A Mayer & Cie. circular knitting machines turn around swiftly and incessantly and for ten years the German company’s factory in Vsetín, Czechia, has helped to ensure that is and continues to be the case.

On the occasion of its tenth anniversary Mayer & Cie. Czechia, or MCZ for short, sent out invitations to a festival that Benjamin Mayer, Managing Director of Mayer & Cie., described as a ‘family event’.

It focussed on the approximately 70 employees of MCZ who made successful development possible over the past ten years. Around 35% of all Mayer & Cie. machines are now assembled at the Czech Mayer works. They include S and D line machines and knitting heads for the factory in China.

Benjamin Mayer congratulated his team on this success, saying: “You all do an outstanding job every day and we are proud of employees of your calibre!”

Something of a risk

In his anniversary speech Managing Director Mayer described the Czech subsidiary as a “showpiece enterprise that makes a substantial contribution to the success of Mayer & Cie.”

In this connection he emphasised the work of Stanislav Stastny, who managed MCZ from 2011 until 2018, and Production Manager Rainer Müller. In 2011 the early days had been anything but easy. Back then Mayer & Cie. itself was in heavy weather after the economic crisis and scheduled insolvency in 2009.

“2011 was a time of departure for us, of positioning the company soundly for the future,” Benjamin Mayer recalled. The challenges were to face up to competitive pressure from Asia and cater for burgeoning demand. When in 2011 the opportunity arose to take over Amtek, an insolvent company in Czechia, Mayer & Cie. grasped the initiative. The company had a payroll of around 25 employees and an empty order book. Yet the takeover, Mayer said, was “nevertheless something of a risk.”

Inauguration of new premises

The decision quickly proved to have been the right one. Just a few years later the Mayer & Cie. CZ payroll had trebled in numbers. Assembly, administration and the small in-house development department needed more space. The ground was broken for a new building one and a half times the size of the old one at the end of 2015. In the autumn of 2016, the company moved in. It was, Benjamin Mayer said: “a milestone in the company‘s development”.

This success story is to be continued—together with the employees and the Managing Director Jan Gottfried. After two difficult years due to trading disputes and the Covid pandemic the Mayer Group is back in a growth phase. It anticipates 2021 sales on a par with the pre-crisis level.

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