Video “150 Years of Innovation: MWM – How Everything Started”

Big MWM Anniversary: A Visual Journey Through 150 Years of Engine Building in Mannheim

The video entitled “150 Years of Innovation: MWM – How Everything Started” tells the story of the traditional brand. Apart from the historic location in Mannheim, the video mainly zooms in on the people behind the MWM brand. The journey through the past starts with Carl Benz, the pioneer and engineer who laid the groundwork for MWM when he founded his “Mechanische Werkstätte” in Mannheim in 1871. As the inventor of the automotive, he was the one who introduced the four-stroke engine to our daily lives, thereby making his dream come true. The developer Prosper L’Orange, who joined the company later on, invented the prechamber method, which had a profound impact on the further development of MWM. In 1950, the first comprehensive range of MWM engines with 5 to 920 hp was offered for deployment in the industry, agriculture, and ships. The 1960s and 1970s saw various technical enhancements of the MWM engines. After some stormy years, MWM joined the Caterpillar Group in 2011. Around the globe, the blue gas engines from Mannheim with the conspicuous MWM logo are among the leading products in the field of distributed energy applications.

Filming on the Company Premises in Mannheim

The production of the MWM anniversary video took about five months. The film project was rolled out on the basis of an idea of Frank Fuhrmann, Manager Communications at Caterpillar Energy Solutions, and the Motionplan team under the supervision of Marcus Seip (production). Filming locations included the company premises in Mannheim and the Dr. Carl Benz automobile museum in Ladenburg. Apart from a historian, the video features the comments of two former MWM employees about the corporate development and the time they spent with the company. The historical film material originates from the Dr. Carl Benz museum in Ladenburg, the MARCHIVUM city archive in Mannheim, the MWM archive, and other historical databases. “It was fun to intensively research and track the origins of MWM once again”, says Frank Fuhrmann, describing the production process. “We were especially fascinated by the many technical innovations and developments in the second half of the 19th century and thereafter as well the people who made them possible.”