Image: VOLKER Weihbold
Yesterday, the three children, the children-in-law and the five grandchildren accompanied the couple Alois and Anna Elisabeth Scheuch to the Pegasus award ceremony for entrepreneurial lifetime achievement. “It’s a great honor,” says the modest winner. In 1963, the trained plumber took over a workshop with six employees from his father. When he retired in 1998, the ventilation specialist Scheuch had 600 employees. Today – after the internationalization pushed by son Stefan – there are 1500 employees.
Scheuch’s father had set up his own tinsmith’s shop and coppersmith’s shop between the wars. “We were paid a lot in kind, that was worth something at the time,” Alois Scheuch recalls. For the boy it is already clear after elementary school that he will join the company. “Gymnasium would not have been right for me.”
However, the apprenticeship in his father’s company didn’t really kindle Alois’ heart for the company. “I often looked at the clock to see when work was over.”
After completing his apprenticeship, the nature lover felt the urge to go to the mountains – he hired himself out to tinsmiths in Vorarlberg and Innsbruck, where he also lived out his sporting talents. The apparatus gymnast made it to the extended Olympic selection for Rome in 1960. In 1957 he returned to the Innviertel, took the master’s examination and joined the family business. Scheuch speaks openly about his difficult start: “It wasn’t really fun. The competition was tough, we tried a few things, even auto bodywork.”
Hospital turned the tide
In 1961, the turnaround brought an order for the newly built hospital in Ried, when the small plumbing shop was to supply ventilation pipes. “That interested me. I didn’t just want to build the pipes, I also wanted the technology.”
Scheuch reads, acquires a lot of knowledge. But the mechanical production was missing. “We couldn’t even weld thicker sheet metal, let alone a fan.” This heart of a ventilation system was initially manufactured by the neighboring company in Ried, the metalworking shop run by the brothers Fritz Walter and Johann Wintersteiger.
This made it possible to offer complete systems. The first lathes and balancing machines were soon purchased and locksmiths hired. Competence increased. In addition, there were stricter official requirements in terms of dust and exhaust air.
Many well-known companies need systems, Fischer Ski, Berghammer (today Team 7), Schrattenecker (Tilo), Wiesner-Hager become customers. Scheuch continues to develop the technology. Some of the pipes are transported with employees’ tractors. “It wouldn’t have been possible without the great team spirit. Many have worked for us for 40 years or more,” says the boss.
“We had a lot of work but little money in the till,” says Alois Scheuch. This is where Anna Elizabeth comes in. The HAK graduate and the junior boss, who is 15 years her senior, get to know each other through sports. 20 years young, she takes over the finances and makes sure that money comes in. “She taught us that we shouldn’t just work, but that bills should also be written,” says her husband.
She’s in control of the finances
Anna Elisabeth, who stays in the second row, later – when customers secure large orders with bank guarantees – pushes for projects and complaints to be completed: “Once I waited ten years for a bank guarantee.” Having three children in 1970, 1971 and 1973 means she has to downsize in the business. “I’d always rather be at work than at home.”
A colleague from gymnastics gives Scheuch a first order in Bavaria. The first foreign subsidiary is a mailbox company in Passau. “The customers didn’t want to deal with customs formalities. We took care of that,” says the CFO. The requirements – above all in the chipboard and cement industry – are growing. New developments follow, such as the electrostatic precipitator.
At the end of the 1980s, the couple decided to build a new building in Aurolzmünster, with its own rail connection. From 1990 Scheuch accompanied its customers with investments in Eastern Europe. A good reputation is always important to the Scheuchs, a customer once said: “Mistakes happen, what matters is how quickly you fix them.” He always gave this motto to his people.
In 1998 Alois Scheuch retired. “It wasn’t difficult for me to let go,” he says. A non-family manager takes over, son Stefan does not join the company management until 2008. Anna Elisabeth Scheuch retires in 2006, both remain active. They go on active vacations with their adult children. Ms. Scheuch still raves about the Patagonia trip today. Other destinations are Nepal and Peru. Its family foundation supports start-ups in Germany and in developing countries. The company itself is also secured with a foundation as the owner.
Alois Scheuch is physically fit, the 88-year-old still goes indoor climbing. His PRFD engineering office challenges him mentally: he works two hours a day at the computer.
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