Roll·Rite® designs and manufactures state of the art automated lorry tarpaulin systems for the global heavy duty road haulage industry serving the Construction & Demolition, Waste, Recycling & Scrap, Mining & Aggregate and Agriculture Markets. Our lorry sheeting systems reliably contain and protect our customers’ payloads, create a safer working environment for our customers’ drivers and maximise our customers’ financial return-on-investment through increased revenue and reduced cost-of-ownership.
From concept to prototype, to manufacturing, Roll·Rite® designs innovative trailer cover products and lorry tarpaulin systems to meet the most demanding covering applications in heavy duty road haulage. Knowing that efficient covering starts with the most efficient design, our engineering teams are engaged with transportation professionals around the globe seeking to understand application requirements and equipment specifications, and creating reliable and durable solutions.
Starting with manufacturing the industry’s most powerful and reliable family of electric motors, including the Roll·Rite®, the Tarp Stretcher, the Super Duty, and the Thru-Shaft, along with our patented solid state controller technologies and creative fabrication designs, Roll·Rite® continues to drive industry standards and provide the widest range of truck tarpaulin system variations and meeting the rigors of covering equipment such as tippers bodies, tipping trailers, hook loader containers and skip loader containers.
Into the Future
With continued growth, be it from new products, new markets and new customers, brings with it exciting changes. Since the third quarter of 2014, our entire Roll·Rite team has been operating under one roof in 68,000 square foot facility in Gladwin, Michigan, USA. We are very pleased with the results we have experienced in just 12 months.
CEO Brad Templeman, announced, “Our decision to relocate to a larger facility aligns with Roll·Rite’s overall strategic direction which includes taking steps to accelerate new product development, enhance application know-how within our core markets, increase manufacturing capacity and capability through streamlining operations, investments in manufacturing, and most importantly providing our people training and tools to do high quality work each and every day. All focused on creating “the Roll·Rite® experience”, globally.
Creating the Roll·Rite® experience is simple and straightforward. It revolves around an unwavering commitment to fleet focus which is our way of doing business. It seeks to understand customer needs within target customers or market segments in key geographic areas. It forces us to value only those things customers really care about, not the things we think they should value. It guides us to work to develop or enhance our products to meet the true needs of the end-user fleet customers and provide our target fleets the highest quality product, information and service packages, making them available wherever they choose to buy.
Purpose and Strength
Roll·Rite® designs and manufactures state-of-the-art, automated trailer and lorry tarpaulin systems for the global heavy duty road haulage industry serving the Construction & Demolition, Waste & Recycling, Scrap and Agriculture markets. Our systems efficiently and reliably contain and protect payloads, create a safer and more productive working environment for drivers and maximise our customer’s return-on-investment by increasing revenues and reducing cost of ownership.
Our foundation
Roll·Rite® Corporation was founded by Timothy and Marlane Searfoss shortly after the passage of the Michigan Tarp Law in 1989. Working out of a 1,248 square foot building located in Alger, Michigan, USA, Tim had begun servicing many of the local tipper lorry operators who, recognising his creativity, asked him to build a tarping system that worked better than the systems available on the market. Accepting the challenge, Tim set out to design the first direct-drive gear motor for tarping tipper lorries.
For a quarter of a century, Roll·Rite® has been leading the market designing and developing automated tarping systems for the transportation industry starting in 1990 with the RR101 first direct-drive gear motor and tarpaulin system for covering tipper lorries. In 1998, Roll·Rite® introduced the patented Super Duty gear motor with brake technology to meet the application demands of larger lorries and trailers. The popularity of this front-to-back tarpaulin system along with developing innovative patented technologies such as tension bows and under-body pivots, launched Roll·Rite® into becoming the technology leader in North America. Then in 2002, Roll·Rite® introduced the patented Tarp Stretcher, which became the power behind the first fully automated side-to-side lock-down tarping system, creating a secure and water-tight cover for the heavy duty transportation industry.
Michigan Passes Tarp Law
Founder Timothy Searfoss introduces First Direct Drive Electric Gear Motor for Tarping
Roll-Rite® becomes Roll-Rite® Incorporated, Alger, Michigan
Tarpaulin Design & Fabrication is added to Manufacturing Operations
Patented Super Duty Gear Motor Tarpaulin Systems introduced for Bigger Lorries & Trailers
Dedicated Gear Motor Development & Manufacturing Facility is added
TarpMaster® brand Electric Gear Motor Systems for Tipper Lorries is introduced
Roll-Rite® enters Australian market
Patented Side-to-Side Lock-Down Tarping Systems for Trailers introduced
Roll-Rite® becomes Roll-Rite®, LLC
Roll-Rite® enters European Market
Patented Multi-Flex Rear Arm for Side-to-Side Lock-Down Tarping introduced
Patented DC350 Sliding Pivot System for Roll-Off Lorries introduced
Patented One-Touch Control Technology for Side-to-Side Lock-Down introduced
Relocated to 68,000 Square Foot Facility Galdwin, Michigan, USA
UK website launch
Acquired Automatic Load Cover in Connecticut
New Council Bluffs Iowa Location. Acquired Pull Tarps Manufacturing
Australian/New Zealand and Canadian website launches
Dutch, Belgian and Swedish website launches
In 1996 Roll·Rite® added tarpaulin design and fabrication in order to meet the new tarping demands created by automated tarping systems, including the introduction of new engineered materials and designs leading to the Super Tough Mesh tarpaulin material, developed to meeting needs of the solid waste and scrap industries. Then in 2001, Roll·Rite® took steps to strengthen its commitment around automation and power tarping by investing in a 12,000 square foot building dedicated to gear motor development and manufacturing, including manufacturing our own gears, hobbing and heat treating. Having established ourselves as a leading manufacturer in the tarping industry, we began a period of steady growth, which drove the need to expand both capabilities and capacity, reaching 53,000 square feet
With a proud heritage and cherished history, Roll·Rite® today is located in a 68,000 square foot facility in Gladwin, Michigan, USA with a team of highly dedicated men and women who commit themselves each and every day to bringing to the global transportation industry the most innovative automated covering solutions and systems.
