Over a 100 years
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The Maillefer company originated with a family of Swiss industrialists and entrepreneurs who shared the same name. One brother Auguste (1838-1916) started the dental instrument company in Ballaigues which is still operational today. Meanwhile the younger brother and founder Charles-Louis Maillefer (1848-1920) went on to open his workshop in Romainmôtier in 1900. |
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The future extruder company began manufacturing file-making machines. It grew modestly until Charles-Albert (1884-1960), the second son of the founder, took over the business. He incorporated it in 1920 under the name of Etablissements Charles Maillefer. Three years later the file-making business was sold off. The workshop continued manufacturing a wide variety of other products including knife-sharpeners, gas pressure controls, vices, tractor wheels, and keyway-cutting machines.
The first orders for cable making equipment arrived in 1925. The cable making equipment included paper-lapping, quadding and assembly machines. In 1941, the company's first 80mm plastic extruder was manufactured with a surprisingly short 6 L/D.
The initial steps into extrusion proved successful. In 1962 the world famous BM screw design was invented. Translated from French, Brevet Maillefer means Maillefer patent. The mixing technology was to revolutionize the plastic extrusion industry. The manufacturing program then grew beyond cable to include pipe and profile making equipment.
By 1968 the tight quarters in Renens already held 300 employees. Plans for a new factory were made. Four years later, the company moved to its present location in Ecublens just outside of Lausanne. From that point on, technological success was regularly achieved with the arrival multi-layer extrusion, CATV lines and SZ stranders, computer-controlled lines, Monosil extrusion, and fiber optic cable making.
The company went public in 1987 and the merger with Nokia was announced that August. Nokia's cable machinery division brought with it a long tradition of cable making expertise dating back to 1912. The program immediately grew to include CDCC dry curing lines, EKP 50 dual take-up and reel handling systems.
The new company Nokia-Maillefer continued to grow. Technological advance brought along Extrucell™ foaming, innovative turn-key projects, and more recently the Conex® conical extrusion technology. Further acquisitions in related industry segments expanded the program. A corporate identity was created in 1998 to unite the various companies under the unique name of Nextrom.
Recently, major industry restructuring and differing product growth rates created favorable conditions for newfound independence. The metallic cable & pipe business was thus separated into an independent company and it took on a familiar name, Maillefer.
Today the new Maillefer continues to build on over a century of tradition to serve customers with fine plastic extrusion and reel-handling technology. It maintains manufacturing sites in Switzerland and Finland, and has offices in Moscow and Shanghai.
