Innovation
TORNOS
how important flexibility is to manufacturers and Swiss business in general after the Swiss National Bank announced it would no longer hold the Swiss franc at a fixed exchange rate with the euro . This caused panic which effectively made trading with Switzerland more expensive .
Hauser added : “ It ’ s back on a level but not on a level where it can stay sustainable . It means the Swiss have to run faster which is a challenge for our country , not only for machine tools .
“ On the other hand , Switzerland is famous for quality , for precision , for durability , for safety . So when you buy a Swiss watch or a Swiss machine tool , you know that it ’ s not cracked . It ’ s a quality product that holds its value . We must take advantage of this in the future despite the fact some of our components will be produced outside of Switzerland .”
Procurement is also now taking place outside of the country on a larger scale . A new management tier – Global Supply Chain Management – has been created to help improve supply chain flexibility .
Innovation
Another way of mitigating currency difficulties in the future will be to grow the reputation in Switzerland for machine tool innovation , especially in an age where competition from the likes of Japan is so fierce .
Tornos is embracing the rapidly growing reality of Industry 4.0 , or the fourth industrial revolution , which is seeing the emergence of new manufacturing technologies . In four years the company streamlined two thirds of its machine range , adding the new SwissNano ,
96 June 2016