25 years of digital love.

Nice to have you here!
Immerse yourself with us in a quarter of a century of fme!

Story Anniversary Video Milestones Congratulations

Our Story

In the case of fme, digital love is not a story that made its romantic start digitally at Parship or ElitePartner. It is a story of two men who had an idea, that started in a small rented apartment in Braunschweig, Germany and continued when they brought another young, visionary man on board - a certain Dirk Bode, today's CEO of fme AG.

It is the story of an IT company that started out with two people in Braunschweig and has become a team of around 300 employees internationally.

It is a story that does not evoke dry zeros and ones in people's minds when hearing the keyword »IT«, but rather a lot of heart, a lot of personality, a lot of courage and a lot of exciting projects.

25 years of digital love is also a story about a company that suddenly has to face the worst crisis since World War II.

25 years, a time in which others get married and celebrate a silver wedding anniversary, raise children in the meantime and have them leave home - a time in which fme has grown from a small IT system integrator to an international consulting company for digital transformation.

fme Headquarters in Braunschweig
Frank Mittelstaedt with his dog Jonas (†), who was his faithful (office) companion from 2013 to 2018

»I look back at the last 25 years with awe. Of course, I am very pleased with the economic success, but I am even more pleased by the fact that we have created a company with a very special DNA, to which the term »LOVE« fits in so many ways.« 

Frank Mittelstaedt,
one of the two founders and authorized representative of fme AG. 

About a lot of heart and a lot of personality

A strong love is based on values that the partners share and that constitute their relationship. fme has maintained its characteristic values over the years, despite enormous growth. Maybe THE secret ingredient for 25 years of success? This includes open, honest, fair, flat hierarchies, the loyalty of employees, clients and business partners as the ultimate goal. The fact that employees are loyal can be seen in the low fluctuation rate and the regular employee anniversaries, for which we not only celebrate five, 10 or 15 years @ fme, but have also toasted to 20 years of employment several times.

Personal impressions of the company culture are collected in afme Culture Book, which is published about every other year. The employees report individually, of course uncensored, about their personal thoughts and experiences in the form of stories, photos and quotations.

We have also worked with several clients and business partners for more than 20 years. To ensure that this remains the case, fme regularly conducts internal and external surveys on the likelihood to recommend us to others (NPS), and and we are continously working to improve based on the received feedback.

Our vision: Your partner for digital transformation. It's fme you love to work with.
Fresh fruit - the healthy alternative to the candy bar ;)

In a good relationship it is often the little things that make a big difference. A strong trust is also essential and - not to forget: the way to a man’s heart goes through his stomach. So, in their daily work, fme employees enjoy fresh fruit and vegetables, free beverages, a candy bar, flexible working hours, the possibility to take sabbaticals, the fme Academy and many other benefits.

About a great deal of courage

In Germany, around 150,000 marriages were divorced last year, which means a divorce rate of about 36% after an average of 15 years of marriage (source: Federal Statistical Office). fme's Digital Love easily passed this critical mark.

Of course, in 25 years of (digital) love, you may encounter small or large stumbling blocks, temptations and the danger of unfaithfulness arise. Classic »IT dust« tries to settle down, boredom fights its way to confirm prejudices in many minds. And, not to forget, a classic reason for divorce: »We have grown apart«.

fme has always remained true to itself and its values. At the speed at which fme adapts to the ever-changing world and is constantly evolving, not a single speck of dust manages to stick to the fme image. Boredom cannot last long, not with the speed and the exciting projects. Growing apart? No chance with fme. Outstanding, uplifting parties, exciting team events, a social intranet and a great deal of commitment at all levels create a sense of fellowship that makes it impossible to grow apart - even across different locations and continents.

(Ice cream) fun on the roof-top terrace at the headquarters in Braunschweig

fme shows courage to be as it is and not to be bent. The employees are encouraged to be courageous, think outside the box, dare to try something new. What if mistakes are made in the process? No problem. Only those who dare to make mistakes can keep up with the rapid pace of this world. In such cases, it is important to reflect and learn from them together.

About exciting projects

Besides a lot of heart, a lot of personality and a lot of courage, it is the exciting, multifaceted projects that characterize fme. Whether in the field of Business Consulting, Business Intelligence, Cloud Computing, Enterprise Content Management, Custom Software or Managed Services, or with its own globally successfulproduct for Content Migration. fme consults, designs, implements and operates. For that the company brings along very special strengths: Experience from numerous international projects, in-depth industry knowledge, high quality paired with agility, innovation and trust. These are all ingredients that in total create a unique company. As diverse as fme's services are its clients, who range from international pharmaceutical companies to local medium-sized businesses.

About stumbling blocks and stumbling mountains

fme knew only one direction in the past 25 years: upwards - most recently with a turnover of 28 million Euros. Small stumbling blocks were left behind with flying colors. But in March this year it was suddenly no longer a stumbling block. fme is now facing a stumbling mountain that is currently shaking every relationship in the world: Corona. And what does fme do?
We pack our mountaineering equipment and climb the stumbling mountain, taking with us what there is to learn, what we can do even better, such as even more extensive home office options in the post-Corona era or how to open up more to new industries, aside from our focus sectors of industrial manufacturing and life sciences. We have summarized our learnings on this website so that other companies can also benefit from them. As a company, we will also master the worst crisis since the Second World War successfully. After 25 years, nothing can stagger fme that easily!

