For 130 years, Victorinox has remained a family business that treasures the importance of credibility, harmonious working relationship, customer service and Swiss culture.
Carl Elsener Jr., Victorinox chief executive officer and fourth-generation head, attributes the brand’s longevity to the sustained success of its iconic little red knife, more commonly known as the Swiss Army Knife, and the family culture the company adheres to.
“We are a family business that always thinks long-term,” said Elsener Jr. in our exclusive interview at the Victorinox headquarters in Ibach, Switzerland. “Each member of the family supports, respects and trusts one another. We think only of the company’s future.”
Victorinox is run by a family foundation, which means none of the family can pull out his or her shares. Since the year 2000, 90 percent of the shares have been held by the Victorinox Foundation so that whatever profits it makes stays in the company.
The remaining 10 percent shares are earmarked for charitable projects in Switzerland and abroad.
“We have a very special situation in our family,” said Elsener. “The foundation wants the company to be financially independent.”
Elsener Jr. has 10 siblings—seven sisters and three brothers—and they all had received from their father their own shares in the company.
“We had all agreed to put the share in the foundation without getting anything,” said Elsener Jr. “For my siblings today, it is important to work in this umbrella because we think long-term. If something doesn’t work well in our family, we don’t have to stop operating. The company continues to serve the public. This kind of strategy works well in our business. We are not under pressure from shareholders.”
Great motivation
Elsener Jr. had the privilege to work with his father for 34 years in the same office in Ibach, and was taught to focus on three important things if he’d like to stay long in the business: employees, customers and products. He was told to motivate employees, make customers happy and satisfied, and provide quality products.
The company was founded by Karl Elsener in 1884. The brand name Victorinox combines the first name of the company founder’s mother, Victoria, with “inox,” the international term for stainless steel.
Celebrating its 130 years is a great motivation for Victorinox to continue what has been established by its pioneers.
The little red knife that can do almost anything has become a global icon; for many people it has become their companion for life. Because of its success, Victorinox has extended the brand into bigger and broader product categories including timepieces, travel gear, fashion and fragrance.
Factory tour
We had a quick tour of Victorinox’s vast factory in Ibach that allowed us to see essential tool-making sections. Located at the foot of two picturesque, snowcapped Mythen peaks, the modern plant produces roughly 60,000 pieces of Swiss Army Knife and about 60,000 cutlery pieces daily.
The old brick house, where the founder started the knife business over a century ago, was situated just next to the mammoth plant. The Swiss Army Knife is distributed all over the world with Germany, the US, Mexico and China as its biggest markets.
Photos are not allowed in the vicinity. More than a thousand people work in the factory mainly in production, machine-building, tool-making, design, sales and marketing, IT and human resources.
In some areas, it’s a 24-hour operation in three shifts. The factory is closed on Sundays.
One sees dozens upon dozens of metal bins filled with little tools that make up the Swiss knife, including screwdrivers, can openers, tweezers, rivets, corkscrews, toothpicks, key rings, springs and blades.
Victorinox buys its premium steel material from Germany and France. About 3,000 tons of steel are used every year, with aluminum and plastic as part of its raw materials. The aluminum is used in between the implements of the Swiss knife, while plastic is used for the handle.
First stop is the stamping section, where all the materials are shaped and molded for the standard look and form. Second process is the tampering or hardening of steel where it is placed in a heated oven. The hardening process basically heats up and cools down a piece of steel at a certain temperature to stabilize the material. For example, a screwdriver which has not been hardened properly will wear out very quickly.
Next stop is the grinding where the objects are cut with their exact dimension. After grinding comes polishing to avoid corrosion.
Assembly of little tools and quality control are two final important processes in making the Swiss knife. Assembling keeps every little tool together and added on top of each other in the correct order. Those assembled by hand produce about 400 pieces of Swiss Army Knife a day, while the automated assembly machines can turn out 8,000 pieces a day. The factory houses a number of automated machines for big-volume orders.
Swiss Army Knife is commonly recognized in the color red but these days, it also comes in black, blue and pink hues. Vangie Baga-Reyes