Rimaster was founded in 1982 by Mr Per Carlsson, then as a mechanical workshop. Rather soon, production of light machinery was supplemented by subassemblies of components for other companies.

In the early 1990’s, focus was shifted from mechanical products to assembly of electronics and electronical subsystems, where Ericsson, the telecom company, came to be a major customer.

The company grew steadily to reach a maximum workforce of approx 350 employees in 2001. Then, more or less overnight, the company faced a major setback as Ericsson, who counted for approximately 80 percent of the orders at that time, was hit by the telecom crisis and closed some factories that Rimaster supported with components as well as labour. Rimaster had to reduce the workforce with 70%, a blow that would have killed many companies.

However, being proud of the Rimaster spirit, we never give up so the then remaining about 70 persons were tasked to find new businesses and new customers. This time with a clear ambition that no single customer was to be too dominant in terms of volume or turnover.

Within a few years, cabling, that had been a steady although over the years a rather low-volume business turned out to be the new “bread and butter” for Rimaster. Today, cabling and spin-off businesses are our speciality, where we, biased but not still true, proudly can say we are among the world leaders.

Already in 1997, we had begun to take deliveries of cable harnesses from a Polish subcontractor, and as this business grew, we bought that company, or rather a subsidiary of it, in 2003.

Today, Rimaster Poland is our largest single production unit, with about 300 employees and still continuously growing. In 2007, we took a few important steps, or rather leaps, towards an even greater future, when we first acquired what today is Rimaster Development from Kitron and then Rimaster Kisa - now Ricab, Rimaster Cab&Mechanics - from Samhall, both units today important corner-stones in the new, broader Rimaster Group. The year after, in January 2008, we acquired the Söderhamn-based ElectroSystem Group and in December the same year Horn-Lack joined us.

In the meantime, we also managed to set up and start deliveries from two totally new factories and subsidiaries, Rimaster Czech Republic in Louny, west of Prague, and Rimaster Ningbo south of Shanghai in China. The Chinese factory has proved to be a success with both domestic (local) and global companies as customers. The Czech factory later merged with Rimaster Poland with production concentrated to Czaplinek, Poland.

2009 was a year of recession, following the global financial turmoil in general and the widespread crisis in the automotive and special vehicle business. Late that year, Rimaster was re-organized in four business units, in order to focus on prime business areas within two explicit market segments. This also allows us to offer our customers all the synergies that develop in the group, ranging from advanced design, development and prototyping to sourcing, manufacture and final assembly of systems and subsystems for European and global customers.