One man and his vision

The beginning of the Rotator industrial adventure startet with one man in a rather simple garage – the visionary chief engineer who in the 1950s left a career at sea and built an industrial business venture which was going to be of significance in a Norwegian, Nordic and international context.

The man was Gunnar Ellefsen, perhaps the most anonymous industrial entrepreneur who ever lived in southern Norway. He was only in exceptional cases portrayed in the media. But he was undoubtfully one of the most important dedicated and hard working visionaries. Few could imagine the scope of the mechanical adventure which was to unfold.

In 1959, Mr. Ellefsen registered the company "Ellefsens Reisereparasjoner" with three associates. The business-idea was to perform ship repairs. Later, Ellefsen purchased all stocks in the company. Simultaneously, as he had over 100 men constantly travelling doing repairs, Ellefsen began specialising in the manufacturing of ship equipment, gradually moving into increasingly advanced valves.

In 1963, he moved the company out of his garage and into modern production facilities on a green field at Nodeland, 13 kilometres outside Kristiansand. In 1996, the company changed its name to Rotator Norway and evolved from being an advanced mechanical enterprise into a high-tech company with the international oil industry as its primary market.

As the company entered the 1990s, Rotator´s management decided to specialise in product areas where the company either was market leader or had aquired substantial know-how. This lead to a stage where the the company finally could develop advanced hydraulic control systems and control valves which today are recognised to be amongst the best in the world.


With the expertise built up in the past and present, we will continue to support our customers movement into deeper waters and more hostile environments, however tough the challenges may be.