As a Munich-based company, we have grown from a simple smithy to the globally active MEILLER Group. Learn more about the company.
A pioneer of innovation
As a global player, the family-run MEILLER company has a history of success going back to the year 1850. With a history of continuous growth, MEILLER has constantly developed its range of services and expertise, becoming the market leader as a system provider in construction, waste management and the commercial vehicle industries.
How it all began
Lorenz Meiller had already established himself as a blacksmith and owned three Meiller smithies at Mauerkirchen near Endorf, Weissach near Tegernsee and Heilbrunn near Bad Tölz when he founded MEILLER in 1850. His hammer mill and armoury on Lilienstrasse in Munich’s Au district was approved on June 1, 1853 by the local building commission of the City of Munich.
Within a few years, he was supplying forged construction equipment and winches to the forestry and construction industries, and with the production of the first superstructure for a winched tipper on a truck in 1907 he laid the foundations for MEILLER as a tipper manufacture. When the company started making trailers, it received so many orders that it soon needed to build a new factory. Even then, MEILLER was already selling its products outside of Europe, in Brazil. Franz Xaver Meiller, his nephew and successor, continued his work. His achievements even impressed Prince Regent Luitpold of Bavaria, who granted him the title of Königlich-Bayrischer Hof-Werkzeugfabrikant (Toolmaker to the Royal Court of Bavaria). In 1917, he was awarded the title of Kommerzienrat (Commercial Counsellor) in recognition of his social commitment.
Post-war reconstruction
In 1918, after the First World War, MEILLER purchased the factory site in Hindenburger Strasse (now known as Landshuter Allee) in Munich. The company continued to do well – especially with tippers and lorry trailers equipped with MEILLER rack-and-pinion winches. In 1925 MEILLER constructed the first hydraulic three-way tipper, setting new standards in the industry by replacing winches with hydraulic tipper systems. After the bombardments of the Second World War, 70% of the company’s factories had been destroyed. But they were rebuilt with the support of the remaining workforce and MEILLER was soon back on the road to success.
The "economic miracle" years
In the 1950s, things went very well for MEILLER. This was a time of many developments and changes. For example, in 1956 MEILLER purchased a controlling share in the Josef Rathgeber AG rail wagon factory in Munich-Moosach. In 1962, Franz Xaver Meiller left the firm and his son with the same name, Franz Xaver Meiller (Dipl.-Ing.), took over and continued to develop the manufacturing range throughout the 1970s. To achieve greater production capacity, the company moved to the considerably larger Rathgeber premises. This is still MEILLER’s headquarters today. The Rathgeber production range, lift doors excepted, was gradually phased out in favour of tipper mass production.
Expansion
In the 1990s, the company opened new plants in Karlsruhe, Slaný in the Czech Republic, Waidhofen/Ybbs and Asten in Austria – an also founded MEILLER (SARL) France and the took over the IFE vehicle technology area at the end of the 1990s. In the following years, MEILLER continued the expansion course and in 2004 acquired the tipper product group from Kögel Fahrzeugwerke. In 2007 a new assembly plant was opened in Niepolomice, Poland. MEILLER Vostok was founded in Russia in 2011. In June 2017 MEILLER acquired the British tipper manufacturer Boweld Truck Bodies Ltd. The purchase of this company enabled MEILLER to expand its reach onto the UK market, while BOWELD gained access to new products such as tipping trailers, hook lifts and skip loaders.
Future innovation
We always seek to develop the best technical solutions and market-oriented innovations. To this day, many technical milestones and innovations from MEILLER continue to shape the sectors of construction, waste management and the commercial vehicle industry all over the world.
