The founder
Berthold Leibinger
“As an entrepreneur, it is important to understand that we are a part of society and not acting within a vacuum. We are part of a greater whole – the community.”
Berthold Leibinger
Berthold Leibinger was born in Stuttgart on November 26, 1930, to a family with a deep appreciation for the arts. Upon graduating from secondary school in 1950, he began an apprenticeship as a mechanic at Trumpf & Co., a medium-sized manufacturing company for machine tools. He then went on to receive a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Technology in Stuttgart.
Shortly after his marriage to Doris Leibinger, the couple moved to the USA for three years in 1958. In Ohio, Berthold Leibinger worked as a development engineer at Cincinnati Milling Machines. After returning, he took over as head of the design department at Trumpf & Co. and became Technical Managing Director and shareholder of the company in 1966. From 1978 to 2005, he was chairman of the board. As early as the late 1970s, Berthold Leibinger made the decision to rely on laser technology in sheet metal processing. Today, TRUMPF SE + Co KG, headquartered in Ditzingen near Stuttgart, is the market and technology leader in machine tools and in the field of laser technology for industrial manufacturing.
Curious by default
Throughout his life, Berthold Leibinger was driven by a thirst for knowledge. Over the course of his professional career, he filed numerous patents and in 2014, at the age of 84, received a doctorate from the Vienna University of Technology.
Patronage was another constant in his life. He established the non-profit foundation Berthold Leibinger Stiftung GmbH in 1992, choosing four areas of support that were in line with his personal interests: science, culture, church projects and social commitment.
Berthold Leibinger passed away on October 16, 2018.
