Made in Germany: We visted Magura´s factory

Magura develops, produces, assembles, and distributes its brakes in Bad Urach. This rare constellation attracted us to the Swabian Alb at Magura’s headquarters. A tour through the factory made it impressively clear that “Made in Germany” is still going strong thanks to their ingenuity.

One one side you have the main building, an extension, a new building, an outbuilding and on the opposite side of the street the former residential house of the Magenwirth family. Whoever is looking for the entrance to Magura’s company headquarters needs a good sense of direction.

Whoever has found it will be greeted in the reception area by a metal replica of Gustav Magenwirth. The look into the founder’s cast metal eyes reveals: This company has a long history. What the replica of the deceased Gustav Magenwirth in 1931 does not reveal: The company Magura has revolutionized the mountain bike sport more than once. In the 90s, Magura was at the forefront of the industry with the first hydraulic rim and disc brakes. Today, they want to convince us in Bad Urach how a family-run business from the Swabian Alb can survive in the global shark tank of the bicycle industry.

To understand what makes the company Magura special, one must know the global value chains of the bicycle industry. Typically, even the most prestigious bike companies operate according to a uniform scheme. Development, marketing, and distribution are carried out in proximity to the market in Europe or the USA.

Production and usually also assembly of the products take place in Asia. There are few standards that have been agreed upon in the world of bicycles, but this business model is one of them. However, widespread supply chain disruptions during the Corona crisis have revealed the complexity of this classic value chain.

Götz Braun, marketing director at Magura, only smiles when you mention the topic of production location:

The majority of Magura products are not only designed and distributed in Bad Urach. Especially the brake levers and the small interior parts are manufactured in the Swabian Alb and assembled into a complete brake. The locations of Bad Urach, the close by Hülben and Hengen factories and assembly locations cover the majority of the value chain of a Magura brake. If over 45% of the value chain is in Germany, one can speak of “Made in Germany”. Magura could do that, but willingly understates.

The brake caliper and the discs come from Asia. That is not a secret. “To avoid justification processes, we write on our packaging designed and engineered in Germany,” Götz Braun does not mince his words. The know-how in production and a somewhat unconventional choice of materials, however, make it possible to break out of the usual paths of the industry and also manufacture in Germany. This keeps Magura true to its tradition.

The metal picture in the entrance suggested it, the dusty archive in the attic provides certainty: The history of the company Magura is long. To be precise – 130 years long. When Gustav Magenwirth founded the company in 1893, mountain bikes were not yet invented. But already the first product of the Magenwirth company was closely related to Magura’s current brake lineup.

With hydraulic pumps, the Magenwirth company made a name for itself in the 19th century. But early on, the clever Gustav Magenwirth expanded the company’s portfolio. The invention of the straight pull for motorcycle gas, clutch, and brake levers in the early 20th century was so revolutionary that this component is still present in the company logo today. The archive clearly shows where the focus was in the early phase of the company. Motorcycle riders have had no more problems with broken cables since then, and Magura has entered serial production for entire series. The motorcycle manufacturer BMW has been trusting the products from the Ermstal in the Swabian Alb for over 100 years.

It was unconventional, but in post-war times, Magura, under the leadership of Martha Munz-Magenwirth, drove the economic miracle forward. With a woman at the helm, whole carloads of fuel gauges for the Beetle, the symbol of the economic miracle, were produced in Bad Urach. One can only speculate today what it meant to be a woman leading a company while the rest of the business world and politics were dominated by cigar-smoking men.

And it is this unconventional yet reliable approach that still characterises Magura today. Allegedly, Martha Munz-Margenwirth used to turn off the lights in the company buildings after work until she was well into her 80s. To this day, Magura is a family-owned business that is not afraid to compete through unconventional approaches against its competitors.

Even today, Magura still manufactures high-quality plastic parts for the automotive industry, among other things. Mr. Glaßer manages the production plant in Hülben and estimates that approximately 50% of the plastic injection molding production capacity is occupied by external orders. Magura uses the other half to manufacture its own brake levers.

