Swiss Centers Newsletter December 2021

 

Dear Swiss Centers Members, Partners and Friends,

 

Our 2021 has been filled with exciting and new activities: we set up a Swiss Store in the CIIE Bazaar at East Nanjing Road in downtown Shanghai; we organized the Swiss Centers Booth at the 4th CIIE (China International Import Expo), with a largest booth and a record size of participating companies; we signed an agreement with Swiss Wine Promotion to officially promote Swiss wine in China; we launched 2 brands (Morand and Kübler) in the Chinese market by representing Distillerie Louis Morand & Cie SA and Blackmint SA.

 

While these new activities are tailored to serve the consumer goods companies, the Swiss Centers continue to support the industrial and technology companies in doing business with China. With the pandemic continue threatening our health and restraining business trips, the Swiss Centers’ practical and customized solutions, ranging from employee hosting to local representation, from trade agency to supply chain management, are more than helpful and are appreciated by our existing and newly joined members. 

 

Hereby we would also like to express our sincere gratitude to the trust and support of Ceramaret, Digisens, Dixi Polytool & Ventura Mecanics, Sonceboz and Fraisa for renewing their membership! We would also like to welcome our new member companies Pfiffner Witzig & Frank and Distillerie Louis Morand to join the Swiss Centers family!  

 

Swiss Centers will continue to provide the practical quality services, to adapt to the changing environment, to meet the challenges and help the Swiss companies to develop their business with China. We thank sincerely all our customers and partners for the collaboration throughout the year, and we wish you and your family a happy festival season, and  a prosperous and healthy new year of 2022! 

 

 

Zhen XIAO

CEO

Swiss Centers

 

 

Contents

§   New Members

§   Renewed Members

§   Human Resources

§   Events and Activities in Switzerland

§   Events and Activities in China

§   Collaborations and Partnerships

§   Follow Us

§   Season’s Greetings

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Members

 

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Pfiffner Witzig & Frank is a long-established, internationally high-performing manufacturer of custom machines. They use standard assemblies to configure custom machine concepts that meet the most stringent requirements relating to quality, productivity, flexibility, and availability. They offer their customers a huge amount of know-how and all-round customer care – from the initial idea to the development and realization of complete turnkey projects. Their range of machines focus on the cutting and chipless shaping of mostly cubic workpieces at high production volumes (medium and large series production) for the highest quality requirements.

 

 

 

 

 

Distillerie Louis Morand is a family business established in Martigny where four generations have succeeded each other since 1889. They are renowned for their excellent spirits and syrups, including the famous  Williamine®, eaux-de-vie  and  liqueurs.

Their exceptional quality comes from the Williams pears and the Luizet apricots ripened in Valais, in the heart of the Alps. All their Williams pears are hand-picked and then hand sorted. The unmistakable flavor comes from nature - for producing only one bottle of Williamine they use 12kg of Williams pears.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Renewed Members

 

 

 

Ceramaret designs and manufactures components from ultra-hard materials such as advanced ceramics (zirconia, alumina) and synthetic sapphire and ruby.

Founded during the industrialization of the watchmaking sector, Ceramaret has been successful in opening itself up to new technology thanks to a visionary development. For over a century, Ceramaret has dedicated itself to manufacturing and polishing parts in hard materials.

Ceramaret enables clients and partners to benefit from its decades of experience in the shaping and machining of advanced ceramics and hard materials. They are committed to providing smart, sensible, and innovative solutions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

DIGI SENS has been developing products for digital weighing in various applications for more than 25 years. In the following areas DIGI SENS offers its customers innovative solutions and has become the market leader in the past decades:

  • Inventory measurement for automatic procurement with i.cupboard and e-nventory®
  • Dynamic weighing on refuse trucks
  • OEM components for weight measurement in elevators
  • WIM (Weighing in Motion)

DIGI SENS has a holding structure with production facilities in Switzerland and Slovakia and a worldwide customer-oriented sales.

 

 

 

 

 

 

徽标

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Dixi Polytool is specialized in the production of tungsten carbide and diamond cutting tools as well as precision reamers. The company is based in Le Locle since 1946. In 2014, the premises have been completely renovated and enlarged.

Eager to guarantee the quality of its products while preserving the environment, DIXI Polytool S.A. elaborated a system of certified management according to the standards ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 14001:2004.

