ROS

Spanish Civil War and the 40´s

So it was in 1933 and after a continuous training, when Josep decided to open his own workshop in Artesa de Segre. Counting only with a universal machine and the tools necessary to be an artisan wood shop and for the manufacture of almost all types of furniture.

When the small workshop was working fine, the Spanish Civil War broke out, which meant a break in the evolution of business. At the end of the war, the workshop was moved to another place. A change of location due to the damage suffered in the first workshop. Josep restart the activity with the same enthusiasm and excitement that the first time, even things in Artesa had changed a lot. Times were difficult and complicated.

Mr Ros, a man dealer, will soon realize that the country reconstruction will lead to a high demand for furniture. This encouraged him to the opening of the first furniture store in Artesa, located on the road to Pons, next to the workshop and run by his wife Pilar Canosa Planes. However, the sale was limited to the region, which was clearly inside an agricultural and livestock environment. The orders were as varied as the arrangement of doors and windows, building wood furniture, and especially hutches coffins. The shortage of cash required to receive payments through trade or barter, which made it difficult to purchase raw materials.

In the mid-forties times were still difficult, although the country began to wake up. Communication networks, severely damaged during the war, were restored slowly, this together with the workshop´s capacity and the need for cash, were enough reasons for the introduction of the first Ros´representative, increasing contacts for the shop. In this environment Ros Furnitures starts making beds in series.

The 50s, The factory

The resources remained scarce yet and it was difficult to obtain raw materials or essential materials, tha was a reason to evolve further. Therefor what is now the furniture factory ROS1 S.A. was opened, producing very small beds in series, with very artisan methods, responding to private orders.

The fighting spirit will always characterize our founder, as the evidence that the only way to survive for a company was looking forward, would take to have responsibility for growth and address any changes without fear.

By then the factory had already three operators, Josep is going to feel excited about increasing the range of manufacture: from simple beds to include cabinets and tables, meaning what it was then considered “a room”. The start of mass production means another change: soon it was profitable. They started using a secondary treatment in our products, a very laborious hand-painted treatment, which will provide a level of quality well known then.

The 60s, new ideas

From here, the evolution will be gradual, and one of the many things that help to shape the company, it was the incorporation, in 1960, to the business, of the son of Josep and Pilar Ramón Canosa, Mr Ramón Ros Canosa, who is the current Ros group´s president, and probably captured by his father´s ambitions, he continued and continues with the same work´s philosophy and vision.

That initial market opened by Ros´ first representative in the 50s, now is going to extend to Aragon, Barcelona and Girona.

Mr Ramón Ros Canosa´s introduction into the business would provide a flow of new ideas and teaching practices within of a good intellectual preparation. it would bring a number of changes to the company, which was beginning to have a more professionalized directed towards planning and anticipate events with goals and objectives, the company established a certain reputation then. It was also about this time that the son of Joseph, Ramon, is going to design the current Ros´logo, to ensure recognition in the market and to demonstrate the seriousness of our products. The Textile industry working in Artesa and the large building sites such as the construction of Oliana´s swanp, were the main reasons for selling during those years. But it was time of constant changes, and the industrial development in the 60s will force an migration to the urban areas close to Barcelona. The construction of large number of houses provoked the strong growth of the middle class, this will allow a steady rise in demand.

The big cities became the new field of action, and any industrial development stimulated the development of Ros Furniture, which until then it had shown a personal growth. Driven by this strong demand, Ros has to adapt to new requests, starting for a system of gun polyester varnished, highly automated and very innovative in those days.

Ros Furniture continued to apply that desire for growth, and in 1964 it took place the first extension by acquiring a land of 700 m2 which was then the outskirts of Artesa. By then the staff in Ros was Joseph, his son Ramon, two officers, two trainees and two operators.

Things were changes in Artesa and the area. These changes haad an impact on the region´s socio-economy, even the main modus vivandi remained agriculture and livestock, both had lost weight and needed alternatives.

The 70s, the melamine

The continued society´s growth in constant transition and the decision to bet heavily on the product and made relevant studies to improve, it was the main point of the making of Ros furnitures. Then Ros furnitures went for an innovative material, which was recently in the market, melamine, made the first purchase in 1970. The evolution of these years is going to focus mainly on the product and apart of full bedrooms, we started to made dining rooms, the sales expanded to Valencia and a small upholstery shop was opened.

