Mayer Braidtech merges with parent company Mayer & Cie

At
the end of 2020, Mayer Braidtech GmbH has merged with Mayer & Cie. Braiding
machine production and sales will be a separate division of the former parent
company. With this move, the circular knitting machine manufacturer has
formally completed the integration of Mayer Braidtech at the company’s Albstadt
headquarters. It began in January 2019 when the production of braiding machines
got under way in Albstadt. Mayer & Cie’s sister company Mayer Industries
had previously manufactured in Orangeburg, South Carolina, the braiding
machines that make reinforcements for high-pressure hoses.

“By
integrating Mayer Braidtech into Mayer & Cie we have formally completed a
process that for us has long been accomplished on a day-to-day work basis,”
said Patrick Moser, Managing Director of
Mayer Braidtech and future Head of Mayer & Cie’s braiding division.

The
production of braiding machines in Albstadt has been under way at full capacity
since the beginning of 2019; sales of the machines had long been based in
Albstadt. Moser said, “that is why the braiding machines are old friends, as it
were, at our main factory.” It was gratifying, he added, that there had been,
as hoped, synergy effects of circular knitting and braiding machine
production.  “We definitely benefit from
one another, be it in manpower, logistics or simply in sharing news and views.”

Current market requirements for tried
and tested technology

Mayer
& Cie has implemented various further developments since the machines have
been made in Albstadt. The most important is the improved drive system, which
is operated and controlled via a servomotor. Each deck of a double- or
triple-deck braiding machine is driven separately. Braiding machines are to
continue to be further developed and optimised. The division has its own
development department where several designers are working on improvements. The
team has already applied for a patent for the revision of a module. “We have
thereby laid a firm foundation for the further development of our machines to
meet market requirements,” Patrick Moser said.

Entire Machine Portfolio “Made in
Albstadt”

Mayer
& Cie’s portfolio currently consists of seven different types of braiding
machine. The Albstadt pilot series of six of them have been manufactured over
the past two years. All of them are available in single-, double- or
triple-deck versions. Customers can also configure their braider lines
individually. The acoustic protection booth, for example, is available on
demand with either a swing or a sliding door.

Mayer
& Cie Braidtech’s most popular model is the MR15-24 Carrier, which has
accounted for more than half of the machines made and sold over the past two
years. “The MR15-24 Carrier,” Patrick Moser said, “is a very flexible machine.
Hoses large and small can be braided on it. A special machine like an MR15-18
Carrier is more productive for making small hoses, for example, but the MR15-24
Carrier can be put to a wider range of uses.”

Mayer
& Cie sees standard hydraulic applications as the main use area for its
braiding machines. Well over half of the machines make reinforced hydraulic
hoses for excavators, construction or agricultural machines. Automotive
applications account for a smaller share, followed by offshore uses.

100 per cent exported

Braiding
machines are manufactured for export even more than circular knitting machines.
In 2019 and 2020, Mayer & Cie. Braidtech’s largest sales markets were China
and the United States, and Italy, traditionally an important target market,
followed at some distance in third place.