Federal Cross of Merit awarded to Rudolf Dinse and Werner Riester

Muellheim, 29 May 2008

For their achievements as entrepreneurs, the company founders Werner Riester and Rudolf Dinse were awarded the Federal Cross of Merit.

What started as a two-person garage company in the 1960s has now become an organisation with 1,700 employees worldwide.

During the ceremony in the Martinskirche in Muellheim, special emphasis was put on their committed work in the new German Federal States as well as their support for academic, cultural and social institutions.

Richard Drautz, State Secretary of the Ministry of Economics of Baden-Württemberg, on behalf of the Federal President, Horst Köhler, presented the Federal Cross of Merit on ribbon of the Federal Republic of Germany to the two AUMA company founders.

"The Federal State Government [of Baden-Württemberg] is very proud of a company that was founded by the two gentlemen in this federal state and that has been expanded into a company which is known worldwide," said Drautz. "Despite all economic success, you have stuck to your native state ," the Federal State Secretary pointed out and praised the company's decision not only do research and development, but also to have their production located in Germany.

For many years, Werner Riester and Rudolf Dinse having been sponsoring social institutions such as the support groups for children with cancer in Freiburg and Magdeburg.

Mayor René Lohs commented that it was the first time in the 1250-year history of Müllheim that two Federal Crosses of Merit were awarded on the same day. The awarding of the Federal Cross of Merit was something special, even for a city with citizens like these in their own ranks. Lohs emphasised the social commitment of the two entrepreneurs. With their 25 apprentices, AUMA is the company with the highest number of apprentices in Müllheim. Lohs also reminded of the good working atmosphere and the abolition of the assembly line work at AUMA in 1996.

The managing director of the Wirtschaftsverbands Industrieller Unternehmen Baden [Trade association of industrial companies in Baden] (WVIB), Christoph Münzer, congratulated on behalf of the association and its more than 900 medium-sized member companies with approx. 140,000 workplaces.

Both Mr Dinse and Mr Riester emphasised that they received the award als on behalf of the many employees of the company. AUMA's growth had only been possible because of the diligence and the committed work of the company's employees.