Ever international
From the very beginning Mannesmann products were manufactured at several locations in Germany and abroad and distributed worldwide. The tube works in Bous supplied Western Europe, the works in Remscheid served customers in Northern Europa, the Austrian works supplied the Balkans, Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean area, and the Mannesmannröhren-Werk plant in Wales, which was finally taken over by the Group in 1899, had access to the worldwide British Empire market and North America. Before the end of the year in which the company was first formed, the world’s first pressurized oil pipeline was laid in the Caucasus using Mannesmann pipes, and further shipments of pipes were subsequently destined for water supply systems, pipelines, utility poles and modern street lighting the world over.
In order to offer a complete range of tubes, in the second half of the 1890s Mannesmann built both a new seamless tube works and a plant to produce welded tubes in the Düsseldorf suburb of Rath.
Having previously cooperated with independent agents and exporters, the company began to develop its own global sales organization after the turn of the century. From 1908, another international production plant was developed in Dalmine, Italy. In the same year the Deutsch-Österreichische Mannesmannröhren-Werke AG was split into Mannesmannröhren-Werke AG with head offices in Düsseldorf, which from then on headed the Group, and its subsidiary Österreichische Mannesmannröhren-Werke GesmbH in Vienna. The interests in the British and later also the Italian companies was also held by Mannesmannröhren-Werke AG.