In 1872, the Meer brothers (Gebrüder Meer) founded the Maschinenfabrik und Eisengiesserei Meer in Mönchengladbach, which focused on the production of compressors, water pumps, and steam engines. When Dr. Carl Gruber joined the company, it started producing seamless tube mills. Following the takeover by Mannesmann in 1926, the company was renamed Maschinenfabrik Meer. In 1972, Mannesmann acquired shares in Demag and merged the tube technology, foundry, and powder metallurgy business units of Meer as well as the hydraulic systems and tube technology divisions of Demag in one company. Following the merger of SMS Schloemann-Siemag AG with Mannesmann Demag Metallurgie in 1999, the tube and copper plants business unit was spun off as SMS Meer GmbH at the beginning of the new millennium.