Success in the Fourth Generation
TM Technischer Gerätebau GmbH
is internationally known as a refrigeration and small-scale assembly specialist, serving niche markets such as mobile passenger services.
Less well known is the company's tradition-steeped history, which dates back to 1933.
This was the year that engineer
and inventor Theodor Maier founded Theodor Maier & Co. Elektro-großhandel, based at Söflinger Strasse 159 in Ulm, Germany.
The company building was destroyed in the Second World War. After the war Hermann Kälbling, Theodor Maier's son-in-law, joined the company and helped to rebuild it. As early as 1947, the company moved to Moltkestraße 8 in Ulm.
The two entrepreneurs continuously expanded their activities – successfully: business ran smoothly and the company grew.
As a result, more space was urgently needed and new company premises were built in Starkfeld 50 in Neu-Ulm, where the electrical wholesaler relocated in 1961.
But Hermann Kälbling did not stop here: In the early 70s,
he founded a refrigeration and air conditioning department.
In 1975 he was joined by his son-in-law Hermann Fixl joins, who brought fresh impetus to the company.
When coach manufacturer Kässbohrer asked for beverage coolers for its buses, Hermann Fixl took on the challenge without hesitation. In 1980, this order led to the creation of a new business unit for the design of equipment for mobile use.
The company expanded continuously and again needed new premises after the building in Starkfeld 50 became too small. Hermann Fixl found a suitable site of around 20,000 square meters
in the Carl-Zeiss-Straße in Neu-Ulm. In 1985 the company bought
the property, a move that came at a high risk:
The site, densely lined with corporate buildings today, was nothing more than a green field in the mid-eighties. Even the course of the road had not yet been determined. The managing director took advantage of the opportunity to influence it, so that its 40-ton trucks could easily manage the curves.
CEO Hermann Fixl's decision to produce beverage coolers for coaches proved to be extremely lucrative: the Mobile Equipment division developed successfully and the company regularly launched new products on the market. In 1988, the company's first busboard kitchen received the design award for a well-designed industrial product from the Baden-Württemberg Design Center.
Founding of TM Technischer Gerätebau GmbH
In 1991, the time had come for Hermann Fixl to outsource the Mobile Equipment division. The entrepreneur founded the independent company "TM Technischer Gerätebau GmbH" and built the company headquarters in Böttgerstraße 13 in Neu-Ulm, a building that is directly attached to the electrical wholesalers.
That, too, proved to be the right decision, as soon becomes clear:
TM is able to win customers worldwide for the coach segment and other markets.
In order to respond to the changing demands of the market, Hermann Fixl founded the subsidiary TM Teknik Otomotiv in 2007 near Istanbul. Coolboxes and galleys are mainly produced here for the Turkish bus market as well as for the neighboring Arab countries.
In the same year, TM set up Jincen-TM joint venture in Hefei, Anhui Province, China. Jincen-TM mainly assembles injection molded parts for the automotive, electrical and household industries as well as galleys and coolers for the Chinese market.
With Florian Fixl, the son of Hermann Fixl, the fourth generation joined the family business
TM Technischer Gerätebau GmbH
in 2010. This generation too has
the goal of producing high-quality products for national and international customers, driving the expansion into new markets with fresh energy and making the company even better known.
As well as the classic dashboard coolers, galley kitchens and toilets for the bus industry,
TM's product portfolio now includes milk coolers, cup warmers and various combination appliances for the coffee machine sector.