Mayville Engineering Company, Inc. (MEC): History, Ownership, Mission, How It Works & Makes Money

As a seasoned investor, do you really know what's driving the performance of Mayville Engineering Company, Inc. (MEC), the nation's largest metal fabricator for the fifteenth consecutive year? You might see the headline full-year 2025 net sales guidance midpoint of $545 million and assume business as usual, but honestly, the story is in the strategic pivot from legacy markets like agriculture to high-growth sectors like data centers and critical power. This shift is defintely a big deal, so how do you map the risk from softening commercial vehicle demand against the opportunity of a new market expected to account for 20% to 25% of future revenue?

Mayville Engineering Company, Inc. (MEC) History

You want to understand the DNA of Mayville Engineering Company, Inc. (MEC), and honestly, it's a classic American manufacturing story that pivoted hard at the right times. The company started small-really small-but its commitment to complex fabrication has allowed it to grow into a major publicly traded partner for Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) across diverse, mission-critical markets.

The direct takeaway is this: MEC evolved from a local Wisconsin machine shop, funded with less than $8,000, into a vertically-integrated, multi-state operation with a full-year 2025 net sales forecast between $528 million and $562 million, largely by embracing employee ownership and making strategic, market-expanding acquisitions. That's a serious trajectory.

Given Company's Founding Timeline

Year established

MEC was established in 1945, right at the end of World War II, when industrial demand was shifting back to civilian production.

Original location

The company started in Mayville, Wisconsin, operating out of a rented garage building off Main Street.

Founding team members

The initial partnership was formed by three individuals: Ted Frey, Ernie Grulke, and Martin Gallun. An alternative account mentions Mayville natives Ted Bachhuber and his uncle Leo. Either way, it was a local, family-and-friends affair.

Initial capital/funding

The initial capital to start the company was a mere $7,800, a tiny sum that bought a few worn metalworking tools and a lot of ambition.

Given Company's Evolution Milestones

Given Company's Transformative Moments

The company's history is marked by a few defintely crucial shifts that took it from a regional job shop to a national manufacturing powerhouse.

The most significant shift was the 1985 move to 100% Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). This wasn't just a financial transaction; it was a cultural one, fostering a sense of ownership, or Personal Responsibility in Daily Excellence (P.R.I.D.E.), which became a core cultural driver.

The 2019 Initial Public Offering (IPO) was the second major pivot. It provided the capital needed for an aggressive acquisition strategy, which is critical in a fragmented industry. The IPO generated approximately $106.25 million in gross proceeds, which was immediately earmarked for debt repayment and future growth.

The recent acquisition strategy, especially the $140.5 million purchase of Accu-Fab, LLC in July 2025, is the latest transformative move. This deal is reshaping the company's revenue mix, moving it into the high-growth data center and critical power markets. Here's the quick math on the impact:

• Q3 2025 net sales were $144.3 million, up 6.6% year-over-year, but organic net sales actually declined by 9.1%, meaning the acquisition is the primary growth engine right now.
• Management is already increasing expectations for 2026 revenue synergies from Accu-Fab to a range of $20 million to $30 million.
• The new market focus targets gross margins roughly 10 percentage points above MEC's historical average, a powerful incentive for the shift.

The company's continued focus on operational excellence is detailed in its Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of Mayville Engineering Company, Inc. (MEC).

Mayville Engineering Company, Inc. (MEC) Ownership Structure

Mayville Engineering Company, Inc. (MEC) is a publicly traded company primarily controlled by institutional investors, which is typical for a business of its scale, but with a significant block of shares held by employee-related plans. This structure means strategic decisions are driven by a mix of large financial firms, internal management, and the interests of its long-term workforce.

Given Company's Current Status

As of November 2025, Mayville Engineering Company, Inc. is a public company traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker symbol MEC. This status mandates strict financial transparency via quarterly and annual filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), giving you clear insight into their operations.

