Award for Trumpf's laser technology pioneer

The award is made every three years to “pioneers in technology. Professor Leibinger received the award “in honor of his contributions to the innovative development and successful entrepreneurial implementation of the technologies for flexible sheet metal processing and industrial laser technology,” Professor Ernst O. Göbel, president of the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) and chairman of the Foundation Committee, said of the jury’s decision. This was linked to Professor Leibinger's introduction of laser technology to materials processing at the end of the 1970s and his developments of the technology thereafter. He was a student intern at Trumpf when he wrote his diploma thesis that led to three groundbreaking patents. After a two-year stay in the United States, which at that time dominated the machine tool industry, he became manager of the Construction Department at Trumpf 1961. His inventions allowed the company to advance. For his patents, Trumpf reimbursed him with company shares, and in 1978 he became chairman of the managing board. Today, the company belongs to Professor Leibinger's family and he presides over it as chairman of its supervisory board. From 1961 to 2006, Trumpf's sales grew from €5 million Euros to €1.65 billion; the number of employees increasing from 300 to 7,000 worldwide. From a position as a developer of power tools and simple machines, the company has become number one worldwide in industrial laser technology. At the beginning of the 1980s, Professor Leibinger made the far-reaching decision to develop and build the company’s own laser. For a company that had been traditionally a machine-builder, this was a courageous step. Today, the company earns two-thirds of its total sales from lasers and laser machines. Year after year Trumpf invested approximately 6 to 8 per cent of company sales in research and development – twice as much as is the norm in the industry. That is how the company earned it position today. In addition to this award, Professor Liebinger was recently awarded the Order of Merit with Star of the Federal Republic of Germany by the president of the Federal Republic of Germany. He also received the German Mechanical Engineer Award for his life’s work, an honor the business publication Produktion awarded for the first time. In November, the Board of Trustees of the Fairness Stiftung awarded the Leibinger family the 2006 German Fairness Award.