The Albstadt circular knitting machine manufacturer Mayer & Cie. (MCT) has been named one of Germany’s most innovative SMEs for the second time. On Friday, 29 June 2018 Benjamin Mayer, Marcus Mayer and Sebastian Mayer collected the Top 100 award. Host Ranga Yogeshwar handed over the prize during the SME Summit in Ludwigsburg. Mayer & Cie. received the prize for their innovation management and success, the most well-known example of which is currently their spinitsystems knitting technology.

 “Traditionally one step ahead”

 The circular knitting machine manufacturer Mayer & Cie. has been operating in the market for more than 100 years, with over 75,000 machines sold worldwide since the company’s founding. To ensure that knitters in countries like India, China and Turkey will count on quality “made in Germany” well into the future, Mayer & Cie. invests five to six percent of its turnover each year into research and development. Around seven percent of the employees are engaged in development and construction. Mayer & Cie. keeps a close ear to the market – and not just with the sales and marketing staff in the headquarters in Albstadt, but also with 80 representatives around the world.

 Knitting today with a view to tomorrow

 The most current and concise example of the consideration and application of new ideas is the spinitsystems technology. A compact machine with the dimensions of a conventional knitting machine, it combines two previously separate processes, spinning and knitting. This saves a great deal of time, space and energy. True to the company philosophy, the Swabian SME already has another coup up its sleeve, which it will present at the ITMA, the industry’s leading fair, to be held again in 2019 in Barcelona (20 to 26 June).

 An award with weight and tradition

 The Top 100s have been awarded for more than 25 years now. The focus of the award is on a company's innovation management. It is the goal of the organisers to offer companies a benchmark in this respect.

Whether a company is accepted into the Top 100 club or has its place reconfirmed – as is the case with Mayer & Cie. – is decided upon by a jury drawn from the fields of politics, economics and research, under the chairmanship of Professor Nikolaus Franke, Chairman of the Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU). For this year’s competition, Franke and his team examined more than 470 applications. 288 companies were successful in three classes, including 120 global market leaders. One of these is Mayer & Cie., a market leader worldwide and once again a Top 100 winner.