Roof tiles made in Sweden

Benders – a successful family-owned business

Fig. 1 Karl-Erik Bender, Chairman of the Board, and Ove Bender, Managing Director, in front of the exhibition park at the company headquarters.

Fig. 3 Manual production of custom roof tiles.

Fig. 4 Outdoor storage area.

Fig.5: The horse breeding stables, another Benders division.

Since 1960, Benders has been producing premium concrete roof tiles at its Edsvära factory in Sweden. The company had started out many years ago with a small roof tile machine and has now become one of the largest concrete product manufacturers in Scandinavia that even operates sites across Europe. The family-owned enterprise also runs a small business airline and a successful trotter horse breeding business.

Company history

In 1960, Karl-Erik Bender launched the business together with his brother, Arne, and his father, Knut, operating a small concrete roof tile machine. A friend showed him an advert of such a machine, which triggered the idea to manufacture such products. Initially, the company was operating in a small market with many competitors. However, Benders concentrated on satisfying market needs early on. In the beginning, the business was even ridiculed just because concrete roof tiles were delivered to Gothenburg, 120 kilometers away from the site. Yet this strategy paid off very...