GAW Industrieholding is a medium-sized industrial group with a focus on industrial leadership and the long-term development of its group companies.

 

The company’s roots can be traced back to the industrialist Erhardt Pildner-Steinburg and his sons Jochen & Jörg Pildner-Steinburg, whose success since as far back as the early 1950s has been built on future viability, independence and continuity.

 

In practical application of these principles, GAW Industrieholding’s strategy is based on three pillars: 

 

•    Future-proof investments - long-term investment strategy
•    Industrial leadership - active development of its equity interests through personal commitment
•    Development of own managers

 

Future-proof investments - long-term investment strategy

 

An equity interest of more than fifty percent is a precondition for our involvement. In contrast to private equity companies, GAW Industrieholding pursues a long-term investment strategy. Our investments guarantee continuity. The long-term development of the group companies is the main driving force behind our efforts, while the strengthening of medium-sized industrial companies is of crucial importance to us. Last but not least, it is for this reason that we not only enjoy the confidence of our partners, but also secure the commitment and motivation of employees, customers and suppliers.

 

We look to acquire equity interests in medium-sized companies:

• with innovative technological special and niche solutions
• with high differentiation and development potential and
• with intelligent technology which complements our group companies

 

 

Industrial leadership – active development of equity interests through personal commitment

 

The leadership offered by GAW Industrieholding expresses itself through operationally active and decidedly entrepreneurial action. We are not managers, we are entrepreneurs. Our style is characterised by a high level of personal commitment and close cooperation with senior management and the local management teams, and by many decades of experience. Our knowledge extends across a large number of different sectors and industries, with a clear focus on mechanical and plant engineering.

 

 

Development of own managers

 

The continuous development of skilled internal managers to fill key positions within the group provides the resources necessary to successfully drive steady growth in line with our objectives and to secure that growth in the long term. We place particular emphasis on this strategy, which has always proven successful.

 

 You are invited to read about strategy, organizational development and cooperation between the group companies in the editions of our “imteam - the GAW Group Magazine”

 

Responsibility

 

The principle of social responsibility – to satisfy the needs of today’s generation without limiting the opportunities for future generations – is a central part of the corporate policy of the GAW Group. An important goal is social progress, which is achieved on the basis of ecological balance.

Social responsibility and sustainable development are important foundations for the success of the GAW Group, and therefore the company’s policies are aligned accordingly. We are convinced that economic success and social and ecological responsibility are inseparably associated with each other. We act in a responsible way in the market, and also when it comes to our employees, the community and the environment. Social responsibility is not a flattering public relations exercise to us, but a management principle with a value system in support of sustainable development.

 

RESPONSIBILITY PUT INTO PRACTICE IN THE THIRD GENERATION

 

The vision of the founder Erhardt Pildner-Steinburg paved the way for the sustainability strategy we embody today, which can be traced back to the business philosophy he established more than 60 years ago. Our operational approach links economic, social and environmental strategies together, harmonises the needs of our stakeholders and enables us to manage a customer-focused group of companies – in the present and also in the future.

Sustainability at GAW Group

Sustainability has always been held dear at GAW Groups corporate policy.

 

It is reflected in the daily work of each employee as well as in the management principles and business relationships implemented within the Group. At GAW, sustainability is a decisive factor in order to be successful in the long term. It is an important element of the company’s corporate policy and strategy.

 

All business decisions and measures follow the tenets and principles of sustainable development. GAW works continuously to improve and optimize its actions geared towards economic, ecological, and social sustainability and tries to satisfy the goals and expectations of the various stakeholder groups as best possible, thus creating added value. 

 

In 2021, our sustainability concept from 1996, which was previously anchored in our corporate strategy, was for the first time aligned with the nearly identical goals of the United Nations (Sustainable Development Goals – SDGs).

 

In the course of creating the materiality analysis, we determined twentytwo external and internal stakeholder groups that are affected directly or indirectly by the company’s activities. Their concerns form the basis of the materiality analysis and should help to identify opportunities for the company and also any risks at an early stage. GAW pursues an active communications and information policy to ensure that its dialog with all stakeholders is transparent and based on trust.

 

The most important stakeholders for GAW Group are:

Employees Customers and business partners Suppliers Shareholders/ Owners Interest Groups Press and the media Science and research Governments and authorities Non-governmental organizations (NGOs)

 

Pursuent to GRI standards, GAW Group has prepared a materiality analysis. Based on the ISO 26000 guideline, the manual for corporate social responsibility, the main topics were identified.

 

The topics of safe plants & work processes, stakeholder engagement, climate & environmental protection, sustainable solutions, responsible employer and sustainable procurement were rated as being particularly important for the company. All information regarding sustainability can be found in our sustainability report 2022/23.

 

 

Our materiality matrix

HERITAGE

The company’s beginnings

 

In 1951 Erhardt Pildner-Steinburg founded a sole proprietorship with five employees. It was simply a component manufacturer: drive elements for woodworking machinery together with valves and knife-gate valves for the Austrian paper industry. In other words, fittings, also called armatures. Accordingly, GAW (Grazer Armaturen Werk) had nothing to do with bathtubs or wash basins, but with machinery and plant from day one.