The company operates in the Industrial sector, specifically metal fabrication, supplying engineered components to major original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). For the full 2025 fiscal year, the company has updated its guidance, expecting Net Sales to be in the range of $528 million to $562 million and Adjusted EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) between $49 million and $55 million. That's a defintely tighter range than earlier in the year, reflecting softer demand in Commercial Vehicle and Agriculture markets, but showing growth potential in new areas like Critical Power & Data Center applications. You can dive deeper into the numbers here: Breaking Down Mayville Engineering Company, Inc. (MEC) Financial Health: Key Insights for Investors

Given Company's Ownership Breakdown

The company's ownership is heavily weighted toward institutional investors, who hold the majority of the float, but the employee stake is also a critical factor in governance. Here's the quick math on who owns the shares as of late 2025:

What this table hides is the significant employee ownership. The Mayville Engineering Company, Inc. ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan) holds approximately 16.93% of the company's shares, which is a substantial, long-term block that influences decision-making and aligns employee and shareholder value.

Given Company's Leadership

The company is steered by an experienced executive team focused on operational excellence through their proprietary MBX value creation framework. The average tenure of the management team is about 2.8 years, indicating a relatively recent, but focused, leadership transition.

• Jag Reddy: President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO). He joined in July 2022 and has been driving the company's strategic pivot toward higher-value end markets.
• Rachele M. Lehr: Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Appointed to the role in April 2025, she brings a strong background in corporate finance and strategic planning from her nearly fifteen years at Briggs & Stratton.
• Timothy Christen: Independent Non-Executive Chair of the Board. He provides critical oversight and board independence.
• Craig D. Nichols: Senior Vice President, Operations and Supply Chain. He joined in March 2025, focusing on optimizing the company's 23 United States facilities and supply chain.
• Sean P. Leuba: Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary. He oversees legal, governance, and corporate development, having joined in January 2023.

This leadership structure, with a new CFO and operations lead in 2025, signals a clear focus on integrating the recent Accu-Fab acquisition and driving cost discipline to improve margins, even in a soft demand environment.

Mayville Engineering Company, Inc. (MEC) Mission and Values

Mayville Engineering Company, Inc.'s (MEC) core purpose extends beyond its projected 2025 Net Sales guidance of $528 million to $562 million, focusing instead on a balanced commitment to its team, customers, and shareholders. Their mission is simple: empower the people who build the products, which defintely drives long-term value for everyone involved.

Given Company's Core Purpose

As a seasoned analyst, I see MEC's mission and values as the cultural DNA that underpins their operational excellence as a Tier-1 supplier to global Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs).

Official mission statement

MEC's formal mission statement is a clear, four-part promise that ties employee empowerment directly to stakeholder returns. It's a great example of aligning internal culture with external results.

• We empower our team to create premium products and solutions for our customers,
• enabling growth for our employees, shareholders, and the communities we serve.

Vision statement

The company's vision is less a lofty statement and more a strategic roadmap for market dominance in complex manufacturing. They are focused on being the essential partner for high-value fabrication work.

• Be the leading provider of complex manufacturing solutions in the U.S.
• Act as the go-to partner for customers needing value-add fabrications, tanks, and tube products.
• Drive profitable organic growth and expand margins through continuous operational improvements.

This focus on continuous improvement is formalized in their internal value system, which they call P.R.I.D.E. (Personal Responsibility in Daily Excellence). It's how they translate a strategic vision into daily actions on the factory floor. If you want to dig deeper into who is buying into this vision, you should check out Exploring Mayville Engineering Company, Inc. (MEC) Investor Profile: Who's Buying and Why?

Given Company slogan/tagline

MEC uses a concise tagline that summarizes the outcome of their decades-long history and their P.R.I.D.E. culture. It's a simple promise to the customer.

• Experience You Can Trust!

Honesty, that slogan is backed by the numbers, too. They've consistently delivered results, like the $144.3 million in net sales they reported in Q3 2025, beating consensus estimates.

Mayville Engineering Company, Inc. (MEC) How It Works

Mayville Engineering Company, Inc. (MEC) operates as a leading U.S.-based, vertically-integrated manufacturing partner, providing end-to-end metal fabrication solutions-from initial design and prototyping to high-volume production and complex assembly-for major original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). The company makes its money by serving as a single-source supplier for highly-engineered metal components and assemblies across diverse, heavy-duty end markets, with a strategic pivot toward the high-growth critical power sector in 2025.

