Friction at the interfaces between two rolls and a strip being plastically deformed by the rolls is an important consideration in both theory and practice of metal forming. In this paper, a 3D rigid viscoplastic finite element method (FEM) was used to model the rolling deformation of ribbed strip, taking into account friction variation in the roll bite. The calculated results such as the rolling forces, torque, and the rib height of the rolled product while considering friction variation in the roll bite are compared with the measured results obtained from the experiments. The simulation shows that when the friction variation is taken into account, the results are in good agreement with the experimental ones.