Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2009/07/22
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Sad news Yesterday, the business section of the Hannoversche Allgemeine, our local paper, reported that the last remaining employees of Franke & Heidecke (formerly Rollei Fototechnik) in Braunschweig have now been made redundant, The company filed insolvency in February and the liquidator now sees little chance of the company recovering, as it has as good as no assets (its premises are rented and the machinery is leased). He did, however, mention that certain parties are still interested in maintaining the production of Rollei Professional cameras - who they are was not disclosed, nor was how they intend to operate. Good news for the 16 apprentices at the factory, they have been promised an opportunity to complete their apprenticeships at other companies in the region. So, it looks like the professional segment of Rollei has now ended its long history after a brave attempt to keep it afloat by messrs Franke and Heidecke (descendants of the original founders of Rollei). The name of Rollei continues in the marketing organisation that was spun off a few years ago to market Rollei-branded digitals manufactured in Asia and moved to Berlin. Douglas