In 1971, Rosa Maria Gene, Ramon Ros´wife did incorporate to the company, now she is the manager of the company, whose commitment and contribution of new ideas work on the concerns where the company was always positioned. It will be also during that year when the company bought the first unit to acquire its own transport, it quickly became obsolete.

In 1977 there would be other important event for the company, it was the year of Josep Ros´ retirement, the founder of the company, however, for many years we enjoyed his company and small contributions, which always were highly significant.

The 80s, Ros1 S.A

The strong commitment that had been made for the product, expanding the sales area were beginning to bear fruit, the progressive staff´s increase, the forward-looking and a whole set of circumstances, forced the extension of the factory and the acquisition of new terrain (what is the present site of the factory) of 34,000 m2. Thus in 1981 were inaugurated the new premises of 4500m2, which initially have sufficient space for future expansions and machinery to produce melamine and furniture . Then it would begin a process of improvement, which will be the computerization of work and enterprise. It began with a single computer, which was later replaced by a central unit with other units in other workplaces. From this move we can say that Ros furniture enters in a evolutionary process of change of all levels of the structure´s company, therefor initiating the transformation to become a small industry.

Once the relevant investment in the new building took place, and when these facilities were already in perfect order, a fact totally unpredictable will end the winning streak that had taken that bet on the future, the old business units were totally consumed by fire, however, the upward movement of the market, the strong demand and the product´s great characteristics that were being manufactured, will cushion the effects of that accident.

It was in 1985 when Ramon Ros decided to name the company, Ros 1 S.A., therefore it became a corporation.

Thanks to the new facilities and high production capacity, it was make necessary to carry out a market study to expand the sale to the Spanish market and the islands, including Andorra, also in this time, we did some exports to Saudi Arabia.

Despite these improvements, the direction thought, following the trend of the leading countries in Europe, that the only way to continue growing in the right upline, it was by contacting with a technical adviser or an advisory cabinet to study and incorporate new perspectives, especially in technology. Ideas based on the German mentality, and thus add to the concept of European product. All this introduction of new ideas made a new phase, starting with a series of long-term planning, particularly five-year. In 1988 it held the launch of our first program exclusively designed with melamine, and in 1989 it was decided to start a controlled growth plan 5 years ahead, setting clear objectives, a strategy well accepted in European markets and with the aim of duplicate the figures of 1988. This should be achieved in 1994.

The 90´s, Objectives.

Aware of the fact, that the Spanish market was beginning to be saturated and that the future was to look abroad, we invested heavily in studies of foreign markets, quickly showing that the cancellation of borders in the European community, it had led the introduction qualitative barriers imposed by governments.

From this expansion project we provided a total change of work philosophy, as we intended on going from making stock to produce on demand, there was shorter time on orders, and now we pretend to satisfy other markets abroad, this would mean even more product variety. This increase in outward market brought a permanent changes in our staff mentality, from management to the client, trying to involve intermediaries. This would involve a total pipeline of efforts towards a new project, which it needed recycling and expanding the team. Probably the last impact, without being the least, was the technology and the need to incorporate new numerical control machines and easily programmable. We adopted the mentality of working with complete flexibility, and the result of this was to achieve the goals set in 1989. We also were able to get delivery to three days.

Our projection abroad started in an orderly manner, primarily in markets closer to us, France, Italy, Belgium, Czech Republic and Israel.

The next step was the incorporation of new departments within the company, Deparments that did not exist, and they began to be necessary, these would be Marketing, Design and Foreign, all essential for achieving new targets.

In 1994 a new phase of growth is set, again in a five years period, covering the period 1995-2000. One of the objectives was the internationalization of our products. For this is necessary to build 6000 m2 of premises, which would project to supposedly reach 15000m2 in total. At first one of these premises is intended only to satisfy and improve the demands of foreign markets, ensuring a better service, and making furniture mostly dismantled. Thanks to the modernization of our machines, we started covering the needs of internal and external market. It was also set a series of training courses for all staff, varying, depending on the department they belonged.

