Heinz-Dieter Schunk was born in Lauffen am Neckar in 1942, in the middle of the Second World War. After completing his training as an industrial clerk at a medium-sized automotive and mechanical engineering supplier in Heilbronn, he went on to study business administration. This allowed him to create the best conditions he could to support his father. After becoming unemployed as a master mechanic at the end of the war, Friedrich Schunk had set up a mechanical workshop in a garage with a second-hand lathe he purchased. With contract orders and small-scale production, he managed to build a foundation that helped him provide for his family as well as his first apprentices and employees. In 1964, Friedrich Schunk succeeded in making the leap from craftsman business to manufacturing and industrial company as the result of a major order. Friedrich Schunk processed 3,000 clutch drums and flywheels per month for the Prinz 4 car then produced by the company NSU Motorenwerke. The founder hired all the workers he needed from a wide variety of trades and trained them himself. At the age of 22, Heinz-Dieter Schunk joined his father's company and took over the commercial responsibilities. Although NSU ultimately moved its production abroad in 1968, the small company SCHUNK already had a firm handle on the situation. Heinz-Dieter Schunk had not only taken care of the bookkeeping over the previous four years, but had also launched the company's very own product: chuck jaws for lathe chucks. As the company's first sales representative, Heinz-Dieter Schunk made connections to the markets and took care of the advertising and marketing. From the outset, he was concerned with creating the best products for satisfied customers.
He set the course for SCHUNK to become a global player in clamping and gripping technology. Under the management of his children Kristina I. Schunk and Henrik A. Schunk, the company has advanced to become the world market leader for gripping systems and toolholding and workholding technology, currently with more than 3,500 employees in nine plants, 34 directly owned subsidiaries and distribution partners in more than 50 countries. The focus is on developing intelligent components and solutions for networked, flexible production systems in any industry. Heinz-Dieter Schunk shaped his company with a willingness to take risks, flexibility, total focus on the customer and sound technological expertise. SCHUNK is firmly anchored in its home region as a caring and responsible employer and has already received numerous awards. Heinz-Dieter Schunk, honored for his lifetime achievements with the Founder's Award from the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe Baden-Wuerttemberg and named honorary citizen since 2012 of Lauffen am Neckar, birthplace of Friedrich Hölderlin, has recently celebrated his 80th birthday on January 10, 2022.