 1965 in Spain. The musical style is very much in the style of 60's rock similar to the Beatles and Monkees. In the late 1960s the band experienced enormous popularity in Spain and Latin Am ...

driver saw a need for aluminum wheels. Wirth thus became one of the pioneers of light alloy wheels on the global market. The first factory was opened back in 1978 in France. In 2007 Ronal AG purchased Italian wheel manufacturer Speedline, which covers the commercial vehicle segment including trucks, trailers and buses. This helped the group expand into the

racing In sports, racing is a competition of speed, in which competitors try to complete a given task in the shortest amount of time. Typically this involves traversing some distance, but it can be any other task involving speed to reach a specific g ...

and

Formula 1 Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

sectors as well as into weight-optimized

flow forming Shear forming, also referred as shear spinning, is similar to metal spinning. In shear spinning the area of the final piece is approximately equal to that of the flat sheet metal blank. The wall thickness is maintained by controlling the gap bet ...

technology. 83 FIA titles have been won on Speedline Corse wheels. In 2012, Ronal expanded its range to include forged wheels with the majority stake in Fullchamp in Taiwan. In 2013, Ronal AG joined forces with the Australian company, Carbon Revolution, to launch the first one-piece

carbon Carbon () is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalence, tetravalent—meaning that its atoms are able to form up to four covalent bonds due to its valence shell exhibiting 4 ...

wheel on the European market. With the acquisition of APP-Tech from Padova, Italy, the Group expanded its capacity in the forged wheel sector. In 2016, the Ronlog logistics center was opened in Forst, Germany. In 2019, the Ronal Group celebrated its 50th anniversary. In 2023, Ronal and the German private equity company Callista completed the sale of the subsidiary Speedline S.r.l. including the brands “SpeedlineE” and “Speedline CorseE” with legal effect from October 1, 2023. The Ronal Group will continue its support activities for the Italian market as well as Group-wide activities in its new company Ronal Italia Services S.r.l. Ronal acquired the companies with the associated brands Glass 1989, Karol (both Italy) and Kudos (UK, South Africa) for the strategic expansion of the Bathroom and Wellness Division. In 2024, the SanSwiss division was renamed Ronal Bathrooms. The SanSwiss product brand is renamed Ronal.

Divisions

*OEM: Original equipment manufacturing for automobile manufacturers around the world *Cars: Aftermarket parts sold with the brands Ronal, Speedline Corse *Commercial vehicles: OEM and aftermarket parts for trucks, buses and trailers with the brand Speedline Truck *Sanitary: Ronal Bathrooms, specialized in the production of high-quality shower units.

Technology

Ronal AG works to make the wheels lighter with technologies such as flowforming,

forging Forging is a manufacturing process involving the shaping of metal using localized compression (physics), compressive forces. The blows are delivered with a hammer (often a power hammer) or a die (manufacturing), die. Forging is often classif ...

and undercuting. Furthermore, Ronal AG uses process for the surface finishing like multi color rim (MCR),

pad printing Pad printing (also called tampography) is a printing process that can transfer a 2-D image onto a 3-D object (e.g., a ceramic pottery). This is accomplished using an indirect offset (gravure) printing process that involves an image being transf ...

laser A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word ''laser'' originated as an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radi ...

and

diamond cutting Diamond cutting is the practice of shaping a Diamond (gemstone), diamond from a rough stone into a faceted gem. Cutting diamonds requires specialized knowledge, tools, equipment, and techniques because of its extreme difficulty. The first guild ...

and

polishing Polishing is the process of creating a smooth and shiny surface by rubbing it or by applying a chemical treatment, leaving a clean surface with a significant specular reflection (still limited by the index of refraction of the material accordi ...

External links

* * https://www.ronalgroup.com/division-wheels/ * https://www.ronalgroup.com/ronal-bathrooms/

References

{{reflist Wheel manufacturers Auto parts suppliers of Switzerland Swiss brands