About great optimism

With the entire fme family, which - in addition to fme AG with offices in Braunschweig, Frankfurt and Munich - also includes fme SRL with its office in Romania since 2005 as well as fme US, LLC with its office in the USA since 2010, we look to the future with optimism.

Our exciting success story from a small IT system integrator to an international consulting company for digital transformation is far from over. There are still numerous pages to fill. Faithful to our values, agile in our services, courageous in our plans, such as a growth of 80% in the next five years, and of course: With a lot of digital love!

About gratitude and solidarity

At this point we want to say thank you very much! Thank you, to every single employee of the fme family, thank you to our partners and thank you to our clients, who play a very special role and with whom we author the stories of our regions:

»The reason why we get up every morning? We want to help our clients to use the digital transformation as an opportunity and to continue to be successful in the market. If we make a contribution here, it will have a positive impact on the regions in which we operate. Only successful companies can give something back: paying taxes and being socially committed. In the end, this benefits us all.« 

Dirk Bode, CEO of fme AG.

To the next 25 years of digital love @ fme!

Anniversary Video

Our Milestones

  1. 1995
  2. 1996
  3. 1998
  4. 1999
  5. 2000
  6. 2001
  7. 2003
  8. 2005
  9. 2006
  10. 2009
  11. 2010
  12. 2013
  13. 2016
  14. 2018
  15. 2020

  1. 1995

    Foundation of fme Systementwicklung GmbH by Frank Mittelstaedt und Michael Engelen (fme).

  2. 1996

    Dirk Bode joins in the area of sales & marketing

  3. 1998

    Partnership with Documentum established. Dirk Bode becomes third member of the fme management board.

  4. 1999

    fme's first image brochure is published as a folded flyer.

  5. 2000

    fme opens the Munich office at Rupprechtstrasse 25.

  6. 2001

    Acquisition of the Internet agency OPENBOX and change of name to fme AG. The number of employees increases to 50.

  7. 2003

    Increased focus on enterprise content management and consulting.

  8. 2005

    The "migration-center" achieves the "Designed for Documentum" status. Opening of a subsidiary in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

  9. 2006

    New location in Frankfurt am Main at Schulstraße 43a with a focus on life science solutions.

  10. 2009

    The fme group breaks the 100 employee mark and a small fme team starts at the first company run in Braunschweig.

  11. 2010

    fme expands its service portfolio to include Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) and Business Intelligence (BI) and founds fme US, LLC. (Danbury, CT) Here is a photo of the first joint trade show in Boston, MA.

  12. 2013

    fme Braunschweig moves to the new headquarters in Wolfenbütteler Straße 33.

  13. 2016

    Makeover fme Corporate Design and fme Website. The fme Team counts almost 200 people now.

  14. 2018

    fme celebrates 20 years of partnership with OpenText Documentum. Relocation of the Frankfurt office to Philip-Reis-Strasse 2.

  15. 2020

    fme is celebrating its 25th anniversary - due to the COVID-19 pandemic for the time being in virtual form.

Congratulations

#DigitalLove can be so much more than a Tinder Date... ;-)

A cooperation at eye level - with people who love what they do. And do what they love. Congratulations to this special anniversary and to the super impressive success and love story of fme AG. We are very proud to accompany you as your partner for live communication. Keep on rocking!

- Babak Khosrawi-Rad | eventives GmbH

Congratulations on this remarkable anniversary. I can only underline this: During our more than 20 years of cooperation there has always been a lot of heart and a lot of personal involvement. You have grown a lot and yet always remained personal, fair and loyal. Thank you for the many great projects - I am proud to be part of the fme love story. Stay in your hearts as you are and keep going!

- Alwina Unruh | UNRUH Designbüro

I am happy about the successful 25 years and wish us all the best and a lot of success in the future.

- Jürgen Tebrün | fme AG

documentum, fme AG and OpenText: that simply fits. Thank you very much for the successful cooperation and all the best for a remarkable anniversary.

- Jochen Adler | OpenText Software GmbH

Heartfelt congratulations on the company anniversary

- Andreas Matecki | Hofbrauhaus Wolters GmbH

Congratulations on the anniversary! Dear Dirk, all the best for you and your team for the next 25 years! With 76 years of age you could still be CEO, in America you can still take political responsibility with 77 years of age... :-) Stay healthy & cheerful everybody!!! Regards from Wolfenbüttel

- Holger Bormann | Autohaus Gebrüder Bormann GmbH

Dear Dirk, dear FME team! Congratulations on this incredibly inspiring achievement and story. These are great accomplishments you can be proud of. Keep up the good work! Best wishes

- Dirk Gronert | Öffentliche Versicherung Braunschweig

Congratulations on the 25th! ... it is always fun to successfully implement projects "together" with YOU :-)

- Stefan Bädermann | Perschmann Business Services GmbH

Great and very nice that you are developing your values so consistently and I wish you success and a lot of fun on your way! Uli

- Uli Wiesner | in (active) retirement

Congratulations on the company anniversary! Best wishes for the next 25 years!

