recent events. November 2006 October 2005
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Lang-Mekra North America, an independent company of the Mekra Group, is a manufacturer of rear view vision systems for commercial vehicles. This North American facility also houses the primary engineering, research and design operations for the Western Hemisphere. Behind the doors of its growing 160,000 square foot facility in Ridgeway, South Carolina, the story of Lang-Mekra unfolds every day in the lives of its employees and the quality of their work. As a technology-based company, with its primary focus on innovation and the design of high-quality products, the Mekra Group has achieved a position of global leadership in its industry.
From its founding in 1994, Lang-Mekra North America has grown from a management vanguard of five employees to a workforce of more than 300. Fully-equipped engineering, quality and testing departments supports the development of new design and product innovations for customers worldwide. With the addition of an expanded administrative area in May 1999 and plant expansions in 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2006 Lang-Mekra is looking toward the future with the capability to address the growing needs of current and prospective customers.
Perhaps the most striking thing that a visitor to Lang-Mekra would notice is the feeling of family that is at the root of the company's history and growth. The original company, established in Furth, Germany in 1932, was the vision of Hans and Frieda Lang, the grandparents of Lang-Mekra North America's Managing Director, Sabine Lang. The heartbeat of Lang-Mekra is this family, and its life is lived in its extension, from the organization of bi-annual company family events to the provision of comprehensive benefits and childcare packages for all employees. At the company-sponsored Palmetto Montessori School of Ridgeway, just 1/2 mile away from the production facility, the future impact of the Lang-Mekra family can be seen and felt - high quality early childhood education opens worlds of possibility to community and employee children.
When a company begins by valuing its employees in this way, everyone benefits. Lang-Mekra North America's "family" produces the world's highest quality, most technologically advanced mirror systems for its growing list of customers. Lang-Mekra has achieved ISO 9000:2000, ISO 14001, ISO/TS 16949 and ISO/IEC 17025 certification. In 1999 and 2002 was named South Carolina's Manufacturer of the Year for its outstanding dedication to product quality and, as the company policy states, "Taking the Ideal and Making it Real," in all areas of the operation.
