Memmert - 90 years of being ahead in climate and temperature control

90 years ago, in a small timber-framed house in the Franconian town of Schwabach (Germany), the history began of the company Memmert – today, the world’s leading innovator when it comes to the development of climate and temperature control appliances for applications in R&D, industry and medicine. To-date, it has been a history marked by great boldness, an exceptional level of innovative strength and, last but not least, a healthy dose of adventurous spirit.

This year, Memmert can look back on a 90-year long eventful company history. Ever since it was first founded under the name ‘Elektro-Ing-Buero-Willi Memmert’, the family company has continuously evolved and, today, stands out as a globally active high-tech specialist. Its climate chambers, heating and drying ovens, incubators, medical devices and water baths are all manufactured in Franconia and their consistent high quality has been instrumental in catapulting the company into the ‘Encyclopaedia of German World Market Leaders’.

In 1947, the trained electrical engineer Willi Memmert was commissioned by the Red Cross to manufacture a hot-air steriliser – the ‘Aeolus’. It was used to keep syringes and other medical equipment germ-free thereby playing an active role in curtailing epidemics and diseases. The success proved the company founder right: by the mid-1950s, the company Memmert was already exporting its appliances internationally.

“Our developments are responses to the suggestions and requirements of our customers,” says Christiane Riefler-Karpa, the company founder’s granddaughter and managing director since the year 2007.

The cornerstone of the company's success was the ‘Aeolus’. This was followed in the 1950s by another milestone: a mechanical controller which, for those days, offered exceptionally high precision.

Meanwhile, Memmert ovens have arrived in the future. A specially developed software enables the latest generation of appliances to be programmed remotely and networked with one another. From afar, from a home-office desk, with a tablet, from anywhere in the world. Another logical development, which resulted not least from the increasingly networked nature of the company itself: in 2010, Memmert established a distribution company in China, followed by another one in India in 2012. More have followed in the USA and Eastern Europe. There are separate teams for Germany, France, Spain and the United Kingdom. "We maintain relationships with many of our customers that go back decades, in some cases over generations," says Christiane Riefler-Karpa. "The trust our customers place in us is the most valuable aspect of our company's capital." And it is for these customers that Memmert will continue to give its best in the future.