Founded 1907
 Hans Christian Axel Melbye (1879 - 1972) started his carrier as an independent trader, selling tin cans in Christiania, as Oslo was then known.
 Tin cans were the most modern and colourful packaging of their time - and his business developed well.
Electrical products from 1913
When visiting one of his customers, H. C. Axel Melbye was offered an agency that the customer was not interested in. The agency concerned materials for power stations and insulating material. This was the childhood of electricity, and Melbye, somewhat against his wishes, took on the agency. He didn’t know much about electricity himself - his love was tin cans.
Rapid growth
It soon became apparent that H. C. Axel Melbye’s agency was the goose that laid golden eggs. He soon had to take on staff to handle a steadily growing turnover.
 In time, his son, Arvid Røgler Melbye (1909 - 2002) joined the company. He was responsible for, and built upon, the efforts directed at the energy market.
Limited company
Arvid R. Melbye became a partner in 1940, sole owner in 1957 and formed the company as a limited company in 1960.
Hans Christian Aksel Melbye, his grand son, entered the company in 1964 .
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Acquisition and expansion
The company expanded strongly, and was highly profitable. In 1972, a dedicated production facility was built at Bjørkelangen, Norgear, a company in Sandefjord, and Nordiska Redskap AB in Stockholm, were acquired.
In 1977, the company moved into its own premises in Haavard Martinsens vei in Oslo. At the same time, Norgear was sold.
Listed, not listed
The company was listed on Oslo Stock Exchange in 1985. In order to reinforce its position within the materiel for electrical installations and electronic component sectors it purchased Klõkcner Moeller and Hefro Elektronikk. The business in Sweden was not sufficiently profitable and was sold in 1987.
In 1988, the Melbye family decided to buy back the company and take it off the stock exchange listing. In the years that followed, a strategy of consolidation was followed. First of all the electronics business was sold, and later, the German main supplier, Moeller, wanted to take over the business of Klöckner Moeller Norsk. In 1990, all of the business was gathered in new premises at Skedsmo.
New times, new ways
In the autumn of 2000 the core business was centred further round purer commercial activities. A limited, sales-supporting production activity and service joined the rest of the company at Skedsmo. Then the Bjørkelangen facility could be sold.
 We looked for new product sectors to strengthen our grip on the energy sector. The up and coming development of the communication infrastructure with optical fibre for broadband was an area that interested Melbye Energi`s existing customers.
Merger with the Swedish company QA Produkter, led to the establishment of Melbye Skandinavia as in 2001, with subsidiaries in Norway and Sweden. QA Produkter had a solid footing in the Swedish market in optical fibre broadband solutions.
During 2003 and 2004 our Scandinavian investment in the telecom sector was reinforced by the establishment of Melbye Skandinavia Danmark and the acquisition of PHI Fiberoptik in 2007. |