Here's the quick math: MEC is guiding for full-year 2025 net sales of approximately $545 million at the midpoint, with an Adjusted EBITDA target of $52 million, reflecting the current soft demand in core markets but a strategic expansion into new, higher-margin areas like data centers. Breaking Down Mayville Engineering Company, Inc. (MEC) Financial Health: Key Insights for Investors

Given Company's Product/Service Portfolio

Given Company's Operational Framework

MEC drives value through its vertically-integrated model and a disciplined operational strategy known as the MBX framework. This framework is essentially a lean, continuous improvement system that focuses on cost reduction and efficiency.

• Execute the MBX Framework: This is a core operational excellence system focused on daily lean management, root-cause countermeasures, and performance-based key performance indicators (KPIs) to improve operating leverage.
• Maintain U.S.-Based Footprint: Operates 23 facilities across seven states, all in the continental U.S., which helps mitigate global supply chain disruption risk for customers.
• Integrate Accu-Fab Acquisition: The $140.5 million cash acquisition, completed in July 2025, immediately expanded MEC's capabilities into the high-growth critical power and data center end markets.
• Optimize Manufacturing Capacity: The company is consolidating its manufacturing footprint, including a Q4 facility closure, targeting approximately $2 million in annual fixed-cost savings.

Operational execution is defintely the key to maintaining margin when volumes are soft.

Given Company's Strategic Advantages

MEC's market success is grounded in its scale, domestic focus, and deep customer integration, which collectively create significant barriers to entry for competitors.

• Largest U.S. Fabricator: MEC is the largest U.S. steel fabricator, providing an operator-of-scale advantage that allows it to handle complex, high-volume production requirements that smaller competitors cannot.
• Reshoring Tailwinds: The 100% domestic manufacturing footprint is a durable competitive advantage, directly benefiting from the ongoing trend of reshoring production back to the U.S. to simplify logistics and supply chains.
• End-to-End Solution Partner: Offering a full product lifecycle service-from design to aftermarket-positions MEC as a Tier-1 supplier, making it costly and difficult for OEMs to switch providers.
• Diversification into High-Growth: The Accu-Fab acquisition is a strategic move, immediately accelerating diversification away from cyclical legacy markets (like Commercial Vehicle, which saw a 27.2% revenue share decline over two years) into the more resilient, high-margin critical power sector.

Mayville Engineering Company, Inc. (MEC) How It Makes Money

Mayville Engineering Company, Inc. (MEC) makes money primarily by acting as a vertically integrated contract manufacturer, providing design, prototyping, and fabrication solutions for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) across diverse, heavy-duty end markets. The company generates revenue by selling complex metal components, assemblies, and finished products-like engine components for commercial vehicles or structural frames for data centers-to its large, established customer base.

Given Company's Revenue Breakdown

You need to see where the cash flow is actually coming from, not just where management is talking about growth. The revenue mix for MEC is in a critical transition as of late 2025, with legacy heavy-industry markets shrinking but the new Data Center segment providing a powerful offset. Here's the quick math on the major streams, based on recent segment reporting.

The core business, Commercial Vehicle and Construction & Access, which together represent about 42.5% of revenue, is facing a tough cycle. Commercial Vehicle revenue has seen average year-on-year declines of 8.7% over the last two years, and Construction & Access is down an average of 11.7% over the same period. But, the Diversified segment is where the action is. The acquisition of Accu-Fab, completed in Q3 2025, is immediately adding a higher-margin stream in Data Center & Critical Power, which is targeted to grow to 20-25% of total revenues long-term.

Business Economics

MEC's business economics are based on a high-volume, low-margin manufacturing model, but they are strategically shifting toward higher-value, higher-margin fabrication work, particularly in the Data Center space. Their strategic pricing and operational excellence program (MBX framework) is defintely the key lever to counter soft demand in legacy markets.

• Pricing Strategy: MEC uses a cost-plus pricing model with large OEM customers, but their long-term contracts allow for strategic price adjustments and cost-out initiatives to maintain margins despite volatile commodity prices like steel and aluminum.
• Cost Structure: Labor and raw materials (metal) are the dominant costs. The manufacturing margin was 11.0% of net sales in Q3 2025, down from 12.6% a year ago, primarily due to lower volume and acquisition-related costs.
• Operating Leverage: The company benefits from operating leverage-meaning margins should expand significantly when demand recovers-due to its large, fixed domestic manufacturing footprint. Management anticipates a normalized Selling, General, and Administrative (SG&A) expense range of 4.5%-5.5% of net sales once end-market demand improves.
• New Margin Profile: The new Data Center business is expected to deliver gross margins roughly 10 percentage points above MEC's historical average, fundamentally changing the profitability profile as that segment scales.

