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Everyone was amazed by the sum of years of experience and the concentrated wood knowledge that was present in one place at the same time: "Added together, there are now around 3000 years of experience here," CEO Richard Stralz summarised impressively during his opening speech.

CEO Richard Stralz and the Chairman of the Alumni Association, Hubert Burböck, welcomed the graduates.

The guides from MM Holz, themselves Kuchl graduates, led a total of six groups around the log yard, through the sawmill, the planing and re-sorting plant and the newly built cross-laminated timber plant: Franz Schwarzauger, Stefan Hochfellner, Stefan Hübler, Sebastian Knoflach, Viktoria Hoffelner, Markus Haberknapp, Daniel Pichorner, Stefan Wolfger, Florian de Monte, Rudolf Angeringer and Gustav Lukanz. Andreas Hafenscherer, a graduate of the forestry school in Bruck, joined the team of guides. A big thank you also goes to Petra Leitner and Sonja Hiebler-Liebminger for the excellent organisation.

During the lunch that followed, there was a lot of networking and shop talk before we continued on to the Gösseum, the museum of the Göss brewery, and then to the Annual General Meeting in the "zum Schwarzen Hund" wine arbour. At the Annual General Meeting, Matthäus Schaffer was newly elected to the board team as youth representative. We would like to thank Ruth Roitinger, who has held this position. The actions of the Board of Directors were approved and they were entrusted with the management of the organisation for a further period as part of the new election.
Subsequently, various perspectives on the market situation were presented during the market talks - from logs and sawn timber to processed products, discussions continued into the early hours of the morning.

The AV Board around President Hubert Burböck and Managing Director Johanna Kanzian are also more than satisfied. "Never before in the history of the alumni association have we had such a high level of participation - above all, it was once again confirmed to us that such activities are more than an enrichment for young and not-so-young graduates," summarised Burböck. The network within the generations, between different processing areas and the direct information channel to Holztechnikum Kuchl is immensely important. "And that's exactly what we see as our task: to act as a link between graduates, Holztechnikum Kuchl and the companies," emphasised Kanzian.

This event once again showed how lively the Kuchl network is - characterised by mutual respect, professional curiosity and cohesion. It proves to be a platform for knowledge transfer, professional exchange and personal solidarity across generations. The youngest participant was 19 years old and the oldest 87 years old.

Planning for the 2026 AV trip is already underway - it is expected to take the members of the association to Germany.

Photos:  © MMHolz