On May 96, our founder was awarded with the “Francesc Macia medal” handed by Mr. Jordi Pujol, in a ceremony held at the "Palau de la Generalitat", a recognition for all years of work.

In this decade, the company is awarded with other distinctions too, such as ECC label, the controlled quality label awarded by the Spanish laboratory, after a thorough testing, and the registration of quality demanded by ISO-9001 standards.

XXI Century, modernization and Future

Early in the first decade of this new century, the third generation is incorporated into the company, Mr Enric Ros, who along with Maria Rosa Gené, currently General Manager, will face the challenge of new changes, new technologies, and as they say, the more difficult challenge of all, the people´s challenge:

"Currently the design is an added value and an asset, but by itself is not a differentiator, because in a few days a successful design is copied by the market, also the technology that was once a clearly defined elements, is now available to any entrepreneur in a short space of time, the hardware and software today are already obsolete as a differentiating factor, only the people can turn a company into something else, and that is why the main challenge, the biggest challenge , is the Pepole challengue." Enric Ros

Again during the first decade of the twenty-first century facilities and land are extended to 150,000 m2 35,000 of them being facilities. It starts with total flexibility to manufacture, therefor facing greater product diversification, including more colors and sizes and adapting to the customer demands. A total mind shift at the factory represents an investment of 2 million euros a year in the last 5 years to get the best value for money in the market.

Other developments include the automation and robotic machines, bar code entry in our products, and complete traceability of our production.

Faithful to our commitment to the environment, we introduce the use of water-based paint that is biodegradable, instead of synthetic or solvents that harm the environment. We also started the "aspiration", dust extraction through filters, which do not leave residue in nature.

Inforos is born, a monthly magazine about the company where the worker is active and the main protagonist. A meeting place, opinions, news, greetings, suggestions for improvement and articles about the company. It have a great popularity.

We follow with the training policy and improving the staff knowledge, making people ready for more ambitious projects. We expanded the computerization of the company, intranet is introduced throughout the enterprise network. We are currently installing the entire fiber optic network. We also started the project CRM (customer relationship management) in order to improve our service to one of our core values " the client." The next step is to create free intranet, direct interaction with customers and distributors via the internet from outside the company, at the same time we continue improving products in terms of functionality, design and logistics.

About our last big challenge, “the people”, Ros is working on CSR (corporate social responsibility), we already have continuous training for skills, we started the project Ros Lean, with a team dedicated to this change in our work philosophy, folowing the Kaizen´s pillars (continuous improvement), TPM (Total Productive Maintenance) and other tools. The year 2010 will also is the year of our triple certification GIS (ISO 9001, ISO 14001, OHSAS 18001).

In 2006, ROS1 S.A. is awarded with the Premi Cambra al'Indústria al'Empresa, a recognition for its product´s quality and our work for improvement and innovation within the industry. During this decade the company products obtained numerous certificates and awards, both for its quality and commitment to the environment. Proof of these prestigious certifications are the European organizations who give them, such as the FCBA, TÜV. AIDIMA. Rergarding to other awards such as eco-label, it is worth it to mention the project EcoInnovation COT-BED OF A CONVERTIBLE. Pioneering project in Spain, where Ros1 and another four companies (not from the furniture industry), carried out a study with the CENFIM, Centre of Technological Diffusion of Fusta i Moble de Catalunya, the USC University of Santiago de Compostela and the ICTA, L'Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals. A laborious project, focusing on the environmental study on the life cycle of a convertible crib bed, in the case of Ros1. The study covers the life cycle of production of the convertible crib bed, including energy consumption and production of various elements used in its manufacture. About transport, it is considered as a set, that includes the transport of raw materials to the factory, the final transportation to the shop, to the point of use or home, and the transport to the rubish disposal. The project aims to incorporate the best available techniques and clean technologies to the production process of the the Second Transformation companies of the timber industry, minimizing the CO2 emissions to reduce their environmental impact and get greater efficiency consumption of raw materials and reducing waste generated in timber companies. Also in this decade, we established presence in France, Italy, Austria and Finland, began an expansion process in Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, Austria, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, Russia and Israel.

Currently our sales network has over 3000 customers only in Spain, some of which have relied on us since the day we began, 300 foreign customers and a network of representatives.