Maurer Rides GmbH

Description

Founded in Munich in 1876 as a metalware workshop, Maurer grew over the following century into one of the largest steel construction companies in southern Germany, delivering structures ranging from bridge bearings and expansion joints to high-precision rails for driverless monorail systems and stadium steelwork across multiple continents. The company today operates with more than 1,000 employees across six production sites worldwide, with the main Munich facility covering 40,000 m² of production area. The pivot into amusement rides came in 1993 with the takeover of the roller coaster division of BHS, the successor operation to Anton Schwarzkopf, widely regarded as the originator of the modern steel roller coaster. That acquisition brought with it employees, machines, production documents, and active orders, establishing Maurer as the direct continuation of the Schwarzkopf legacy. Maurer still supplies service and spare parts for all Schwarzkopf coasters. To sharpen focus on the ride market, the dedicated subsidiary Maurer Rides GmbH was incorporated in 2003, operating as a specialized and independent unit within the broader Maurer Group. The product portfolio spans Wild Mouse coasters, spinning coasters, launch coasters, looping coasters, and the Spike drive family, alongside people movers and material transport systems. The spinning coaster platform, introduced as the S-Coaster in 2000, became the most widely installed Maurer design with over 21 installations globally. The X-Car system, introduced in 2004, was the world's first vehicle allowing inverted riding without shoulder restraints, earning ten international industry and design awards including the IAAPA Impact Award and IAAPA Best Product Award. Ten SkyLoop installations have been completed to date, including a custom version at Parques de Atracciones in Madrid. The R-Coaster platform, featuring dual parallel tracks with Linear Synchronous Motor propulsion, was deployed at Ferrari World in Abu Dhabi as Fiorano GT Challenge. Maurer also placed roller coaster installations aboard cruise ships, with four Spike rides operating at sea. The Spike drive system, introduced commercially with the opening of the first Spike coaster at Allgäu Skyline Park (IAAPA Best Product Award 2017), represented a fundamental shift: a powered coaster capable of accelerating at rates comparable to LSM systems. In 2024, the Spike ASM Launch variant extended this further, enabling acceleration of larger trains at over 1g with full upside-down capability. The Giant 8 Loop ride figure, realized with this system, revisited a concept Anton Schwarzkopf had originally envisioned four decades earlier. Underpinning all design and manufacturing work is a suite of proprietary engineering tools. The XTRAC multi-body simulation platform handles track layout and dynamic load calculation. The XBEND system bends steel pipes with diameters of up to 406 mm precisely in three dimensions. The XTOOLS interface connects structural analysis directly to production documentation and the bending machinery, enabling a continuous digital workflow from concept to fabrication. As of 2023, Maurer AG has built 68 roller coasters across multiple countries.