PROSPERITY — After the official groundbreaking of MM Technics on Wednesday, owner and president Meinolf Muhr said they are now officially beginning construction on the 37,000-square-foot facility and operations are expected to be online in September.
“When I say our story of coming to the state began in summer of 2015, it is not absolutely correct. In my opinion, this story began in the 1920s of the last century when my grandfather spent four years in the United States and earned his very first dollars as a metal worker,” Muhr said. “When he came back to Germany at the end of the 1920s he found, with his dollars, a simple and small manufacturing (company) in my home town. This was a base of a lot of very successful and long term entrepreneur activities of the family Muhr.”
Today, Muhr said it is an honor to come back to the United States, along with his uncle Michael Muhr, to invest in their first manufacturer facility in North America. The story of coming to Newberry County started in July 2015. It was then three procurement managers with BMW visited Muhr’s company in Germany.
“We had a very good discussion and at the end of our meeting they asked me if I could imagine to launch a metal stamping facility on a green field in the southern states, to supply stamping parts for the body structure of the new X3 and X5,” Meinolf Muhr said. “I was very excited in the confidence in our company, and I agreed with their idea of being a part of the supplier network of BMWs also in the States.”
Two months later, Muhr met former Gov. Nikki Haley at a reception during the Car Exhibition IAA in Frankfurt, Germany. This was Muhr’s first experience with South Carolina, and he said he was convinced about the leadership and the financial acumen of the economic department.
In November 2015, Muhr made his first trip to the south, along with his uncle, they visited numerous spec buildings in various locations, the last spec building the visited was in Newberry County.
“On Nov. 7, 2015, one year before we have incorporated our new company MM Technics, we arrived for the first time in Newberry County,” Muhr said. “Probably the single worst day to visit Newberry, we were tired and hungry from our long journey, and it was cold and raining on a dark Sunday night, restaurants, bars and The Opera House were closed, and we bought some beverages and chips for dinner in the hotel lobby.”
The next morning Muhr and his uncle went to the Mid-Carolina Commerce Park, and they met Director of Economic Development Rick Farmer. Muhr said this was the beginning of a great partnership, adding that they have become friends with the team of Newberry.
“I appreciate the sum of benefits, incentives, grants and job development credits related to this project. I also appreciate that it is a good location, the near by access to the highway, and the nice town of Newberry, the wonderful countryside of Lake Murray and the surrounding forest, the sunny weather, but I also appreciate the whole team of Newberry County, which worked incredibly hard to bring us to this new location,” Muhr said.
MM Technics has guaranteed to invest a minimum of $13 million for the next five years, Muhr said they have already placed orders for five million dollars for their first set of equipment. He believes, because of this, they will grow faster than previously anticipated.
“For the first five years we plan to create 64 new jobs, the employment and training of the new staff will be our greatest challenge for the next few months,” he said.
Muhr is looking forward to a long and prosperous relationship with Newberry County, the state of South Carolina, their staff and their future customers.
“I am very proud and thankful that MM Technics is the youngest part of Newberry, the county of friendly folks,” he said.
Other speakers
Jennifer Noel Fletcher, deputy secretary of the S.C. Department of Commerce, said that by deciding to establish this new metal stamping facility in Newberry County, MM Technics is taking their significant investment and putting their trust in the Newberry County Community, and the state.
“Because of days like today, and companies like MM Technics, our economy has become very dynamic and is transforming South Carolina,” she said. “We are now recognized as the leader in advanced manufacturing. From cars, to boats, to planes and to the precision components that go into all of these products. South Carolina and its people are producing some of the most complicated and complex products in the world.”
Fletcher also noted that since 2011 German companies have announced over five billion dollars in capital investment and more than 10,000 new jobs in South Carolina.
Fletcher then presented Muhr with a South Carolina state flag, with the hopes that once the facility is completed, he will fly it with pride.
Henry Livingston, chairman of the Newberry County Council, said that from the very beginning, they knew there was something special about Muhr and his company.
“For starters, we knew the small German company we were pitch our spec building to was a BMW supplier. That alone says something about your company, because BMW is all about quality and it only does business with the best, simply knowing who your customer was told us a lot about your company,” he said. “We learned something about you that day (Muhr’s first visit), and we learned more about your story and your business, we learned you are a lot like us, small by most standards, but with aspirations to grow and be better. We learned you are a third generation manufacturer, following in the footsteps of your grandfather, father and your uncle. Manufacturing is in your blood, just like it is in our blood.”
Livingston said one of the most important thing they learned about Muhr’s company is that they are committed to quality.
“In fact, we think that is one reason you came to Newberry County, when you could have gone basically anywhere for a lower bottom line deal, you chose us, thank you,” he said.
Livingston along with Mike Brigs, Central SC Alliance president and CEO, presented Muhr with an engraved shovel.
