A Bottrop resident as SEEPEX CEO

In 2021, the company, which has been manufacturing industrial pumps in Bottrop for more than 50 years, was sold to the American Ingersoll Rand Group, which focuses on compressors, compressed air solutions, pumps and material handling technology. Much has changed since then. The founding Seeberger family withdrew from the company at the time for reasons of age. What remains, alongside a large production facility and administrative offices, is a family-oriented corporate culture strongly shaped by people from the Ruhr region and, in particular, by families from Bottrop.

On April 1 of this year, Marc-André Loeven took over as Managing Director of SEEPEX GmbH from his Finnish predecessor. He has worked his way to the top of the company step by step since 2009, although this was never part of a specific plan. “I first came into contact with SEEPEX while studying mechanical engineering. I was looking for an internship close to home because I was already living in Bottrop with my now-wife.”  He started with a practical semester in assembly, gained experience in various departments as a working student and, after successfully completing his master's degree in mechanical engineering, joined the company as a trainee. 

As Managing Director, he values close collaboration with people and the opportunity to actively shape the company's development. For him, SEEPEX is a place where many things come together: a strong product, dedicated employees and a shared determination to make a difference. “It all depends on the people.” When he says this, it is clear that Marc-André Loeven knows his team well. This understanding stems from his direct collaboration with numerous departments and different teams over the years. In 2013, he took over lean management and began optimizing processes in key areas of the company. He was also able to expand his international network, as he was responsible for structural organizational changes at SEEPEX production sites in the USA and China, as well as at its European subsidiaries. These insights into different cultures and leadership styles have broadened and sharpened his perspective on corporate management. After further career steps, including heading the Quality department in 2016 and, most recently, serving as Plant Manager and an authorized signatory, he was well prepared for the next step in his career.

With a Managing Director who has known the pump business for almost 20 years, brings experience ranging from the factory floor to sales, and has built up numerous relationships throughout the company, Ingersoll Rand benefits from a valuable asset. When an acquisition brings extensive change, trust, reliability and transparency are crucial. Yet these are precisely the qualities that colleagues from the global industrial group appreciate when they visit SEEPEX for meetings, as Marc-André Loeven explains. This corporate culture is particularly important to the 39-year-old. That is why he is committed to strengthening and sustainably developing it within an international, continuously growing and dynamic environment. “We are the largest Ingersoll Rand site in Germany, and in Europe we are the only location within the group with this pump technology,” Loeven explains. SEEPEX contributes its technical expertise to the international organization, along with reliability, proven structures and established processes.

He finds it easiest to unwind on the East Frisian coast with his wife and their two children. The slower pace helps him disconnect from everyday life. And so, at SEEPEX, Marc-André Loeven brings together the qualities that have always set the company apart: technical expertise and a corporate culture based on mutual respect and working as equals. Perhaps it is precisely this combination of down-to-earth values, close relationships with people and an international outlook that has always shaped SEEPEX's success and will continue to provide the foundation for future growth.