Our 100-Year History
We have served the electrical/electronic industries for the past century.
Our founding company can be traced back 100 years to the establishment in 1912 of Continentale Isola Werke, AG in Düren, Germany. The name “Isola” was derived from the German word for insulation (Isolierung,) which is fitting since the first products manufactured by Continentale Isola Werke AG were insulators utilizing the then-revolutionary Bakelite plastic technology, which provided superior insulating and heat resistance properties.
Rütgerswerke AG acquired a minority equity interest in Continentale Isola Werke, AG in 1954 and the remaining equity interest in 1985. The company’s geographical presence and product lines were expanded with the acquisition of Allied Signal’s laminate business in 1999.
We began production of copper-clad, phenolic-paper laminates in 1956. Production of copper-clad epoxy laminates, the direct predecessors of today’s PCB laminate products, began in the early 1960s, and high-performance materials were added to the product lines in the early 1990s.
In 2004, our original sponsors established Isola Group S.a.r.l. by acquiring the assets of the Isola laminates business from Rutgerswerke AG. In 2005, Isola Group acquired the assets of Gividi SpA, an Italian manufacturer of woven fiberglass fabrics, which provides us with a degree of vertical integration for an important raw material. In 2006, we acquired the assets of Polyclad Laminates, Inc. from Cookson Group, plc, which extended our product portfolio and expanded our presence in the growing Asian markets.
We have grown both organically and through acquisitions over the past 100 years, and we look forward to another century of innovation and growth.