- Heike Roeder | Bayer AG

What a milestone! And that is what is at the core of our business too. Building cars from milestone to milestone. FME has organized all these processes and the mix-ups that go with them and has brought them into a system that we have been using for over 10 years now. How great to be a part of it. Heartfelt congratulations!

- Viviane Fois Gründel | Volkswagen AG

Congratulations on 25 years of doing business. That is a great milestone in these times for your type of business to not only survive but grow. Best wishes to all those that worked with us in past and we look forward to working together in the future.

- Bob Rosa | Ulbrich Stainless Steel (USA)

Congratulations on the company anniversary and thank you for the good support in building our DMS!

- Ron Jürgens | Urenco Limited CTG

Congratulations to you, Frank and Dirk, and the fme team! 25 years is a proud anniversary that not every company achieves. You were still in your fledgling stages when we developed the documentum solution for the company archive in a quite considerable effort. It was a great success at the time and caused quite a stir on the scene! Much success in the next quarter century!

- Dirk Schlinkert | Volkswagen

Dear fme AG,
on the first quarter century of such a successful existence I send my best congratulations and keep my fingers crossed for the half century!
And to my former student, Dirk Bode, I would like to congratulate him on this great success and thank him for his continuing commitment to the TU Braunschweig and my faculty!

- Dean of the Carl-Friedrich-Gauß-Faculty of the TU Braunschweig

Hello Frank, Hello Mr Bode,
Congratulations on your anniversary - 25 years are really a great achievement and I wish you continued success and lots of fun in the future.

- Winfried Althaus | CEO KGS Software GmbH

Great to know a little more about you and your "digital love" story. You are an excellent enterprise, and excellent vendor, and with a friendly and helpful staff. And with this virtual silver anniversary you seem like a nice family. Thanks for all your help, and go for more success in all of your future endeavors and for the golden anniversary.

- Fabian Macias | Banco de la Republica - Colombia

Good morning fme! 25 successful years! Congratulations!
The answer to the question about the reason for fme's success is more obvious than the answer to the question "hen or egg"?
The answer is - congratulations to a great team, assembled by great leaders!
Jokes aside: There's a difference whether you put topics such as "team, corporate culture, values, routines and rituals,
participation, change, etc." into your mouth as an advertising slogan or live this " mindset" day by day.
The spirit and style of the company, valuable expert knowledge based on corporate values saves jabbering about work-life-balance! That is what fme is for me.
Of the many companies and management teams I have dealt with in my lifetime, I can only remember very few that were as valuable and lively as your company.
Stay that way - and continue to change!

- Rüdiger F. Engel | (formerly) netmark GmbH

Dear Mr. Bode, congratulations to you and the whole fme, and also many thanks for the long lasting loyalty to the TU and its university library. I wish you continued success!

- Prof. Dr. Dietmar Brandes | TU Braunschweig

My very best congratulations on the anniversary and thank you for the warm and cordial way of working together ( including the legendary Momentums)! With fme I never felt like just a paying client but also as a partner and human being. Please keep it up!

- Karsten Lenzen | SIG Information Technology GmbH

Many congratulations, Dirk.

In the virtual world of the 21st century, the red logo of fme AG is more familiar than the Braunschweig heraldic animal that Henry the Lion once brought to us in the north.

The great Guelph died in 1195 in his city of residence, Braunschweig - where fme was founded 800 years later. You have taken the opposite path and have already opened a residence in Munich in the second year of your reign.

Henry dominated the Baltic trade from Lübeck - today the fme is located on the east coast of the USA and is growing on two continents - the old duke would be proud of his entrepreneurial successors.

Respect, also for the performance of your team and the financial health of the fme.
Your digital love should never end.

- Thomas Knigge | Helmes Bewersdorf GmbH

Dear Dirk, all the best wishes for at least another 25 years of successful IT work. The show must go on!!
Greetings from Wolfsburg. Keep on rocking ...

- Dr. Peter Brose | Schnellecke Group

Congratulations on your 25th anniversary! Great what you and your team have put together here. Great praise to the team and also to you personally. Keep it up! I hope that the current situation has not hit you hard economically. I think that with your possibilities, your infrastructure and your corporate culture you are better positioned than other companies at the moment to continue to operate successfully at full strength. I wish you continued success.

- Philipp Groß | Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft

Dear Mr. Mittelstaedt,
I would like to congratulate you on your success and 25th anniversary. The anniversary video is successful and confirms the values that we as clients can sense as well. In our joint project there were many challenges at the beginning, but they were always managed in a solution-oriented way by your team and especially by you, Mr. Mittelstaedt.
The cooperation with you is constructive and profitable. THANK YOU!

- Thimo Baum | INTER Versicherungsgruppe

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