HMIDE was founded as Industrial Design & Equipment Pty. Ltd. in the year 1986, by Hans Mayer and his son Helmut. Although Helmut is today the companies proprietor and director, at the time it was Hans who brought to it the technical expertise that gave the company its basis.

Hans had been a Chief Engineer for PHB-Weserhütte Pty Ltd. He gained his qualifications and a variety of experiences in the post-war reconstruction era and was involved full time in the design of Bulk Materials Handling Systems since 1968. With over 50 machine designs and with many successful inspection and emergency repair jobs under his belt, Hans’ reputation as a highly skilled problem solving and inventive engineer was well established. Hans’ experience covers all forms of mobile machinery including bucket wheel reclaimers, portal reclaimers, bridge reclaimers, luffing stackers, rail mounted and crawler mounted stackers and spreaders, ship loaders, unloaders, container and other cranes.

Hans is now retired from active Engineering Activities but continues to provide expert advise as and when this is required. that is, of course, if he can be dragged away from his ever adventurous journeys.

For many years, the company was a firm with a small number of highly expert engineers - that is, largely it was Hans and his two sons Helmut and Christof. However, this configuration was not conducive to growth and so a recent change in strategy saw a move toward recuritment of young engineers and the development of significant training processes.