A life's work for the brand

Veni, vidi, VIKING.

Heinrich Lechner to become consultant and lecturer

Heinrich Lechner has been Managing Director of VIKING GmbH since 1982. He is now setting aside his managerial responsibilities to dedicate himself to his private life, management consultancy and teaching.

However, the 61 year old from Innsbruck is certainly not planning retirement for a long time to come. On the contrary, he will devote himself to new activities and plans to work as a management consultant. He also intends to pass on his expertise in the form of teaching activities and lectures.

Heinrich Lechner arrived at VIKING, now one of the leading manufacturers in the gardening tool sector, in 1982. "When I started, Samix Umwelttechnik was practically bankrupt. The company was heavily in debt - my plan to roll our sleeves up and re-launch the company under the VIKING brand name was spot-on," said Heinrich Lechner, explaining his successful strategy. In 1984, the first range of own-brand lawn mowers was launched, after the garden shredder range had been overhauled. This was followed by numerous great successes that were achieved jointly by Heinrich Lechner and the company's employees.

In 1992, a decisive milestone in the company's history was reached - VIKING became a member of the STIHL Group. The breakthrough had finally been made. "Within a very short time we were able to treble our turnover and every year until now we have had to adjust the forecast sales figures upwards," Heinrich Lechner and Dr. Nikolas Stihl were pleased to report.

Fig 1: Many successful years at VIKING: Heinrich Lechner (left) and Dr. Nikolas Stihl.

Original photo (jpg-file, 672 kB)

Fig 2: The successful manager Heinrich Lechner will work as a management consultant and will pass his knowledge on to young people.

Original photo (jpg-file, 1.318 kB)

Fig 3: Heinrich Lechner with one of the first VIKING lawn mowers in 1984.

Original photo (jpg-file, 452 kB)

Press release (doc-file, 47 kB)

Press release + Photos (zip-file, 2.377 kB)