Glaßer walks through the impressive plant and reaches into random boxes. He grabs spacer rings for automatic transmission in one box, then charging ports for electric cars in another box. He then adds “please do not touch, they are still hot,” meaning the lever for the HS brakes. Listening to him as he walks through the plant, it becomes clear: This man is not a typical plant manager. This man lives for plastic technology.

Glaßer explains processes, starts machines for demonstration purposes, and tells stories about how he himself tested the Carbotecture material, from which the brake levers are made, as horseshoes for his horses. “You are welcome to take a look at the horseshoe made of Carbotecture. For me, this is the clear distinction from a yoghurt cup,” Glaßer emphasising his point.

Magura’s MT disc brakes are known as excellent stoppers among mountain bikers. The company boasts the best athletes in the gravity scene. Danny MacAskill, Loic Bruni, and Fabio Wibmer are part of the Swabians’ marketing strategy. Objectively speaking, one can say that those who ride downhill would want precise deceleration. A four-piston brake system from Magura would definitely get the job done. Those who look at the brakes in common shops will notice that they are priced on a similar level to those of the competition.

Crazy prices and long delivery times, as one would expect from a German production, do not exist with Magura. A key to this certainly lies in the brakes’ long product life cycle. For over 12 years, the MT models have remained on the market without obvious changes. And yet, during this time, there have been 51 revision loops in which the product has been improved in detail, as confirmed by the product manager in the interview. The second key point is the processing capabilities offered by plastic. In the Hülben factory, the brake levers come out of the machine ready for assembly. A comparable metal part would have to go through numerous further production steps before all surfaces are in a ready-for-assembly state.

Detlef Glaßer states that fewer work steps and lower energy and transportation costs make it possible to manufacture Magura brake levers in Germany.

We have visited the company headquarters and plastic production. But the final assembly of the individual parts into the finished brake is still missing. That’s why we’re going from Hülben to Hengen. Only those who slip into a blue work coat are allowed to visit the assembly line. Because lint is the archenemy of hydraulics. The blue coat protects the work area from contamination by visitors. If a lint should still fall from the sweater, it is pressed to the floor, which is regularly cleaned.

Before reaching the small interim storage in front of the assembly line, all components are packed into standard-compliant crates. Magura is a supplier to the automotive industry and is certified as such. The bicycle division is also subject to the requirements of this certification. And foreign packaging materials have no place in such certified assembly lines. The question about the large main warehouse has only one short answer. “We work according to Kanban.” In short: individual parts are delivered just in time in the necessary quantities. There is no large, central main warehouse with ample stocks.

Small material trolleys supply the individual assembly lines with what they need for production. We follow such a trolley and experience the perfect symbiosis of man and machine. Accurately defined work steps are carried out on special machines to assemble individual parts with consistent quality into the brake. Here, the metal brake calipers and lines are married to Carbotecture levers from Hülben. With the automatic filling and leakage testing of the system, they are so confident in their product, that they even provide a 5-year warranty that Magura brakes do not lose oil.

After a day in the heart of Magura, it becomes clear: Magura is much more modern than its 130-year-long tradition would suggest. Here in Bad Urach, they have preserved the ability to mass-produce products closely aligned with the market and globalisation.

Instead of taking the easy route and quickly following trends, they have mostly chosen to remain unconventional throughout their remarkable company history. Today, Magura is a trendsetter with its production in Germany and its swift ability to adapt to new circumstances. And this strength is not only evident in the manufacturing of products, but also in the products themselves.

The ABS system for e-bikes, which was developed in collaboration with Bosch, is just one example of the innovative power of the Swabians. CBS is the control system for brake force distribution between the front and rear wheels, which is primarily used in cargo or utility bikes. The integrated MCI cockpit also shows that in Bad Urach, they are still prepared to go their own way in 2023.

Instead of just adapting their brakes to the trend of cable routing, they have developed a piston for brake systems that completely disappears into the handlebar. In terms of integration, this system represents a next level and, to some extent, a technical advantage over the competition.