Industrial Pioneering
The MAN Group's roots reach 250 years into the past. The first visible result of its economic action was itself a pioneering effort: 1758 saw the opening of the "St. Antony" iron mill in Oberhausen, the first heavy industrial operations in Germany's Ruhr Area. In 1782, the "Gute Hoffnung", or "Good Hope" iron mill followed.
In 1897, Rudolf Diesel built the world's first functioning Diesel engine at what was then known as the Maschinenfabrik Augsburg AG, and which merged in 1898 with the Maschinenbau-AG Nürnberg to become the Vereinigte Maschinenfabrik Augsburg und Maschinenbaugesellschaft Nürnberg A.G. In 1908, the conglomerate was renamed M.A.N. Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg AG, Augsburg.
In 1921, the majority of M.A.N. was taken over by the GHH (Gutehoffnungshütte Actienverein für Bergbau und Hüttenbetrieb, Sterkrade), which was founded in 1873.
MAN has existed in its current form as a contractual group since 1986. In that year, the M.A.N. merged with the GHH and its headquarters were transferred to Munich.