 

 

 

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Ventura Mecanics has represented precision, quality, and longevity to a broad, world-renowned clientele for decades.

It was founded as a small Swiss business with 20 people in 1983 and now becomes one of the leaders in the sales and reconditioning of automatic and CNC lathes for machining parts measuring between 0.15 and 9.00mm from coil stock.

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Sonceboz a Swiss technology company and a leader in flow control and mechatronic drive solutions designed to operate in harsh environments.

From mind to motion, from idea to movement, their aim is to create innovative, reliable, safe and environmentally friendly mechatronic systems.

 

 

 

 

FRAISA offers a comprehensive range of metal cutting tools: milling tools, drills, taps, indexable inserts and many more. FRAISA products are characterized by high performance, precision and quality – at an excellent price/performance ratio.

With various performance classes, FRAISA’s product range also covers the individual wishes of customers: from the inexpensive yet technically perfect product line through to our FRAISA X-Generation for the utmost performance and precision.

Furthermore, FRAISA ensures the sustainable market success and the long-term competitiveness of customers with a distinct range of services on offer: personal and competent expert consultancy, process engineering, special customized equipment according to the customers’ wishes, profitability calculations and a range of service tools are all integral to what FRAISA has to offer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Human Resources

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Having served in Shanghai as the Deputy General Manager for two and a half years, Kuno Gschwend has acquired hands-on experience managing operations and business projects in the challenging environment. We are very happy and confident of having Kuno as our GM, leading the 30-people team in China to provide customized  solutions and services with the Swiss quality.

 

 

 

 

General Manager

 

 

Mr. Kuno Gschwend    

E: kuno.gschwend@swisscenters.org

T: +86 21 2076 5613

 

 

We would also like to announce our newly joined colleague in the Swiss office, Mr. Romain Barrabas, since April 2021. Romain takes care of customer relations and business development in Switzerland. With a solid education background and rich experience in China, he understands well the China’s environment, also the  Swiss company’s needs and concerns. Were there any questions or interest on doing business with China, Romain would be your first contact point in Switzerland.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Graduating in 2013 with a Multidisciplinary Master in Asian Studies (University of Geneva, Graduate Institute Geneva), Romain is currently based in Switzerland and works as a Customer Relations Executive in Swiss Centers.

 

He spent most of the last decade in China: first in Nanjing to perfect his Mandarin and then in Shanghai in event management and communication for the watch manufacturer Breguet. He then spent more than 6 years in Beijing, at the Swiss Chamber of Commerce (SwissCham Beijing) as Marketing & Events Manager and then General Manager. He was then employed by the Embassy of Switzerland as Deputy Head of the Culture & Media Section. Finally, he chaired the Swiss School of Beijing for more than 3 years where he still served as a member of the Board of Directors. In Switzerland, he has held positions in communication and sales for the watch brands Baume & Mercier and Girard-Perregaux.

Customer Relations Executive

Mr. Romain Barrabas    

E: romain.barrabas@swisscenters.org

M: +41 78 219 4147

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Events and Activities in Switzerland

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our annual Swiss Business Confidence Survey in China highlights that the lack of understanding from the headquarter has been ranked among the top 3 internal challenges that Swiss subsidiaries in China face.

 

This reality is even more prevalent since international travel and exchanges have been disrupted by the pandemic. At the same time, while China remains an extremely attractive and important market for many companies, developing business there is increasingly complex and less than straight-forward.

 

For these reasons, the Swiss Centers and the St. Gallen Research Institute for International Management (FIM-HSG), in partnership with the Chambre neuchâteloise du commerce et de l'industrie (CNCI), the Geneva Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Services (CCIG), the Swiss Chinese Chamber of Commerce (SCCC), the Section romande de la Société Suisse-Chine (SRSSC) and Microcity, join forces this year again to offer a one-and-a-half-day workshop dedicated to the Swiss companies having or planning to set up a business in China, and who wish to improve cross-border management methods between Switzerland and China.

