Joliet area getting new pipe manufacturing plant

Rovanco production facility to open in 2025

Rovanco Piping Systems business partners and cousins, Todd Stonitsch, left, and Chad Godeaux pose for a photo under the Brugg bell which is rung whenever there is a million dollar sell.

Chad Godeaux and Todd Stonitsch are fulfilling a dream of their fathers in a joint venture between their company Rovanco Piping Systems and a Swiss business as they partner to build a pipe manufacturing plant in the Joliet area.

Rovanco is a company that has worldwide influence but with an infrastructure product that goes unrecognized by the people who depend on it.

Motorists on Interstate 55 can see the new plant going up next to Rovanco operations along a stretch of the highway south of the Route 59 interchange.

From that location, Rovanco engineers and manufactures pre-insulated piping systems that can be found on all seven continents. One of its primary uses is for district heating, systems that use insulated pipe to distribute heat generated from a central location to residences, businesses and industry.

“We steam heat all of Boston,” Godeaux said, providing a glimpse of the company’s reach. “The whole city is heated by Rovanco pipe.”

Rovanco Piping Systems owner Chad Godeaux talks about the company’s pre-engineered pipes on Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024 in Joliet.

The pipe engineered and manufactured just outside Joliet is used in Saudi Arabia. In Antartica, it is part of a heating system for a military base. Rovanco pipe is used to heat Cornell University, an Ivy League institution. It’s used for public schools in the city of Los Angeles.

It’s a product not likely to ever become a household name, but one used for a fundamental human need to stay warm when temperatures drop below tolerable levels.

“We steam heat all of Boston. The whole city is heated by Rovanco pipe.”

—  Chad Godeaux, Rovanco Piping Systems president

Now, Rovanco has teamed up with Brugg Pipesystems, a Swiss company that also has worldwide reach with a unique flexible pipe product named Rhinoflex.

“We’ve been importing the product from Switzerland for 25 years,” Godeaux said. “My dad’s dream was to make the product here. It’s come to fruition, and it wasn’t easy.”

Rovanco has been a North American distributor of Brugg pipe products since 1998, when Godeaux and Stonitsch’s parents ran the company. In 2025, with the sons now at the helm, Rovanco will partner with Brugg to make its product for the first time outside of Europe.

Rovanco Piping Systems is partnering with Brugg Piping to manufacture pre-insultated piping rather then have them imports from Switzerland.

In a news release announcing the joint venture, Brugg said that the Joliet-area plant will speed up delivery of its product in North America.

Aside from the business potential of the venture, the sons of Rovanco’s founders take some satisfaction in fulfilling an ambition that their fathers had for the company.

Godeaux’s father was the late Larry Stonitsch. He and his brother, the late Richard Stonitsch, started Rovanco in 1969.

Richard Stonitsch’s son, Todd Stonitsch, is vice president of operations for Rovanco. Godeaux is the company’s president. Like their fathers, they are partners in the business that they acquired in 2018.

“We find ourselves in the position of realizing the dream and aspiration of our fathers,” Todd Stonitsch said.

Brothers Richard Stonitsch (left) and Larry Stonitsch founded Rovanco Piping Systems in 1969. 
The late founders developed the business into a worldwide company, which continues to do business from an industrial site just outside Joliet in unincorporated Will County.

The joint venture with Brugg continues the growth of the business that their fathers started when they recognized a need for pre-insulated pipe systems that was going unmet

“The evolution of the company has never ceased to continue,” Todd Stonitsch said. “It was a focus of both Richard and Larry to provide new and better products, always being focused on quality and customer service. That’s why they started the company.”

Rovanco employs 75 people at its facility, which is located in unincorporated Will County near Joliet city limits.

The Rovanco operations spread through several buildings totaling 150,000 square feet on a 13-acre site.

Rovanco Piping Systems manufactures pre-engineered pipes and imports pre-insulated pipes, background, from Switzerland on Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024 in Joliet.

The joint venture with Brugg will add another building and 12 jobs.

In a news release announcing the project, Geri Wirz, head of international business at Brugg, said the new plant will allow the company to deliver its flexible piping systems more quickly to customers in North America.

“As the leading provider of pre-insulated piping systems in the U.S. and our exclusive partner in this market for many years, Rovanco plays a key role in this partnership,” Wirz said in the release.

The manufacturing plant is scheduled to open in the first quarter of 2025.

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