ROPAC 50th anniversary

A bit of history…

Originally, the company Métallurgie et Plastic SA used our actual site for drawing and rolling metal profiles. This production site also produced under Schoeller’s bottle crates license for the Swiss market before being purchased in 1976 by Alexander Schoeller. 

In the meantime, Mr. Albert Demond and Rudolf Liechti created in 1974 the Ropac® buckets to stabilize the fluctuating production volumes of the bottle crates. 

During the 80s and 90s, our Romont factory produced mainly bottle crates with a turnover 4 to 5 times bigger than the one generated by the sales of pails. And at that time, 70% of the Ropac® pails sales were made in Switzerland, mainly by the paint industry. 

The paint industry has gradually turned to lighter and cheaper foreign pails, our company has concentrated its Ropac® activity on segments close to chemicals replying to a demand for certified packaging for the transport of hazardous goods. At the same time, the Ropac® business has extended into industries needing to pack high value products in Switzerland as well as more and more abroad.

2005 : Pivotal year ! 

And this is how in 2005 the first Ropac® UN Liquid certified pails were launched on to the market, implying as well the increase of our export sales. With strong financial stability , the Ropac® ranges enlarged constantly and our sales as well, due to specific solutions in wide domains of applications. End 2014, our turnover doubled compared to 2004, our export volume increased from 30 to 70% in the same time. We sell now from Romont our Ropac® pails worldwide. 

The future for Schoeller Allibert Swiss Sarl and Ropac® products

There is no doubt that we will face a lot of challenges in the future: In a world of continuous improvement we are constantly looking to progress, not only by upgrading our production facilities from tooling to machinery, but also continuing to extend our knowledge experience due to constant stronger changes in worldwide regulations (food, pharma, etc).

The next few years will be marked with the arrival of new packaging solutions developed to perform in the toughest of environments and we look forward to introducing them to our customers. 

And it is natural that we want to thank our customers for their loyalty and trust, as well as our personnel for their engagement, motivation and strong belief in Ropac®