Third generation social commitment

The businessman
At the age of 22 Franz-Walter Aumund entered the AUMUND business, the company his grandfather had founded as an engineering office in 1922, and which his father had significantly expanded with the addition of production facilities. Precise engineering work and a sound grasp of practice had been facilitated by both of the previous generations. This left Franz-Walter Aumund to set his own emphases for the company.

As a young man he was drawn to exploring the world, and this influenced the benefit he brought to the company. Qualities such as looking outside the box, approaching unfamiliar cultures with tolerance, and tapping into potential markets, were in his blood, which meant that he not only worked on successively increasing the proportion of goods exported by AUMUND, but the establishment of the overseas subsidiaries was also down to him.

On the occasion of the 100th anniversary in 2022 Franz-Walter Aumund was able to look back with pride on the internationalisation of the Group of companies, which he had made possible: 25,000 AUMUND machines in around 150 countries as well as 500 employees from 25 nations, speaking 30 different languages, are statistics which speak for themselves.

The enabler
“My door is always open to my employees!” For Franz-Walter Aumund these were not just empty words. Even though he was responsible for the “big picture” he never lost sight of his employees, and it was important to him to actively promote and support careers. Employees who stood out as motivated and showed initiative could always count on his support. This did not only include training measures and opportunities for advancement in the same location, but he also opened doors for periods of time to be spent in other AUMUND subsidiaries, which enabled people to experience other cultures and understand the type of daily challenges faced at the other end of the world.

The philanthropist
Franz-Walter Aumund’s decades of travelling also gave the decisive impetus for the key areas of his philanthropic commitment, because in particular the cement plants of his customers around the globe are often “in the middle of nowhere”, as he liked to put it. In rural regions, away from the pulsating metropolis, he saw much suffering over the years and had become more and more conscious of his own privileged background. Having the freedom to be able to actively shape your life according to your potential had been a matter of course for him, but he came to see it as a great asset, which he wanted to provide to young people around the world. Giving children and young people the opportunity to lead a self-determined life through targeted support along the entire education chain became a key focus of his funding activities.

He died on 4 February 2023 at the age of 78 years.