The MÖVE history – a journey through time

1894

1937

1955

1961

1992

1994

In February, the company MÖVE SPORTSCRAFT Fahrzeugsitze GmbH is registered with the Local Court in Mühlhausen. The partners and managing directors are Peter Bartl from Munich, Lutz Bomberg and Jochen Schulze from Mühlhausen.

Production of seats started on 1st March on the Schadeberg grounds in the former garage complex, fire service annex and the administrative building.

First deliveries are sent to the companies IKARUS in Hungary, Jelcz in Poland, LIAZ and TATRA in The Czech Republic, Robur in the German town of Zittau and various omnibus companies. In October we presented ourselves to an interested public for the first time at the “aaa`94” in Berlin. Series production of benches for a small van by the company Hyundai Deutschland started at the end of the year.

1995

1996

1997

1998

In July Mr Bartl left the company; Jochen Schulze and Lutz Bomberg remain equal sole partners and managing directors. On 1st September, the company name was changed to its current name ‘MÖVE Fahrzeugsitze GmbH’.

This year we bought the neighbouring plot of land from the town of Mühlhausen, including the former heating building and transformer station. The poor condition of the building meant it needed to be completely restored; work on converting the heating building into a new central warehouse began in the period between November 1998 and February 1999.

1999

On 1st March we celebrated our 5th anniversary. Like the previous year, we also participated as an exhibitor at the AMI in Leipzig.

In October the 2nd building phase was completed and the transformer station became the new assembly hall.

At the end of the year the production hall including the welding shop was converted.

2000

2001

2002

In April we founded MÖVE PKW-Sitze GmbH as a purchasing and sales company and 100% subsidiary of the MÖVE Fahrzeugsitze GmbH. The company managed the sales of car seats for TH!NK in Norway.

In May we concluded a new contract with Siemens AG München for the delivery of driver’s seats and crew chairs for the locomotives of the series BR 189. A further highlight this year was the punctual delivery of a total of 1700 pneumatic crew seats for MB and IVECO lorries.

2003

In 2003, we were certified again to DIN EN ISO 9001:2000.

As a result of the local construction work, our address changed to Gustav-Walter-Straße 5 in memory of the former founder of the company Gustav Walter & Co. The entire workforce helped in our spring cleaning project to restore the grounds after the roadworks.

A further part of the restoration and reconstruction work was completed in March. Work on the sanitary facilities, cloakroom, break room, empties warehouse, car park, roads, fencing around the perimeter of the grounds and repairs to the façade of the production building was completed.

And business was also going well. In 2003 we started shipping driver’s seats directly to China for the underground train ‘Metro Guangzhou II’ and later driver’s seats for the ‘Metro Shanghai’ and ‘Metro Shenzhen’ underground trains.

2004

On 1st March we celebrated our 10th anniversary.

In September 2004 the company MÖVE PKW-Sitze GmbH was merged with the parent company and our technical capacity was expanded. After the merger we were able to implement 3D designs with SolidWorks.

In this year we developed and manufactured driver’s and passenger seats for military vehicles including the ‘Mungo’ vehicle.

2005

2006

2008

In September we were certified to the GOST standard for the Russian market. This was followed by the delivery for the SIEMENS’ ‘Velaro RU300’ project.

We were also able to enter the market for Bombardier and the company Alstom in France. We started three projects, including the REGIOLIS project, which involved significant new development work with respect to components and parts.

We also increased deliveries of seats and seat bases, especially for the difficult conditions in Norway and Denmark.

2009

In addition to successful certification and fulfilment of the requirements according to the welding standard DIN EN 15085-2 with certification level CL2, we also celebrated our 15th anniversary on 1st March 2009.

In parallel, we also underwent certification according to the rail standard IRIS revision 01/2007, and were certified by DEKRA.

In this year we also manufactured 1700 driver’s and passenger seats for the electrical small vehicle by TH!NK produced in Finland.

In October we were appointed Q1 supplier to Deutsche Bahn confirming that we satisfy the highest quality standards for rail vehicle products.

In November we started work on developing a driver’s seat with a control panel, control elements and all cables as a ready-to-install system unit for trams.

At the end of the year, Jochen Schulze retired as partner and managing director, but remained on hand in an advisory capacity.

2010

At the beginning of the year, Silvio Bomberg took over the free shares and became new partner and managing director. Work also continued on the reconstruction and expansion of the production hall, and a new extension was erected.

In March we concluded a skeleton agreement with Bombadier Vienna for the production and delivery of driver’s seats for tram projects of the series ‘Flexity II’. We worked with the local company Karosseriewerk Ostermann to jointly develop and manufacture seats for various mining vehicles.

2011

 Starting in 2011, we manufactured driver’s seats for the DESIRO RUS based on a skeleton agreement with Siemens. In April we entered into business relations with Bombardier England in Derby. We developed and supplied driver’s seats for various regional train projects to this company.

The football game with our partner Dick&Dick GmbH was great fun, and our bitter defeat was quickly forgotten during the subsequent barbecue.

