precision-engineering

Precision with exemplary character

Interview with Jean-Daniel Isoz, Business Unit Director of “Precision Engineering” at the Starrag Group

The “Precision Engineering” business unit is characterised by two brands with high standards for precision. Business Unit Director Jean-Daniel Isoz reports on the two traditional brands Bumotec and SIP from the Swiss cantons of Fribourg and Geneva within the Starrag Group.

Mr Isoz, you have managed the “Precision Engineering” business unit since the beginning of the year: What distinguishes the machine tools from Bumotec and SIP? Where are the differences and where are the commonalities?

Jean-Daniel Isoz, Director of the “Precision Engineering” business unit: Both follow the same path in the fight for the last micrometre. It begins as early as development, in the work on the concept studies. Neither company selects the cheapest materials and components to assemble them in the fastest possible way. Instead, they opt for a “sound” mechanical engineering design at a reasonable price.


And where is the difference between the two companies?

Isoz: With a view to the preferred machining strategy of its customers, Bumotec puts more of an emphasis on manufacturing productive equipment. In contrast, SIP customers expect first and foremost, if not exclusively, that SIP makes no compromises where precision is concerned.


What machines are developed under the name Bumotec, and what sectors are they used in?

Isoz: Bumotec is the youngest member of the Starrag Group. The former family company specialises in machines for the machining of complicated parts and has earned a good reputation within almost four decades in the watchmaking industry. Thanks to this image and the company’s quality work, its high-precision production systems, which range from the four-axis milling machine to multi-spindle machines with up to 36 axes and a maximum of eight spindles, are also used in the jewellery, eyeglass, medical technology, aero-technology and automobile industry.


For over 150 years, high-precision machining has been counted among the specialities of SIP Sociéte d’Instruments de Précision SA in Geneva, where you were the Managing Director until 2013. What is special about the machines? Who uses them?

Isoz: SIP is considered the symbol of ultimate and uncompromising precision in the construction of machine tools, whose basic concept can still be found in all traditional vertical and horizontal machining centres. The jig boring machines, for example, are suitable for the fine drilling and milling of holes, edges and surfaces and for precision grinding. They are positioned in the range below two micrometres. All machines exhibit a previously unachieved high long-term precision. Due to these characteristics, the SIP machines are preferred for use in aerospace and by competitors in the machine tool sector and contract manufacturers worldwide, who have positioned themselves in the area of ultra-precise machining of high-quality mechanical workpiece parts.

“I am personally convinced that the Precision Engineering Business Unit will continue the success story in the ‘Micromechanics’ and ‘Med Tech’ markets that Bumotec has already written in the past 40 years together with the watch- making industry.”

+ Sustainable increases in productivity due to customer-focused machine developments
+ The extremely high precision of the machines makes reworking unnecessary

Since 1st January 2015, Dipl.-Ing. HTL Jean-Daniel Isoz (1959) has managed the Precision Engineering business unit, which handles the market segments Luxury Goods, Micromechanics and MedTech with the brands Bumotec and SIP. Before that, from 2013 he managed the former Business Unit 4 in Sâles (Switzerland), and before that, from 2006, he was the Managing Director of SIP Sociéte d’Instruments de Précision SA in Meyrin.

isoz

In the summer of 2014, the foundation stone was laid for the factory in Vuadens in the Swiss canton of Fribourg: What are the advantages of the new plant? Who will be moving in there and when?

Isoz: Thanks to its air conditioning, which ensures a maximum temperature fluctuation of ± 1.0 degree Celsius, the production facility is suitable for the production of ultra-precise equipment, systems and machines. Therefore Bumotec will be moving all of its operations to the plant in the summer of 2016. SIP and outside tenants are also scheduled to move in.
 

Where are synergy effects already occurring between the two companies, both of which are dedicated to high precision?

Isoz: When looking at the product portfolio of the two companies it is easy to see what can be improved and adapted in terms of products and where there are possibilities for new developments. Here we see potential on both sides. It is a typical win-win situation, in which each can make use of the advantages of the other – with a view to image, market position, expertise, technology, production capacity and company culture.


And your assessment of the market segments “Luxury Goods”, “Micromechanics” and “Med Tech”: What do these sectors contribute to your business unit’s commercial success?

Isoz: Some people certainly think, we are lucky, because Bumotec supplies the “Luxury Goods” market. However, that is only partly true. Every machine tool manufacturer can only increase its commercial success if it manufactures the right product, which systematically meets customer expectations. Even if it sounds unbelievable: More and more often we are receiving the same good feedback from customers from “Micromechanics” and “Med Tech” that Bumotec receives from its customer base from the watchmaking industry. Soon we will have learned how the new markets can be conquered with new production equipment. I am personally convinced that the Precision Engineering business unit will then continue the success story in these markets that Bumotec has already written in the past 40 years together with the watchmaking industry.


Mr Isoz, what is your strategy for the individual market segments over the next few years?

Isoz: We are focusing on our already proven approach – this means no expensive market studies and no big plans from the latest strategy book. Instead, pragmatism is called for: Listen to your market partners and customers. Make sure that they receive their equipment on time. Nothing more than that! Therefore it is important right now to have the right, highly motivated people on board. Therefore I would like to express my thanks here to all Bumotec and SIP employees: Without my teams, no product and no single machine would leave the factories.

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