You can see the company's commitment to long-term value creation by reviewing their Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of Mayville Engineering Company, Inc. (MEC).

Given Company's Financial Performance

The 2025 financial performance is a story of transition-growth from acquisition is masking weakness in core markets, but the overall picture is stable against a tough macro backdrop. The full-year guidance confirms this realistic outlook.

• Net Sales Guidance (FY 2025): The company reaffirmed its full-year net sales guidance to a midpoint of $545 million, with a range of $528 million to $562 million.
• Adjusted EBITDA (FY 2025): Full-year Adjusted EBITDA guidance is a midpoint of $52 million, ranging from $49 million to $55 million, representing a margin of about 9.5% at the midpoint of sales guidance.
• Q3 2025 Results: Net sales for the third quarter were $144.3 million, a 6.6% year-over-year increase, though organic net sales declined 9.1%, showing the immediate impact of the Accu-Fab acquisition.
• Cash Flow and Debt: Free Cash Flow is projected to be between $25 million and $31 million for the full year 2025. However, Q3 2025 saw negative Free Cash Flow of $1.1 million, and net debt rose to $214.9 million, bringing the Net Leverage Ratio to 3.5x as of September 30, 2025. This leverage is now at the upper end of their target range, so debt reduction is a near-term priority.

The short-term pain of integration and market softness is clear in the Q3 GAAP Net Loss of $2.7 million, but the Adjusted EBITDA of $14.1 million shows the underlying business is still generating solid cash flow.

Mayville Engineering Company, Inc. (MEC) Market Position & Future Outlook

Mayville Engineering Company, Inc. (MEC) is navigating a challenging legacy market by aggressively pivoting toward high-growth sectors, positioning itself as the premier domestic, vertically-integrated fabrication partner for critical infrastructure. The company's strategic focus on the data center and critical power markets is expected to drive future profitability, offsetting near-term headwinds from its traditional commercial vehicle business.

Competitive Landscape

The U.S. metal fabrication market is highly fragmented, but Mayville Engineering Company maintains a strong leadership position as the nation's largest contract fabricator by revenue for the fifteenth consecutive year. Based on the projected $7.26 billion U.S. metal fabrication market size in 2025, MEC commands a significant, though still single-digit, share, reflecting the industry's dispersed nature.

Opportunities & Challenges

You need to look at Mayville Engineering Company's outlook through two lenses: the immediate impact of legacy market softness and the long-term potential of its strategic pivot. The company's full-year 2025 revenue guidance sits at a midpoint of $545 million, with adjusted EBITDA projected at $52 million, showing a stable core despite the market shifts.

Industry Position

Mayville Engineering Company's industry standing is defined by its scale and comprehensive capabilities, which is why it consistently tops the FAB 40 list. It's a full-service partner, not just a job shop, offering design, prototyping, and a full suite of manufacturing solutions (fabrication, coating, assembly) across 26 facilities.

Here's the quick math: MEC's ability to offer a single-source solution from concept to production, especially with its recent expansion into light-gauge sheet metal fabrication via Accu-Fab, makes it defintely more appealing to large OEMs looking to consolidate their supply chains.

• Maintain market leadership by revenue in a fragmented U.S. fabrication sector.
• Strong presence in diverse end markets: Construction, Agriculture, Military, and now Data Centers.
• Strategic shift aims to increase the percentage of higher-margin revenue from new, faster-growing markets.

To understand the foundational principles driving this strategic shift, you should review the company's core beliefs: Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of Mayville Engineering Company, Inc. (MEC).

What this estimate hides is the speed of the transition-if the new data center programs don't ramp up quickly enough to fill the void left by the commercial vehicle downturn, the short-term earnings per share (EPS) could remain under pressure. The Q3 2025 organic sales decline of 9.1% shows the urgency of the pivot.