I. Introduction

Today, the companies of the family-owned and owner-managed Freiherren Waitz group of companies generate annual sales of around 70 million euros worldwide in the business areas of mechanical engineering, real estate, and agriculture and forestry with around 400 employees. Several are active worldwide. This interim status of a development that has already lasted 275 years is the result of a sustainable business policy, in the course of which new business fields were added again and again and others - for historical reasons - had to be abandoned.

The companies are held and developed by the Group on a long-term basis. Our daily work is oriented towards long-term perspectives, also for the next generations of the family.

We achieve this by constantly striving for quality and innovation.

Important success factors are reliability, friendliness and fairness in dealing with each other.

II. Goals and values of the family

• Corporate success: The focus is on sustainable earning power. Over 80 percent of profits are reinvested within the Group and not skimmed off. Sustainable wealth creation is carried out in the interests of the Group and not of individual persons - as a consistent continuation of the cross-generational family tradition.
• Responsibility: We create and maintain jobs with a secure future. It is important to us that the employees* enjoy working in our companies and are proud to work in a company owned by the Waitz family.
• Trust: Our companies produce products and provide service of high quality - in the spirit of sustainable customer relationships.
• Role model: With the activities of our family and our companies, we want to positively strengthen our respective environment. This includes personal commitment, responsible action, conscious use of resources and human interaction.
• Interesting tasks: We operate companies in industries with whose products and users we like to identify.

III. Innovation and Quality

• Our opportunities in the market consist of knowing our customers' requirements, constantly rediscovering them and offering - or developing - state-of-the-art technology tailored to these needs and wishes. Above all, our products and services aim to help our customers succeed. We want to inspire them.
• "State-of-the-art" is our claim not only in technology, construction and materials, but also in design, organization and service.
• We are constantly learning.
• Our innovative products and their quality, as well as our reliable service, represent industry-renowned brands that we stand behind together.
• This applies equally to our technical products as well as to our leased real estate and our agricultural and forestry products.

IV. Togetherness

• Our aspiration is that our customers and suppliers, as well as ourselves, feel comfortable in our daily interaction. We rely on a community with good spirit, understanding for each other, good communication among each other and humor, not on personal vanity. This includes standing by mistakes made and learning from them.
• We consider the delegation and assumption of responsibility as well as the promotion of an atmosphere characterized by initiative, mutual trust, exemplary behavior, modesty and team spirit to be important leadership principles. It is the task of managers to ensure an environment in which employees can develop to the maximum in the interests of the company.
• For us, an environment characterized by competition, freedom and creative opportunities means the drive for innovation, performance and continuous improvement.

V. Sustainability and Reliability

• The focus of our economic activity is not on maximizing sales, but on lasting earnings strength. No "fast" business is worth accepting excessive risks for it, which could jeopardize the future of one of our companies, the Group or the environment in which we operate.
• We want our customers and suppliers to trust us, our products and our brands. It is important to us that our customers come back and that we can meet our customers again at any time. Our goal is to make our customers happy to hear from us.
• We are constantly learning.
• As a reliable partner of our customers, it is our highest priority to realize our common goals based on the agreements and commitments we have made.
• We avoid any non-transparent entanglements, any threat to our financial soundness and dependence on political commitments.