WILLIBALD founder Josef Willibald turns 90 years old
The success of J. Willibald GmbH is due in part to the tireless inventiveness and drive of Josef Willibald, who founded the Willibald company 60 years ago with the patented development of a hop separator. Now the still active managing director is celebrating his 90th birthday in good health.
Josef Willibald successfully implemented the principle ‘Don’t develop something that others already have’ and holds numerous patents worldwide. His way of working remains the same to this day: sketching ideas, working them out on the drawing board, transferring them to CAD and creating prototypes.
In the 1960s, he began working in his uncle’s workshop in Altheim. In 1960, a conversation with a hop farmer led to the development of a hop cutter and in 1965 to the founding of Willibald Gerätebau. In 1968, he invented the first Europe-wide flail mower. Further innovations followed, including the universal forestry mulcher and the first mobile stone crusher.
In 1981, he developed the first WILLIBALD shredder (the MZA) and moved the company to Sentenhart, where it continued to expand. J. Willibald GmbH was founded in 1990. Today, the company produces around 100 large machines a year and has a turnover of around 30 million euros.
In 2010, Josef Willibald received the Business Medal of the State of Baden-Württemberg for his inventive spirit. Now, on his 90th birthday, the Mayor of Walden, Joachim Grüner, presented the senior boss with congratulations from District Administrator Stefanie Bürkle and the State Premier Winfried Kretschmann at the WILLIBALD company birthday party.
Despite his entrepreneurial duties, Josef Willibald always found time for his family and his hobby, music. Even at the age of 90, he still comes to the company every day to work on new ideas and take a tour of the business.
A brief overview of the most important stages of his life can be seen in the following three videos:
