OUR HISTORY

Continued growth, innovative products and global expansion create a solid basis, for us as a company, for you as our customer, and for the future we share.

1900

Ernst Bucher founded the “Institute for Electrical, Optical & Mechanical Engineering” in Ravensburg with Raimund Finsterhölzl as CEO

1908

Raimund Finsterhölzl (RaFi) acquired ownership of the company

1947

New owner: Werner Raimund Finsterhölzl-Vernière (1909 – 2004), son of Raimund Finsterhölzl. The CEO was Rolf Kreeb, a former schoolmate

1952

Staff: 64 employees, sales: EUR 0.8 million

1970

Development and production of the first RAFI keyboard

1982

Establishment of RAFI France

1983

Development and production of flat data entry systems

1987

RAFI joined Hoesch AG, later Krupp-Hoesch

1988

Establishment of RAFI Italy

1991

Establishment of RAFI Hungary (RAFI Hungaria KFT)

1993

DIN EN ISO 9001 Certification (DQS)

1994

RAFI re-established as a private enterprise with Albert Wasmeier as a new shareholder

1995

Other shareholders: Gerhard Schenk and Michael Holeczek (until 2006)

2002

Implementation of SAP R/3

2005

Establishment of RAFI Systec GmbH & Co. KG, takeover of Elcoteq Überlingen, now RAFI Eltec GmbH

2006 

ISO/TS 16949:2002 Certification (DQS)

2008

Establishment of RAFI Electronics Co. Ltd., Shanghai, CHINA

2009

Takeover of Dekorsy GmbH i.I., now RAFI Dekotec GmbH

2009

Extension of the quality management system to include ISO 13485

2011

Certification according to ISO 14001

2011

Establishment of RAFI USA

2015

Establishment of RAFI Syscom, Mexico

2015

RAFI Group: 2,273 employees

2020

The new owner is the asset management company Oaktree

RAFI Dekotec and RAFI Syscom will remain with the existing owners