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50 years of MEVA – Pioneer and trendsetter
The young Gerhard Dingler had the right instincts 50 years ago when, seeing his future in construction, he founded DINGLER Baugeräte GmbH & Co. KG. He started off by selling and renting out cranes and other equipment but, by listening to his customers. he soon spotted the market demand for more formwork systems.
After setting up MEVA (an acronym of Metallverarbeitung, meaning metal processing) in 1970, he embarked on the development of safe, flexible and cost-effective technologies. Today, MEVA enjoys a reputation as a pioneer and trendsetter in the formwork sector.
From humble beginnings in a modest workshop in the Northern Black Forest town of Haiterbach, the company’s infrastructure underwent steady and systematic expansion. As a family-run SME and visionary formwork manufacturer, MEVA was soon looking for new markets, which it discovered worldwide. Today, its formwork products and services are on offer from 40 locations all over the world. Highly professional international project teams work independently, though always in close contact, to master every challenge.
Formwork. Simple. Smart.
What started 50 years ago was the first chapter of a continuing success story, now upheld by a 600-strong workforce. The Haiterbach site is home to the R&D, production, logistics, engineering and sales departments. True to its tagline “Formwork. Simple. Smart.”, MEVA develops technically sophisticated solutions for straightforward application that help users to overcome the challenges encountered on site while always remaining one step ahead in matters of safety, reliability and cost-effectiveness.
2013 saw Gerhard Dingler pass on responsibility for the company’s fortunes to his son Florian F. Dingler, now Owner and Managing Director. Yet, none of the creativity and passion that brings lasting customer benefit has been lost. MEVA offers a comprehensive portfolio of formwork products, technologies and services to meet the needs of all projects, both large and small, from foundations to high-rises, with everything from lightweight hand-set formwork to fully automatic climbing systems.
Even intelligent virtual systems have become an integral part of everyday site practice. To equip itself for the future, MEVA has responded to the changing work processes brought about by digitalisation by setting up the partner company BIM2. And, of course, the time-tested “hardware” – i.e. the smart, efficient formwork and climbing systems, shoring towers, props, working scaffolds, braces, etc. – also undergoes constant refinement.
Constantly treading new paths
With a bold, creative, pioneering spirit and a keen instinct for trends in concrete construction, MEVA has always been a trailblazer in formwork technology. As early as 1971, MEVA unveiled a novelty at the leading trade show bauma that was to revolutionise the construction industry: the first-ever modular panelised formwork system for crane-independent use.
This was followed by more MEVA developments that are now state of the art: the assembly lock with no losable parts (1977) that achieves strong, flush panel connections with just a few hammer blows and thus paved the way for the far more robust closed hollow frame profile; or the first crane-independent wall and slab formwork made from aluminium.
Quantum leaps and cost-killers
Another market-transforming sensation came in 1982 with Mammut, the large-area, heavy-duty formwork with a full-surface fresh concrete load capacity of 97 kN/m². MEVA set up branches inside and outside Germany. 2000 saw the switch to alkus, the first completely wood-free all-plastic facing. By virtue of its durability, repairability and consistently high-quality concreting results, it marked a permanent advance over the swelling and shrinking plywood panels.
More quantum leaps were achieved in formwork for single-sided tying through integration of the newly developed, patent-pending combi tie hole in the Mammut XT system with a full-surface fresh concrete load capacity of 100 kN/m² (2016) and in StarTec XT (2019). MEVA is the only manufacturer to offer this innovation for one-sided tying with taper tie that requires fewer components and no additional assembly work. Integrated into the frame, the combi tie hole is a real cost-killer, combining three tying methods in one system and significantly cutting the time needed for formwork operations.
Innovations to improve safety, user-friendliness and cost-effectiveness are a common thread that runs through MEVA’s history. Company Founder, Gerhard Dingler, explains:
We develop products today that customers will need tomorrow. It’s all about creating added value for the customer. Hundreds of references from around the world – from simple housebuilding, tunneling and bridge-building projects all the way to Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building – testify to MEVA’s success in this regard.
