Innovation, continuity and entrepreneurial family spirit are the mainstays of success
The year 2015 proved to be an eventful one for Mayer & Cie. In its 110th year in business, the company has produced and sold more machines than in any of the past 10 years or so. ITMA 2015 gave a big boost to the company sales.
Mayer & Cie., a family firm managed by the owner family’s fourth generation, estimates total sales of around EUR 93 million in 2015, an increase of more than 10 per cent over the previous one.
Records broken
“2015 was a very eventful year,” says Benjamin Mayer, Managing Director of Mayer & Cie. The 33-year-old entrepreneur is referring to the impressive business figures. “Over the past year we have manufactured and sold over 1,300 machines, steadily increasing our sales in recent years. In early summer we also shipped the 70,000th knitting machine from our production facility in Albstadt – an impressive testimony to our successful corporate history.”
In terms of sales revenue, which this year will total around EUR 93 million for the entire Mayer Group, the circular knitting machine manufacturer from Germany’s Swabian Alb region is by far the largest provider in the market. The long-established company is a technology leader too. That was evident once more at ITMA 2015 where Mayer & Cie. presented inter alia its new and extraordinarily highly regarded market-ready spinitsystems® spin and knit technology.
For another the past year has marked the company’s transition to the owner family’s fourth generation. Since the death of its Managing and Senior Director Rainer Mayer, his son and his nephew, Benjamin Mayer and Marcus Mayer, have taken over as Joint Managing Directors of the company assisted by Benjamin Mayer’s brother Sebastian Mayer. This well-planned change of generation has left the over a century old knitting machine manufacturer with an unusually young management team that has set itself the target of combining a modern corporate structure and culture with the Swabian SMB’s tried and tested strengths. Working for 40 years at Mayer & Cie. is anything but unusual, for example, and the same goes for investment in more sustainable production or in innovative start-ups.
ITMA in Milan sounds a positive note for 2016
“We are extremely satisfied with this year’s ITMA,” Benjamin Mayer says. “Above all, our new spin and knit technology spinitsystems and the first machine to use it, the Spinit 3.0 E, met with overwhelming response. The other four machines we exhibited at ITMA evidently also caught the spirit of the age exactly.”
The key data of Mayer & Cie.’s ITMA presentation underscores the Managing Director’s impression. Overall sales targets were met though the order books were amply filled prior to the trade fair and well-known phenomenon of a lull in orders ahead of the fair did not fully materialise. For the Spinit 3.0 E, which had its sales launch at ITMA, Mayer & Cie. booked three pilot series orders in Milan. Series production is scheduled to start in 2017.
Benjamin Mayer sees the positive mood at ITMA as a good sign for the year ahead. “We are going for sales growth in 2016 too and aim to continue to grow. That is why we are planning heavy investment in infrastructure, buildings, machinery and new products. Our aim is to set ourselves even further apart from the competition with our products and services.”
Location loyalty and globalisation
Much of this investment will be in the Swabian Alb region where the knitting machine manufacturer has been located since the company was founded. At present, around 330 employees work there in production, administration and development. Capacities are to be further increased, just as they have been and continue to be, at the company’s other production sites in China and the Czech Republic.
In spring 2015 Mayer & Cie. moved with around 30 employees to larger premises in China’s Shanghai province. Relocation lies ahead next year for the Czech production facility and its payroll of around 60 employees. The foundation stone for the new factory in Vsetín was laid in October last.
Machines are manufactured or assembled at all the three locations. At the parent plant in Albstadt most types of machine are manufactured, as are the central components of a circular knitting machine. The aim of the expansion of the Czech production facility is to increase capacities there by about 30 per cent. Machines, knitting heads and many other assembly-intensive component groups are to be assembled there in the near future, including the company’s current bestseller, the S4 3.2 II.
Final assembly is done at the production site in China. Two types of machine, specially developed for the Chinese market and, in future, for further selected markets, are assembled and shipped from Shanghai.