The entire history of RoFlexs:
Conceived and produced from scratch by Torsten Menzel from Salzwedel in Saxony-Anhalt, who now successfully sells the unique systems on almost every continent with his company RoFlexs GmbH. But who is the person behind this idea and how did it come about?
The idea comes from the family, says Menzel. "In July 2005, I was unable to work for a few days when my then eight-year-old daughter wanted to help and dismantled the conventional pasture fence all by herself. She carefully wound the 200 metres of tape back onto the original roll, which, as we all know, is not always easy even for us adults. With the roll of fence tape under her arm, she walked from the pasture to the garden door, which was quite difficult to open at the time. In the process, the tape slipped off the roll and, as expected, got tangled. What does an eight-year-old girl do with such a problem, especially when there is no adult in sight? She puts it to one side (to put it mildly) and walks away inconspicuously."
A few days later, Menzel discovered the completely tangled fence tape. The initial annoyance was followed by the expectation: "There must be a fence system that combines all the materials and stows the fence tape away safely after use! "Take the fence post, set it up and pull out the tape - done". Dismantling should also be self-winding and time-saving. "There must be something like this for sale!" he thought to himself at the time.
Menzel couldn't let go of the idea, but an initial search for possible sources initially came to nothing. Days later, Menzel's further web search led him to the homepage of the German Trade Mark and Patent Office - with his search terms, the family man came across 3,500 potentially relevant patents. "It took ten minutes to set up the first patent specification, we only had a 56k modem at the time. That's when I lost my patience!" He persisted and called the patent office in Munich directly. They were able to advise him on a more precise search for the patent he was looking for and therefore for its manufacturer. In the end, there were five obvious hits, the first patent was for the tension belts used today at airports to guide the way during baggage checks or ticket processing. The other four patents did not match Menzel's intended use either.
"At that moment I got goose bumps, switched off the computer and asked myself. Me an inventor? No, definitely not! - was my answer."
But his ambition was unexpectedly awakened and an innovation was born. On a Saturday afternoon, Menzel built the original RoFlexs, a wooden fence post whose interior contained all the elements that made his idea feasible and plausible: Fence strap, spring mechanism, foot section. Then he let his daughters (3 and 8 at the time) play with it extensively and said that if the post was still in order on Monday, then it could really work. And lo and behold, the Ur-RoFlexs held.
"I took this original RoFlexs to the state capital, excited as a little explorer, to the Saxony-Anhalt Inventors' Centre (ESA) in Magdeburg. Ten days later, I received a call from ESA. The surprising message was that the idea was not only great, but also eligible for funding." That same evening, Menzel and his wife came up with the name: the product was registered as a roll flex rod, from which "Ro flex s", or "roll flex staff" in English, was derived. The web search engine quickly brought certainty - the name did not exist as a domain name anywhere in the world.
"That same night, I secured the website www.roflexs.com, and everything was complete: the idea, the patent, the name."
But what was the next step? Did Menzel want to produce everything himself? Or should the patent and trade mark simply be protected? No, decided Mr and Mrs Menzel a few weeks later, because their idea had long since become a matter close to their hearts. Menzel travelled back to Magdeburg with the wooden RoFlexs in the car and presented the model to the relevant ministry. This was followed by what has been Menzel's constant companion ever since: Enthusiastic approval and support for the product "Made in Germany".
He founded his RoFlexs company in January 2006. This was followed by a one-year phase of further development and toolmaking, and the sales launch itself took place in 2007.
This is also the year of the world's largest equestrian sports trade fair, EQUITANA, which takes place every two years. Menzel wanted to present his product there, but he simply didn't have the time to register for the EQUITANA Innovation Award. "The form disappeared into the drawer. It was more important to me to appear at the world's largest equestrian trade fair with a flawless product and a highly motivated team than to register for the awards ceremony in advance. As a newcomer - I was sure at the time - I wouldn't stand a chance anyway."
But the inventor and producer had not reckoned with the jury, whose members inspected the product incognito at his stand and were given extensive advice. Finally, the last member, Bruno Podlech, made himself known to Menzel. They were determined to honour this innovation despite the lack of registration, which for Podlech was also a question of the credibility of the competition.
The solution: The RoFlexs system was honoured with the "Innovation Discovery Award", also an innovation of EQUITANA, which awarded this special prize for the first time in 2007.
This practical product now achieved an enormous acceleration. Menzel was not only successful in terms of sales right from the start, but was also a regular speaker on podiums in the following months, "but it's not my thing to speak in front of so many people." he explains modestly.
But Menzel had to, because at the beginning of October he was honoured in Magdeburg as Business Founder of the Year 2007 ... ... and four weeks later he received the 1st prize as "All-German Inventor of the Year 2007" in Nuremberg.
Today, his RoFlexs® system is present on almost every continent.
Would the practical mobile RoFlexs system exist today if Menzel's daughter had had the fence tape roll rolled up normally and neatly back then?
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