Sieglinde Vollmer – an entrepreneur with sense and compassion: Honorary citizen of Biberach passes away at the age of 100 2025-02-06

Biberach mourns the loss of Sieglinde Vollmer. The warm-hearted entrepreneur and long-standing partner of VOLLMER Werke passed away on Wednesday at the age of 100. As the daughter of company founder Heinrich Vollmer, she steered the fortunes of the company for decades and played a key role in shaping it – first as Managing Director, then later as a long-standing member of the Supervisory Board and as a trustee of the Sieglinde Vollmer Foundation. In an industry dominated by men, she had a powerful impact and became an inspiring personality in mechanical engineering. With her death, VOLLMER has lost a true trailblazer, Biberach a deserving honorary citizen, and the region an outstanding entrepreneur and benefactor. Her legacy will be felt far beyond the boundaries of the company.
 

A look at the life of Sieglinde Vollmer – affectionately known in Biberach as “Fräulein Vollmer” – is also a look at the history of VOLLMER Werke. The mechanical engineering company was founded in 1909 by her father Heinrich Vollmer. Sieglinde Vollmer was born 15 years later on 30th November 1924 in Stuttgart. A career in the company was out of the question for a long time: It was neither her life plan nor her father’s intention that she would one day determine the fate of the family business. Heinrich Vollmer first sent her to a secondary school for girls and prepared her to run a larger household as a wife and mother. However, the Second World War interrupted her school career. Sieglinde was sent to Slovenia for military service in 1942. After the war, she initially helped her mother with the housework and later discovered a passion for equestrian sports. She achieved several successes in show jumping, but had to give up her beloved sport due to an injury in 1954. The then 30-year-old then completed her studies in interpreting in Munich. She learned to speak English and Spanish fluently, as well as French, Italian and Russian – and discovered her love for travelling.
 

An entrepreneur with sense and compassion – a heart for the company

She bore the title “Fräulein” (“Miss” in English) proudly her entire life and, instead of becoming a wife and mother, things turned out differently than originally planned. The company was to become her second family, employing around 800 “descendants” today. In 1962, one year after the death of her father, Sieglinde Vollmer began undertaking duties in the company. Thanks to her excellent foreign language skills, she found her place at VOLLMER in the export department. As early as 1964, she assumed the role of Managing Director alongside her brother Udo Vollmer, and has played a crucial role in leading this medium-sized mechanical engineering company to success since 1987. She came to know and love the VOLLMER Werke company, which was the life’s work of her father. Her multilingualism opened doors, her warmth was often the start of long-standing business relationships, and her expertise formed a solid foundation for those relationships. As a strong woman in the engineering industry, Sieglinde Vollmer developed the traditional company into a technological leader for grinding and eroding machines. 

The company became her family. And the feeling was mutual among the employees of VOLLMER Werke. With her humour, warmth, open-mindedness, curiosity and expertise, Sieglinde Vollmer looked after her company and its employees. In 2003, she handed over the operational management of the company to the subsequent managing directors, but remained closely associated with the company as a member of the Supervisory Board. She was, is and will forever be the heart and soul of the VOLLMER company. Her legacy will live on – something for which she already made provision in 2013. The establishment of the Sieglinde Vollmer Foundation ensured that the company would be continued in her spirit and that of company founder Heinrich Vollmer. The foundation provides the framework for the continued existence of the mechanical engineering company and ensures its economic independence. 

“It is with great sadness that we say goodbye to Sieglinde Vollmer, whose courage and vision made VOLLMER a technology leader,” writes Martin Kapp, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the VOLLMER Group: “Our beloved Fräulein was an entrepreneur through and through, a veritable virtuoso, whose excellence was unmatched. We will continue her life’s work.”

A century – an impressive achievement

Sieglinde Vollmer has left her mark in her 100 years of life. She therefore received numerous awards for her dedication to social and entrepreneurial matters: For her services as an entrepreneur and her commitment as a citizen, she was awarded the highest honour of honorary citizenship by the city of Biberach in 2022. Fräulein Vollmer was always rooted in the region and always kept an eye on the development of Biberach. The Sieglinde Vollmer Foundation specifically supports organisations in Biberach, particularly in the fields of art, culture and sport. Through her generous donations, Fräulein Vollmer has supported the Biberach shooting festival, the Biberach Museum, the music school and equestrian sport, among others. However, the most important thing for her was supporting young people. The Sieglinde Vollmer Award is awarded regularly to honour young talent. The prize is awarded to young people who have gone above and beyond to complete an extracurricular STEM project, i.e. in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. 

For Sieglinde Vollmer, the focus was always on people – regardless of whether a person was the porter or a member of the management board. Fräulein Vollmer’s warm manner and sense of family were captivating – she gave VOLLMER Werke a unique profile. The mayor of Biberach, Norbert Zeidler, summarised her well on her birthday: “For grinding and sharpening, we need to use diamonds! But you are the jewel of the company.”