Christian Kaufmann

Managing Director, Kaufmann Bausysteme

The Kaufmann family has a long and illustrious history with both heavy timber and mass timber in Austria, Germany and Switzerland.

It began in 1952 when master carpenter Josef Kaufmann founded a carpentry business in the Voralberg region of Austria. The first glulam was made in 1958 with 3-ply concrete formwork panel being added in 1962 and concrete formwork beams in 1964. In 1972, Josef’s son, Anton Kaufmann took over and transformed the company into one of Europe’s leading glulam manufacturers.

Christian Kaufmann continues the legacy of his grandfather and father with Kaufmann Bausysteme. By 2008, he was a senior manager and, in 2015, he was appointed Managing Director. Under Christian’s leadership, the company has grown exponentially and today, Kaufmann Bausysteme produces 2,000+ modules annually and consumes in excess of 25,000 m³ (883,000 ft³) of CLT per year. Even during the current soft market in Europe, business is booming and more growth is projected for 2024.

How have they done it? What is the secret sauce?

Christian will discuss in detail how the company has become a world leader in mass timber modular manufacture and installation.