This year contracts were also concluded with Bombardier North America, Canada at the site in Thunder Bay for the development and production of the driver’s seat for the ‘TTC LERV’ tram in Toronto. At the end of the year skeleton agreements were concluded with SIEMENS for the production and delivery of driver’s seats for the Velaro Eurostar, and with Bombadier Australia for the production and delivery of driver’s seats for the tram in Melbourne.

At the end of the year we expanded our warehouse to include an incoming goods area and installed two new office containers.

2012

In March we produced driver’s and passenger seats for 50 prototype vehicles of the Deutsche Post for the electrical vehicle manufacturer StreetScooter in Aachen. We also received an order from ALSTOM for the delivery of driver’s seats for the KZ8A in Kazakhstan.

In April of this year we were nominated for the Supplier Award ‘Our Stars for Rail Systems’ and were awarded the title ‘Outstanding Supplier’ by SIEMENS. In June we renewed our certification for the rail standard IRIS Revision 02/2009.

In August we concluded a further contract with Bombadier North America for the delivery of driver’s seats for the ‘Metrolinx’ tram and later with Siemens and Bombadier for the delivery of driver’s and passenger seats for the ICX.

2013

In April we started manufacturing driver’s seats for STADLER for the ‘Flirt New Generation’ and ‘Regio Shuttle’ projects. This was followed by the contract with Siemens for the delivery of driver’s and passenger seats for the ‘Sotschi Olympia City’ project.

In November we came up with new plans and ideas for expanding and modernising the welding shop. The goal is to increase the capacity and improve working conditions.

In December we manufactured and delivered driver’s seats for SIEMENS’ ‘Thameslink’ project.

2014

At the beginning of the year we manufactured seats again for the upper cabs of mobile cranes for the company MATEC in Döbeln.

On 28th February we celebrated our 20th anniversary.

Expansion work on the central warehouse was carried out because the existing warehouse capacities for finished goods, packaging materials, foam parts and empties were no longer adequate. The extension expanded the storage space by approx. 180 m² . The project was completed by fitting out the warehouse with racks and storage containers.

2015

 The company’s 20 years of success on the national and international markets and the positive business results were honoured when the managing director, partner and founding father of the company was nominated ‘Businessman of the year 2015’.

 An investment volume of 400,000 € was invested in the ‘extension of the welding shop’ in the 1st six months of 2015. This expanded the spatial capacity of the former welding shop and made a significant improvement to the working conditions of the welders. This was further underscored by the installation and commissioning of a central extraction system and the procurement of modern welding devices and equipment.

In addition, the depot was overhauled and more parking spaces for the employees were created by moving the entrance to the company grounds to the northern side of the site.

2016

 The company MÖVE Fahrzeugsitze GmbH is committed to sustainable management because it is important to the general management to conserve the environment and preserve natural resources. The company supports the Thuringia Sustainability Agreement. It committed to this Agreement because sustainability is viewed as a holistic principle which is pursued in all social, technological and economic aspect of the company.

We made a first delivery of driver’s and passenger seats to the company HITACHI Rail from Japan.

The commercial director was voted a member of the plenary assembly of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce in Erfurt and represents the interests of the business community of the Unstrut-Hainich group and Eichsfeld district in electoral group I.

2017

Safety belt implemented for underground vehicles. MÖVE Fahrzeugitze GmbH decides to free up rooms with the construction of an additional building, expand the production area and enable optimized product testing.

The project started on October 1st, 2017 and will be completed by December 31st, 2018. T € 1.000 will be invested until the entire investment project has been completed.

2018

The year is marked by the construction of the new functional building, the cornerstone of which was ceremoniously laid on April 27, 2018.

This event was celebrated in the presence of the mayor of the city of Mühlhausen and other guests.

In addition, new projects were tackled and existing products and processes were further developed and perfected.

2019

We are celebrating our 25th anniversary on March 1st, 2019 with a “culinary trip” to the state capital Erfurt.

For all employees work is suspended on this day. The new functional building will officially be handed over to its destination on the same day.

2020

COVID-19 pandemic MÖVE Fahrzeugitze GmbH opened a branch on September 1st, 2020 as part of a structural change with the aim of process optimization within the company and thus concentrates the repair department, customer service and service for MÖVE vehicle seats in one place, spatially separated from the actual production process. MÖVE Fahrzeugitze GmbH acquires an additional plot of land to enable an expansion option. Unused and dilapidated buildings were removed and an employee parking lot was created.

2021

COVID-19 pandemic

Successful certification and fulfillment of the requirements according to the welding standard DIN EN 15085-2 with certification level CL2.

For the first time we are facing certification according to the new rail standard TS 22163 and meet the requirements of the IRIS revision 03/2020 and obtained the corresponding certificates from DEKRA. This went hand in hand with the successful certification according to DIN EN ISO 9001-2015.

At the beginning of July of the year, the construction of a multi-purpose hall began on the newly acquired property; completion and handover is planned for August 2021.

With the takeover of shares by Pascale Bomberg, three generations of the Bomberg family will be shareholders of MÖVE vehicles seats GmbH from July 1st, 2021.

October 1st, 2021, Lutz Bomberg will no longer be a managing director, his son Silvio will run the company alone from this point on, but Lutz Bomberg will continue to be available to the company as a representative and consultant.