Mannesmann

This article is about the Germany-based multinational conglomerate Mannesmann. For Mannesmann process see Rotary piercing, for D2 Mannesmann see Vodafone Germany.

Mannesmann was a German industrial conglomerate. It was originally established as a manufacturer of steel pipes in 1890 under the name "Deutsch-Österreichische Mannesmannröhren-Werke AG". (Loosely translated: "German-Austrian Mannesmann pipe mills AG"). In the twentieth century, Mannesmann’s product range grew and the company expanded into numerous sectors – starting from various steel products and trading to mechanical and electrical engineering, automotive and telecommunications. From 1955, the conglomerate’s management holding with headquarters in Düsseldorf was named Mannesmann AG.

The particular success of the corporate activities in the area of telecommunications that started in 1990 was the predominant reason for the takeover of Mannesmann by the British telecommunications company Vodafone in 2000 – still one of the largest-ever company takeovers worldwide. Back then, the Mannesmann Group had 130,860 employees worldwide and revenues of €23.27 billion.

The name Mannesmann ceased to exist in the engineering, automotive and telecommunications sectors soon after Vodafone purchased the company. It lives on in the steel industry, particularly in the steel tube and pipe industry, as the German steel manufacturer Salzgitter AG bought the pipe production division of Mannesmannröhren-Werke AG (today Mannesmannröhren-Werke GmbH), as well as the Mannesmann brand.

In 1886, the German brothers Reinhard (1856- 1922) and Max Mannesmann (1857- 1915) received the world's first patent for their invention of a process for rolling seamless steel pipes (Mannesmann process). Between 1887 and 1889 they founded tube mills with several different business partners in Bous, Germany, in Komotau/Bohemia, in Landore/Wales and in their home town Remscheid/Germany. In 1890, due to technical and financial start-up problems, the tube and pipe mills existing on the continent were folded into Deutsch-Österreichische Mannesmannröhren-Werke AG. The new company had its headquarters in Berlin. Reinhard and Max Mannesmann formed the first board of directors but left it in 1893. In that year the company headquarters were moved to Düsseldorf - at that time the center of the German tube and pipe industry. The company was renamed Mannesmannröhren-Werke AG in 1908.

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