R. A. Rodriguez celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of its founding this year. It is a company that, to this day, remains focused on supplying precision engineering components to UK and European manufacturers but one that has also kept a keen eye on emerging technologies. This diligence ultimately led to the creation of RARUK Automation in 2016, a new sister company that concentrates on robotics and automation.

From the start, R. A. Rodriguez has chosen products with a unique edge and underpinned this with quality technical advice and applications support. One of its most important relationships is with Kaydon – now an SKF Group brand. It was central to the establishment of R. A. Rodriguez in the UK in 1968 and the enduring success of this partnership has led the company to represent Kaydon interests in wider Europe, with Turkey now a significant market for both companies.

Today, R. A. Rodriguez also acts as exclusive representatives to several leading international component manufacturers from Europe, USA and Japan, all approved to the latest ISO9001 and AS9120 quality standards. These include KHK stock gears, for whom R. A. Rodriguez is now the master European distributor, and Framo Morat, a world-renowned manufacturer of quality planetary gears and drives.

While long term relationships with linear drive manufacturers such as IEF Werner now come under the remit of RARUK Automation, R. A. Rodriguez continues to be home to Grob linear chain devices in the UK and also the Rodriguez brand of rotary and linear bearings that are manufactured by the company’s counterpart in Germany.

“This is an important year for R. A. Rodriguez and not just because we have reached this milestone,” MD Peter Williamson concludes. “We have just opened a new, dedicated demonstration facility for RARUK Automation in a separate factory unit close to our current premises.”