25 years of M + M Turbinen-Technik GmbH

In retrospect, there is not one particular moment, the breakthrough, the one significant commission that company founder Edwin Mecklenburger can name as a turning point in the development of his company. It is the sum of events, highlights and setbacks that literally kept the momentum going. "To be successful, you have to have your heart in your company and your business in your heart," is how Thomas J. Watson, US entrepreneur and former CEO of IBM, is quoted. And the founder of M+M would also sign this statement. Because with a lot of passion and in a garage in the small district Milse in Bielefeld, the first sale of an M+M turbine took place after the GmbH was entered in the commercial register on May 3, 1995. The prototype was then delivered in November 1996. M+M had since moved to a 250 square meter hall on the Kisker site in Bielefeld-Milse. And so the story took its course. Until 2001, turbines continued to be successfully deployed and the workforce rose to eight. Even sleepless nights and setbacks should not slow Edwin Mecklenburger's irrepressible entrepreneurial spirit and determination, which regularly motivated the team and encouraged them to continue. "Money and fear, never known" is just one of many resumes the founder summarises his journey with a smile. At the latest an order from South Korea in 2003 laid the foundation stone for acting as an international company.

New developments from M+M were also supposed to revitalize the turbine market and so the first double-flow turbine was built in 2006, which has been replicated eight times to date. For company founder Edwin Mecklenburger, the tightrope walk between innovation and the tried and tested is a welcome challenge to this day. “We want to continue to be attractive to customers with new developments and innovative solutions on the market in the future, and still not forget where we come from and what basics we can rely on. Well-tried is not always a bad thing”, the mechanical engineer knows from his own experience. With all the zeal at M + M, the fun during and away from work must not be neglected. Overtime is sometimes done here at barbecues or Christmas parties. These festivals have been taking place in the new premises in the OWL business park in Bad Salzuflen since 2013. M+M had to leave the Kisker premises with a heavy heart. After a year of construction on the untouched property, the new headquarters of M+M has since been located in the Röntgenstraße in Bad Salzuflen. With a plot of 13,000sqm, an almost 2,000sqm assembly hall and 1200sqm of office space, another milestone was completed and a new one began immediately. In addition to the many exciting orders, the structures had to be different internally. By 2019, 60 employees worked at M+M, which brings new challenges for a former one-man company. But that also only made cohesion at M+M stronger. Because humanity and a sense of family are the main characteristics at M + M to this day and what the employees also carry on. The loyalty and ambition of the 58 employees, including the own family, confirm Edwin Mecklenburger's belief in the company and what it stands for: a company with a heart and passion for the steam turbine.