Within our company, research and development are extremely active areas that are the key to our success. Over the last few years, research and development have experienced greater growth than any other areas within Rühle. We believe that, in our endeavour to take real innovations into standard production, we have to start with basic research.
We thus collaborate with scientists and researchers working in universities in the field of food technology and process engineering. 

However, the work of our own development centre forms the core of our activities. More than 10% of our staff work here, developing new products and preparing them for standard production. The long list of national and international awards we have received over the last few years is testimony to the general success of this work.
In addition to a highly-skilled technical development team, we also employ process engineers who make changes to food products and thus also to the market itself.

Our holistic approach also encompasses social changes and trends and therefore forms a link between machine construction, electrical engineering and food products.

On average, our developers are five years ahead of the competition when it comes to computer technology, servo technology and complex sheet-metal designs.

We have been producing cube cutters and strip cutters since 1966,  automatic curing machines since 1972 and tumblers since 1975. Other products such as frozen meat cutters and netting machines were also included in the range as the years went on. In 2001 the curing centres came onto the market and with the packing centre in 2004 we succeeded in breaking into a different sector of the market. The company is still in family ownership and continues to be managed by the Rühle family.

Company history and key dates

Summer 1966   

 Company is founded by Marlene and Willy Rühle.

The company offers new and ingeniously simple technology that it uses successfully in its dicers and strip cutters for butchery.    

1972    

Thanks to a new generation of curing machines, automatic curing is now also available to the trade. These machines guarantee the company continued growth until well into the 1980s.   

1976     

The first trade tumblers for small and medium-sized companies are launched.

A multi-functional machine known as the “Mengtumbler” is introduced that, in addition to tumbling, can also mix, dry-salt and mature meats. Within just ten years, the Mengtumbler has become the most lucrative machine in the butcher’s shop and many new kinds of ham are now available from the cold-meats counter.    

1980    

A frozen-meat cutter is developed that, thanks to its great efficiency, is ideal for medium-sized butcher’s shops.     

1981     

The 1966 cutter is superseded by a new range of machines, which are regarded as the pioneers of stainless-steel processing in butchery.    

1987     

The final assembly division is moved into new production facilities spanning an area of 2000 m².   

1991    

Death of the company’s founder, Willy Rühle. Marlene Rühle takes over management responsibility along with her son Claus.

Phase of expansion is characterised by willingness to embrace new technology and to take risks

1992    

The Rühle net applicator is launched and introduces the application technology of aromatic netted ham to butchery.  

1993     

The HighTech Tumbler is manufactured in standard production and is thus affordable for the trade. This technology revolutionises the production of cooked ham. This generation of machines is still highly successful today and is becoming increasingly widespread.

Construction of the new, ultra-modern production building spanning 5000 m²

Restructuring of the entire company and focus on high-tech marketing that is still valid today.

1994     

Bavarian State Prize for Trade Innovations for the HighTech Tumbler generation of machines

Development of an innovative cutting-machine concept that uses state-of-the-art technologies and that can realise unprecedented cutting tasks.

1995     

Federal Innovation Prize for the new generation of cutting machines

1996     

Federal Innovation Prize for the HighTech Tumbler, which is now PC-controlled and can also boil. This is a pioneering achievement in technical control that results in a shift towards precision electronics and new machine intelligence    

1997     

The third generation of cutting machines is developed and, thanks to its new handling and hygiene features, is today still the most popular Rühle machine  

1998     

Federal Innovation Prize for new high-tech cutting machine  

1999     

The fully automatic SR 3 cutting machine is launched and is the first network-compatible machine on the market for line integration.  

2000     

Expansion of the production building by 1300 m2, further expansions are planned  

2001     

Bavarian State Prize for Trade Innovation for  the cutting machine with lift

The curing centre is established and, with two models, delivers completely new ham qualities, handling benefits and hygiene standards. 

2004     

The packing centre is the first real innovation for more than 20 years and is a completely new innovation for the market.

Federal Innovation Prize for the VR 1 packing centre

The IR 112 curing centre is launched and introduces a totally new level of convenience and industrial network capabilities.

Current size of workforce: 165

For us, quality means achieving just the right balance between innovation and perfection. 

Perfection

We regard perfection as always offering our very best in terms of our  products, services and our capacity as consultant in the field of food technology. Giving our best means paying attention to every last detail and achieving perfection in all that we do.  

Our employees regard perfection as the benchmark by which their work is valued. They work hard both for our customers and for themselves, taking even apparently insignificant details into account. 

Innovations

Within our company, innovation means making adjustments to perfection in order to move forward with new products. All innovations always involve a degree of qualitative risk. The greater the innovation, the greater the risk to perfection.
All innovations therefore undergo a lengthy trial period, both in-house and with a number of test customers, so that the associated risk can be accurately assessed before product launch. Here, too, our desire to achieve perfection is evident since we want to intercept as many technical problems in advance as possible.
In the unlikely event of something going wrong with our products, we generally repair the damage within a matter of hours if the product is still within its 2-year warranty period. This is possible thanks to the very best service available: highly-skilled technicians with a mobile spare parts store who correct problems on their first visit in 98 % of cases. 

Quality assurance

Every year, independent bodies put our quality systems to the test in order to ensure that we are on the right track in our quest for quality.

We aim to provide customers with the greatest possible benefits - to enable them to reach their short-, medium- and long-term company objectives to optimum effect.

We develop, produce and market entire application concepts by combining optimum machine technology with optimum application services and optimum after-sales service.

Our staff have a high and growing level of specialist and detailed knowledge that puts us in the vanguard of innovation and technology, as well as enables us to offer a top-quality service.

We maintain close relations with both customers and suppliers as a basis for  the transfer of expertise and ongoing learning.

We set ourselves the highest quality requirements in terms of production and performance.

We aim to achieve an average annual growth of 10 % and finance this in the medium-term exclusively via capital resources.

Our flat management structure is aimed at encouraging individual responsibility and an entrepreneurial mindset in order to guarantee creativity.

We aim to enhance the value of the "Rühle" brand in order to achieve market leadership at the highest possible level