 

 

 

In the mid-60s, the firm entered the industrial plant construction sector with one of the first kaolinite processing plants for the Steyrermühl paper factory in Upper Austria.

 

 

The company’s founder passed away in 1974. His sons, Jochen Pildner-Steinburg and Jörg Pildner-Steinburg, work together to continue successfully along the path he laid out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Systems were developed from individual parts, close cooperation was established with Voith, Andritz and Escher-Wyss, the world’s biggest manufacturers of paper machines, and the company entered the market on all five continents at a time when, in Austria, holidaying on the Adriatic beaches of Northern Italy was still regarded as the height of international activity.

 

 

 

 

„Very early on, we were not afraid of foreign markets, and moved into Tanzania, Kenya and China. Countries where it is hard to get things done and where people work seven days a week”.

 

 

The company, which was originally managed firmly and in a patriarchal manner, was given a new future orientation - from a standing position, so to speak. Key strategic decisions and much hard work followed, as it was clear to everyone involved that entrepreneurial success is not like a lottery prize. When employees drive past the company on a Saturday, they can be sure that their bosses are hard at work. That is why the employees respect their bosses. They know that they are also securing their jobs.

 

 

 

Key corporate decisions – the path to today’s GAW Group

One key corporate decision on the path to today’s GAW Group is, in terms of developing the necessary technology, the stony path from being a component manufacturer for the mechanical engineering industry to becoming a supplier of complex systems for turnkey plants for the paper industry. This requires not only technological, but also strategic courage, because it means competing with the world’s major suppliers. How can anyone survive that unscathed? Courage, uncompromising financial stability and a niche strategy in which, in a relatively small segment, one achieves technological superiority which is so self-evident that even the big players would rather cooperate than go on the offensive.

 

 

 

When the group’s export activities began to grow in the 80s, it faced the challenge of developing the export department in line with this. So why not combine the necessary with what is beneficial to the enterprise? Thus it was that a freight forwarding company was promptly founded in cooperation with an experienced partner, Karl Frühauf, one which went onto become a logistics provider with global contacts and partners throughout the world.

 

 

 

 

The industry quickly became a truly international adventure. South America, Iran, Russia, Tajikistan. Subsidiaries were established in Canada, the USA, South Africa, Brazil, while the first orders from China and India were placed.

 

 

 

The next step on the road to today’s GAW Group was taken in the 90s, which saw the diversifying of the company’s operations. It’s no good putting all one’s eggs in one basket when it comes to the future of a growing company. Drawing on the company’s core competence in plant construction, GAW expanded the product range to include paint processing systems for the automotive industry.

 

Since the 2000s, further expansion has been undertaken through the acquisition of more companies. What had previously been purely endogenous growth has been augmented and additional ways to enhance the structure of a family-run company have been explored. In addition to the core sector, Pulp and Paper, the group now serves Plastics, Automotive, Automation and Chemicals.

 

Industrial leadership and long-term development

A closer look at the structure of the Plastics and Automations divisions provides a good illustration of GAW Industrieholding’s style. It is characterised by industrial leadership and the long-term development of the group companies.

With outstanding personal commitment and in close cooperation with local management, the managers become involved in the running of the company. For it is entrepreneurs who are at work here, not managers. The companies acquired receive strategic and operational support, are networked intelligently and undergo a process of continuous internationalisation.

SThus, within just a few years the companies that make up the GAW Group become technology leaders in machine manufacturing for the plastics production and processing industry.

 

 

 

The guaranteed continuity of investment by GAW Industrieholding is best illustrated by the Automation division. As a customer and partner from the outset, a company set up from scratch in the 1990s was able to enter the conservative Pulp and Paper sector. Under a succession arrangement, the company - now well established - then became part of the GAW Group in the 2010s. Today, the group company already creates automation solutions for the Infrastructure, Food, Manufacturing and Construction Materials sectors.

 

 

It almost goes without saying that this development also leaves its mark on the headquarters in Graz-Puntigam. Millions are being invested in the site to ensure the new company has the premises and facilities it needs.

 

 

 

After 42 years of entrepreneurial activity, the Pildner-Steinburg brothers, in consultation with the highest operational levels of the company, have decided to pass on their life’s work as entrepreneurs and dedicate themselves fully to their plans for GAW Industrieholding.

 

 

 

“Back then, when we took the firm over from our father, we had 50 employees and a turnover of 25 million schillings. Today, we are no longer talking about the Grazer Armaturenwerk, which was founded 65 years ago, but about a GAW Group which operates worldwide, employing more than 500 people and generating sales of 102 million euros”, say the brothers as they look back on what they have achieved.

 

 

Family-run industrial holding

 

Their impressive entrepreneurial achievements have been recognised with very many awards. For example, they received the Austrian Export Prize as “best family-run company”, as “hidden champion”, as “leader in innovation” and finally for their “life’s work”, to name but a few.

 

 

Seamless transfer to the new management will be achieved thanks to the continuous development of skilled internal managers to fill key positions within the group. The Pildner-Steinburg brothers are accompanying this process with their rich entrepreneurial experience and good judgement.

CONTACT US