RONEeS (Rostov Association of Information Carriers and Construction Materials), a Russian manufacturer of compact cassettes, began in 1988 as a cooperative recording and selling audio cassettes. It was located on the premises of the former Rostov Brick Factory No. 3, which ceased production due to environmental concerns.
In 1990, the cooperative was transformed into the "MELODIA" tape cassette factory (no relation to the "MELODIA" record company), which later became one of the founders of "RONEeS."
By 1991, 11 production buildings had been reconstructed and constructed, and the company began producing new cassettes on German DESSAU equipment, using their components and tape (this information has not been confirmed). By the end of 1991, approximately 12 million RONEeS cassettes had been produced, and by 1995, 36.4 million.
Later, higher-quality tape was purchased from the German company BASF, and from 1996, from the South Korean SK Group.
The company's products were sold not only in Russia but also exported to Germany and Austria. According to "Kommersant" magazine, approximately 5 million cassettes were delivered to German partners in early 1995.
In 1996, another video cassette production plant was opened, financed by government loans. Equipment was purchased from Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. As of mid-1996, video cassette production was approximately half a million units per year, with future plans to increase output to 2.5 million units per year. Magnetic tape from the South Korean company Sunkyong was used for the production of video cassettes.
In the late 1990s, with the decline in demand for audio and video cassettes, production was curtailed.
The factory also produced blank cassettes for studio recording. Besides sales, it apparently also produced copies, and was apparently one of the largest Russian centers for the production of pirated audio products in the 1990s. In 2000, the American IIPA reported on raids in the Rostov region and directly mentioned the RonEeS audiocassette manufacturing plant; the factory's director was arrested, and a criminal case was opened.
The RONEeS name continued to be used after the main period of audio cassette production. The audio production plant legally ceased to exist in January 2011, when it was liquidated by JSC "RONIS."