Carpenter Ludwig Huber worked for exactly 48 years and six months at the Kuffner carpentry workshop in Eching. Staying with just one employer for so long has become rare these days. The 63-year-old has now taken early retirement.
At the age of 15, Huber began his apprenticeship in the joinery, in September 1973. At that time, the apprentices were still three years of apprenticeship in the company, today the current five apprentices are fully trained after just two years. Back then, the plans were drawn with a ruler and pencil, but today the designs are computer-aided, explains Managing Director Rainer Mittelstrass. The former owner Hans-Paul Kuffner reminds Huber of his time in a speech of thanks and reads from his apprenticeship contract. In the first year of his apprenticeship, Huber earned 200 Deutschmarks, in the second year it was 265 and in the third year 315. He worked 8.5 hours a day, nine hours after his 18th birthday. After that, Huber always put in a lot of effort, proved himself and continued his ambitious training.
The managing director praises him as “the real number one”.
Mittelstrass emphasizes that Huber was “a tremendous support” in his time, calling him “the real number one”. He is a man who works more in the background and is difficult to get out of his calm. Huber acted as a carpenter, planner and project manager for Kuffner and accompanied various construction sites. “Modest as he is,” says Mittelstrass, Huber wanted a simple workshop snack with meat loaf, meatballs and potato salad for his farewell.
The hope of keeping him with the company for a while longer has failed, says the managing director. But Huber does not stop completely. Once a week he is available to the joinery as a consultant, and the whole team is very happy about that. In recognition of his work, head of the guild Johann Bernhart and Rainer Mittelstrass presented him with a certificate of honor for his 49 years of service in the Kuffner joinery. An award that Ludwig Huber gratefully accepts.
Huber also left his mark as a planner during the renovation of the town hall
Eching’s Mayor Sebastian Thaler also speaks a few words of appreciation. The carpentry “helped the town hall out of a jam quite a bit” when building the stairs. After the company initially commissioned was unable to provide the desired quality, the Kuffner joinery, with Ludwig Huber as the planner, ensured that the municipal council could move into the town hall in good time. And Thaler emphasizes: “I’ve never climbed into the elevator because I like going up the stairs.” Huber has earned his retirement and has done a lot for society.
But over the past five decades there have always been moments when Huber almost left the Kuffner joinery. It was even very close three times, he reveals. Ultimately, however, no other company could poach him. “It’s just this connection to the company, I only have that here.” Huber describes the 25 employees as “his” employees. Over the years he has always been there for her, so the team belongs to him.
A carpenter today has to be able to do a lot more than he used to, he says
The core of the carpentry business has not changed over the years. It has been modernized, says Huber, yes, but the values are the same. Nevertheless, a carpenter today has to be able to do a lot more than he did back then. Steel, brass, glass, all of that has to be supplied these days. It’s about more than just wood.
Huber is looking forward to retirement. He now has more time for his home, and there are always smaller jobs to which he can now devote himself. Ludwig Huber also has a hobby: stick shooting on asphalt. 30 to 40 tournaments take place every year, and he trains for them twice a week. Because the stress of work is gone, he finally has time for these things. So it’s not too difficult for him to let go, also because he accompanies the company a bit further due to his work as a consultant. February 28th is his last working day.
Hans-Paul Kuffner is touched by the carpenter’s farewell. In his speech, his last sentence comes out with difficulty, his voice breaks: “I end with pain from the bottom of my heart, what a pity that you have to say ‘Pfua God’.”
The Kuffner joinery was founded in 1931 by Josef Kuffner senior. In 1965 the two brothers Josef and Hans-Paul Kuffner took over the business. Since 2014, the carpentry workshop has been managed by Rainer Mittelstrass from Munich.