The Meller Möbelfabrik GmbH, Melle (MMM) was a manufacturer of high-quality home and office furniture in Melle, Germany founded in 1870 as J.H. Krumnack, Möbelfabrik, Dampfsägewerk und Holzhandlung and liquidated in 1975 after a chequered history. With up to 200 employees at times, the owner-managed, medium-sized company was an important part of the Ostwestfalen-Lippe furniture industry. Some of the buildings are now listed and well preserved.
History
1870-1908 Prehistory
In 1870, the company J.H. Krumnack, Möbelfabrik, sawmill und Holzhandlung was founded in Melle. A land lot near the railway station with access via “Oldendorfer Straße” was chosen as the location in order to become active nationwide. The first expansion took place in 1904 with the construction of a new three-storey factory building in classical industrial architecture, which still exists today, as well as an office and residential building. A new machine hall followed a few years later.
In 1908, after the recent investments, the Krumnack company ran into financial difficulties due to declining sales, which led to the opening of Insolvency on 6 April 1909. An important supplier up to this point was the timber import company Pundt & Kohn in Geestemünde (today Bremerhaven). Pundt & Kohn was a major creditor of Krumnack through trade credit. For this reason and also due to family interests, the Melle company was taken over by Pundt & Kohn on 27 September 1909 as part of the Liquidation .
1909-1932 Meller Möbelfabrik GmbH
Franz Kohn, owner of the company Pundt & Kohn, had two sons, of whom Hans Kohn continued the timber business in Geestemünde and Gerhard Kohn took over the management of the newly acquired factory in Melle, which was entered in the commercial register in 1909 as Meller Möbelfabrik GmbH with the main business of furniture manufacture. The sole owner was the offene Handelsgesellschaft Pundt & Kohn in Geestemünde, in which Gerhard Kohn remained personally liable and authorised signatory partner.
The few years before First World War were used to expand furniture production. With the outbreak of the war, however, production was then largely switched to war-important products. Nevertheless, investments were also made during the war. The steam boiler had to be renewed to meet the increased heating requirements of the factory rooms and for the necessary process heat. A new 40 m high clinker chimney and a new power station with a chip bunker were built between 1916 and 1918. The factory chimney, a status symbol at the time, was the tallest in Melle at 40 metres.
At the beginning of the Weimar Republic and with the economic upswing in the 1930s, the expansion progressed rapidly. Despite inflation, new buildings for furniture production were started as early as 1921. With the construction of a new office and the gatehouse in 1924, the business address and the main access road were moved to “Teichbruchstraße” (from 1953 again “Bismarckstraße”). A copper bonnet with a tower clock from the Turmuhrfabrik Ed. Korfhage & Söhne in Melle/Buer, who also supplied the carillon for the Melle town hall, was mounted on the gatehouse.
In 1925, the company premises were extended for the construction of a new sawmill on the opposite side of Teichbruchstraße. This sawmill was equipped with an electrically driven horizontal gang saw, a large cutting circular saw and a saw sharpening shop. Here, roundwood from the surrounding forests were cut for the company's own needs. The most important types of wood were beech, oak, pine and spruce. A short time later, the sawmill was supplemented by a woodshed of approx. 2500 m2 for the air-drying of the sawn timber. The sawmill, the timber shed and the furniture factory were connected by a narrow gauge rail system with switches, transverse sliding cars and turntables on which the loaded goods lorry carss were pushed or pulled by horses.
In 1927, "Haus Sonneck" was built on the Meller Berg. The spacious villa with a view over the town of Melle was heated with open fireplaces and tiled stoves. An electromagnetic call system was installed for the staff, with which numbers in the kitchen indicated in which room the master of the house or his guests wanted service. The greenhouses, built into the hillside below the villa, were connected to the cellar of the house by an underground passage.