Presses for the economic miracle

After the turmoil of the Second World War, MAE concentrated
entirely on mechanical engineering. The rapid development of oil hydraulics in the 1950s offered the opportunity to create a strong second pillar with its own range of presses.

After the end of the war, MAE was initially without a management team: Gerhard Götzen was only able to obtain permission from the occupying powers to continue the company in 1950. His son, Hermann Götzen, returned from war captivity in 1947 and studied business administration in Cologne until 1950.

New start after the war

Apart from damage caused by looting, the company headquarters at Steinhof had survived the turmoil of war largely unscathed. This meant that production of the pre-war program could begin again quite quickly. The cooperation with Pöting was continued. Shelf and brake production also resumed in the early 1950s.

A decisive program expansion for the further development of the company resulted from a short cooperation with the company Eitel KG in Düsseldorf. As oil hydraulics had quickly established itself after the Second World War as a versatile drive for machines with high process forces, a large market for hydraulic presses had emerged. Hans-Georg Eitel was a talented designer and entrepreneur in equal measure. He designed presses, some of which were assembled at MAE. Eitel moved its headquarters to Karlsruhe in 1956. In the process, MAE was able to take on a design engineer and thus lay the foundation for its own standard press program. In the 1950s, this resulted in the C-frame presses of the T, E and S series.

Concentration on the press business

The period of the economic miracle brought a receptive market for these simple, hand-lever controlled machines. Forming, broaching and straightening were the main machining processes.

Additional qualified employees were needed and hired for the sales and design of the hydropresses. Shelf and brake production was abandoned in 1961 in favour of the press business. The share of total sales accounted for by presses was continuously increased. On the one hand, the company ventured into machines with significantly higher pressing forces, and on the other hand, new designs were added. The horizontally operating versions of the RI series have been realized as well as complex special machines, for example for assembly or gluing, and sophisticated multi-acting forming presses. The specially equipped broaching presses also quickly found their market. In 1959, another market niche was opened up with the construction of the first wheelset press for the rail industry.

Change of leadership

Gerhard Götzen increasingly withdrew from active business from the mid-1960s. His son, Hermann Götzen, was unable to fully take over the management of the company due to an increasing physical ailment. Therefore, from the end of the 1960s to the end of the 1970s, the operational business was largely shaped by Manfred Deutschewitz, who had been hired as a design engineer in 1961, but after a short time was mainly taking care of sales tasks and later took over the technical lead.

Disputed recipe for success

An important foundation stone for the further future of the company was again indirectly laid by the Eitel company, which presented a stroke-controlled straightening press for the first time in 1964. Until then, only pressure-controlled presses were used for straightening. Such machines were also produced by MAE. They required considerably skilled operators, because with many materials, once the yield point has been exceeded, even a slight further increase in the pressing force causes a considerable increase in stress. Hardened workpieces in particular were frequently overstressed and cracked or broke.

The stroke control was therefore an elegant solution to this problem and a great success for Eitel in a short time. MAE reacted quickly and, together with Rexroth, also built a precision stroke control for a new S RH series straightening press, which is still in production today.

Eitel had obtained patents on its controls in many countries and wanted to stop the sale of MAE presses for obvious reasons. The ensuing legal dispute dragged on for a long time. It had significant economic importance for MAE. It was proven in the final instance that the MAE control did not infringe the Eitel patent, and thus this important market could be secured.