Precision as a sole focus - 160 years of the Société Genevoise d’Instruments de Physique (SIP)
Auguste de la Rive and Marc Thury from Geneva had no knowledge of control electronics, artificial intelligence or computers. Nevertheless, 160 years ago, when they founded the Société Genevoise d’Instruments de Physique (SIP), the scholars and scientists dared to do something unimaginable at the time: build scientific instruments that could measure accurately to hundredths of a millimetre. The company, which is now a Starrag subsidiary, entered the global machine business in 1921 with the introduction of their “Machine à Pointer” jig boring machine, which, according to Wikipedia, was not only the world’s first mass-produced machine tool, but also the first production machine capable of boring to micrometre accuracy.
In 1921, under the direction of Fernand Turrettini, the Managing Director of SIP, the MP4 jig boring machine was created and was considered a very important piece of work: with the extreme rigidity of the portal frame and its precise slide rails, it set standards about a century ago that the company still uses as a guide.
Adriano Della Vecchia, Head of Product Line SIP
“We manufacture very precise machines because it is a passion for us. Yes, we are proud of it.”
SIP-100th Anniversary publication
"The quest for precision requires practical know-how and theoretical knowledge."
The Machine à Pointer was so well received, especially because of its “longterm accuracy”, that by its 100th anniversary in 1962 SIP had been able to sell 6,000 ultra-precise drilling machines with the abbreviation MP worldwide. The company remains loyal to precision through solid mechanics at its new site in Vuadens in the Swiss canton of Fribourg. “Our predecessors developed the constructive basis for mechanical design in the 1920s, which still proves to be the best way for high-precision engineering,” Managing Director Jean-Daniel Isoz notes in retrospect. “That’s why senior mechanical engineers keep telling us ‘If you want to continue to offer top precision, please don’t change anything!’”
Geneva honors SIP with exhibition
However, the city of Geneva is also proud of the former metrology manufactory. In 2005, the Geneva Office of Cultural Heritage and Sites honored the technical and industrial heritage of an important company to which many Geneva residents still have a positive emotional attachment with the exhibition “SIP, from microscope to machine tool” at the Museum of the History of Science. The importance of Geneva for SIP was also recognised by Starrag a year later: after the takeover in 2006, the new owner revived an almost century-old logo, with a stylised G for Geneva once again enclosing the SIP lettering.
The company’s founders would certainly be proud of the fact that SIP machines now rank as top products for the very highest quality standards within the Group’s portfolio. Indeed, the spirit of the famous watchmaking metropolis of Geneva lives on after the relocation to the new Vuadens site in the Swiss canton of Fribourg, where Starrag Vuadens SA has been manufacturing the Bumotec and SIP product ranges since 2017.
The company’s founders would certainly be proud of the fact that SIP machines now rank as top products for the very highest quality standards within the Group’s portfolio. Indeed, the spirit of the famous watchmaking metropolis of Geneva lives on after the relocation to the new Vuadens site in the Swiss canton of Fribourg, where Starrag Vuadens SA has been manufacturing the Bumotec and SIP product ranges since 2017.
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