Hanns Voith

Hanns Voith (* 26. April 1885 in Heidenheim an der Brenz , † 7. January 1971 ) was a German mechanical engineering - engineering and business owners . He was the managing director of the family-owned mechanical engineering company JM Voith GmbH .

Career

Hanns Voith was born as the youngest son of the machine manufacturer Friedrich Voith . He attended grammar school in Heidenheim and the grammar school in Stuttgart . He then completed the practical year required to study mechanical engineering in his father's company and then did an internship at the mechanical engineering company Defries in Düsseldorf . He studied engineering at the Technical University of Dresden and at the Technical University of Karlsruhe without acquiring a regular degree. In 1913, after the death of his father, he joined the family business as an open (previously silent) third partner. While his brotherHermann was responsible for commercial matters, Hanns became technical director of the Heidenheim headquarters for almost 30 years.

After Hermann's death in 1942, he took over the overall management of the company. Together with Hugo Rupf , the chairman of the management board, he brought the company to a new boom after the Second World War. The development and construction of paper machines reached a new high.

Thanks to his good business and personal contacts abroad, which he was able to make on extensive trips, he led the company into an internationally operating group. There were holdings and takeovers. A milestone in his work was the establishment of Voith SA in São Paulo, Brazil in 1964 .

In addition to its corporate sphere of activity, Voith commented on social issues in several articles. He was also a board member of the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft . On the occasion of his 40th anniversary with the company, the Hanns Voith Foundation was established in 1953 as a non-profit foundation . It supports projects in the fields of culture , education , science and international understanding financially and awards grants .

Honors

1929: Honorary doctorate from the Technical University of Stuttgart
1952: Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
1953: Honorary doctorate from the Technical University of Darmstadt
1953: Honorary citizen of the Technical University of Stuttgart

literature

Matthias Georgi, Tobias Birken, Anna Pezold: Voith: 150 Years of German Economic History , Siedler Verlag 2017, ISBN 978-3-8275-0111-0 .
Hanns Matthäus Voith , Internationales Biographisches Archiv 12/1971 of March 15, 1971, in the Munzinger Archive ( beginning of article freely available)
Hanns Voith: In the course of times - memories, Konrad Theiss Verlag 1980, ISBN 978-3-8062-0248-9 .

Web links

Hanns Voith Foundation
Biography of Hanns Voith at the Kulturimpuls research center

Individual evidence

^ Anne Nieberding: Corporate culture in the empire. The JM Voith foundry and the paint factories vorm. Friedr. Bayer & Co. CH Beck, Munich 2003, p. 62 f.

personal data
SURNAME	Voith, Hanns
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German engineer and entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH	April 26, 1885
PLACE OF BIRTH	Heidenheim an der Brenz
DATE OF DEATH	7th January 1971
Place of death	Heidenheim an der Brenz

[1] Anne Nieberding: Corporate culture in the empire. The JM Voith foundry and the paint factories vorm. Friedr. Bayer & Co. CH Beck, Munich 2003, p. 62 f.