 

Read more and RSVP

 

 

 

 

 

Events and Activities in China

 

The Swiss Centers, with the support of the Swiss Chinese Chamber of Commerce in Zurich (SCCC) and SwissCham chapters in Beijing and Shanghai, successfully organized a Swiss Pavilion – Swiss Centers Cluster Booth – at the 4th China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai from 5 to 10 November, 2021. This year with the largest-ever Food and Agricultural Products Pavilion, with a total area of 234sqm and 26 exhibitors and 35 Swiss brands, we took advantage of this trade platform and opportunity to enable more Swiss companies to better communicate with Chinese customers and to interact with their potential clients.

 

We are very grateful for the support from all the partners, which made the Swiss Cluster Booth and the different projects around the CIIE possible.

 

 

 

 

A Corner of Swiss Centers Cluster Booth

 

Apart from our old friends from previous editions, we had 12 newcomers this year. Their products range from handmade luxury chocolates, cacao powder to absinthe, brandy, and wine in exclusive varieties.

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Photos Gallery of Swiss Centers Cluster Booth at the 4th CIIE

 

This was the third consecutive year that Swiss Centers have participated in the CIIE (Xinhua News report). Through this platform newcomers could get a feeling of the market, direct contacts with Chinese consumers, and lots of media attention. Because of good long-term relationships between the Swiss Centers and media channels, the newcomers, for example Morand, got media exposure in the CIIE promotion ads (CCTV 2) and post-CIIE online interview (CCTV 13); Yves Kübler, the owner of Kübler, was invited to have a special interview with Xinhua News.

图片包含 人, 站, 男人, 山

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Morand in a CIIE Promotion Ads on CCTV 2

 

Swiss Centers were actively facilitating media exposure, government contacts and, with the help of partners such as CieCAS and EHL, presented the food and beverages brands through cooking shows and drink mixing.

 

 

We were also honored to co-organize the Sino-Swiss Business Reception with the Consulate General of Switzerland in Shanghai on November 5th, 2021. The guest of honor, Ambassador Bernardino Regazzoni, together with more than 200 guests celebrated the Swiss presence at the CIIE and enjoyed an evening among the Sino-Swiss business community.

Photo Gallery of Sino-Swiss Business Reception

 

 

To help Swiss SMEs from the Consumer Goods industry, Swiss Centers set up a Swiss themed store at East Nanjing Road in downtown Shanghai. Such opportunities should help raising the brand awareness, help collecting customer feedback and of course generating sales.

人们在看台上的人在街道上

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Photo Gallery of Opening Ceremony of Best-selling CIIE Products Fair,  Swiss Store in CIIE Bazaar at East Nanjing Road

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Collaborations and Partnerships

 

On October 1, 2021, Swiss Centers and Swiss Wine Promotion signed a partnership agreement with the goal of promoting Swiss wines in the Chinese market. The debut show of Swiss Wine Promotion at CIIE was very meaningful and the feedback from the visitors was satisfying. We conducted an on-site survey and could collect valuable inputs from consumers. During the exhibition, Swiss Centers were invited to promote the brand of Swiss Wine Promotion and its unique products on the  Live-Streaming platform of Shanghai Radio.

 

 

Swiss Wine Promotion Corner of Swiss Centers Cluster Booth

 

 

 

In 2021, the Swiss Centers have actively continued to build links with economic organizations and those creating bridges between China and Switzerland. The goal is simple: make c-level executives aware of who we are and what we have been doing for more than two decades, i.e., concretely supporting Swiss companies in the development of their business in China. We have continued to maintain regular exchanges and collaborations with S-GE, of which we are one of the experts for China, with Microcity, through a partnership signed last year, as well as with the Swiss-Chinese Chamber of Commerce (SCCC) and the French-speaking section of the Swiss-Chinese Society (SRSSC), of which we are members. At the same time, and in order to address Swiss companies more directly, we have established or re-established contacts with several chambers of commerce and have more specifically decided to become a member of the Neuchâtel Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CNCI) as well as of the Geneva Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Services (CCIG).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Follow Us

 

  

 

 

    

      

     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Season’s Greetings

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

© SWISS CENTERS CHINA 2021

The Swiss Centers are invested and developed by Foundation Swiss Centers, a non-profit foundation registered in Neuchâtel, Switzerland.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IN CHINA

A301, BLDG 3, 526 FUTE NO.3 RD

200131 PUDONG

SHANGHAI PILOT FREE TRADE ZONE

IN SWITZERLAND

AVENUE DE CHAMPS-MONTANTS 12B

2074 MARIN

NEUCHATEL

 

 

 

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