Good products, good stories and loyalty
At the end of January, Eva Jaisli gave an interesting presentation on the topic of «Local positioning as a prerequisite for international success» at the university. For more than 138 years, PB Swiss Tools has been rooted in the Emmental and successfully conducts international business from its locations in Wasen and Sumiswald. In the early 70s, sales reached the demanding customers in Japan. How was that possible? Open countryside and happy cows «The products from the Swiss Emmental have always been 100-percent Swiss-made», Eva Jaisli says. In the land of the rising sun, the image of an nature and society was decisive for the lasting value of our brand products: The cows in the open countryside, the farmers who take care of them – those are the images disseminated about PB Swiss Tools by the tools dealer in his home country. They may correspond to a cliché – but they are effective: «It gives our customer in Tokyo an emotional entry to our brand and the values we represent:: uncompromising Swiss quality .» Important for the customer in Japan: The image of a rural idyll in the Emmental. Good stories will be passed on «Good stories will be passed on», Eva Jaisli explains. «They create an interest and communicate complex interactions in a simple way.» But it is not just the good stories that make our company successful, the core values durability, precision and reliability also serve this purpose. Our mission states that we want to make others successful – and the level of our quality standards underscores it. The swiss origin continues to be rated highly outside of Switzerland and is considered a promise for quality at many locations. Loyalty in the company as success factor For 45 years, PB Swiss Tools has been successfully selling products in Japan and for decades in 70 other countries throughout the world. «I am strongly convinced that outstanding entrepreneurial performance in the long term is possible only with mutual loyalty of employers and employees», Eva Jaisli emphasized. «As an entrepreneur, I am responsible for promoting the participation of the local population and its organizations in the social and economic life with fair hiring conditions, a meaningful corporate culture and the assignment of jobs in the region.» And who brings more motivation along than the people who are connected with the region and, for this reason, want to claim and maintain workplaces and apprenticeships for themselves and their descendants? In conclusion, Eva Jaisli pointed to the research work of the Geographical Institute of the University Bern concerning «Entrepreneurship in the rural area». It concludes that «rural» entrepreneurs support the rural community and region and demonstrate a lot of commitment when it comes to improving the location as a place of residence and the center of life for their skilled employees.

PB Swiss Tools Young Talents on the Hunt for Medals at WorldSkills!
From Emmental to uptownBasel and then onto Shanghai – it gets serious on October 12, 2022! Our national team are still in training on home soil. After the first training phase at PB Swiss Tools, Dario and Adrian are now getting ready for the international competition by training three days a week on the uptownBasel innovation campus. In comparison with the hard work put into their preparations by some of the foreign delegations, it appears that the Swiss team are training at an almost moderate rate of intensity. Some national teams have been training for up to ten hours a day, six or seven days a week for the last year! From October 12 to 17, 2022, our Swiss vocational athletes will face up to extremely strong international competitors, hailing from 85 nations around the world. Highly professional preparations with training sessions and public test competitions To ensure that the Swiss national team can grow accustomed to the international level on which they will be competing, our vocational athletes are being prepared for the competition in Shanghai by a team of very experienced trainers. The head of the mission , Olivier Habegger, has already been the head of a delegation to a WorldSkills championship three times and thus has first-hand knowledge of what is required and the level of the competition. The preparations for WorldSkills includes public training sessions in a shopping center and in the Swiss Science Center Technorama, as well as an international test competition between the German, Austrian and Swiss national teams. In this realistic comparison, our vocational athletes will be able to measure themselves against renowned industrial nations and also socialize and establish ties with the other German-speaking participants. A challenging two-day public training session in the Gäupark Shopping Center in Egerkingen The task thought up by the trainer Nicolas Godel – which involves the construction and programming of a miniature packaging system – was quite tricky and peppered with all sorts of challenges. The setup was actually designed to be held over three days, but the vocational athletes had to complete the task in just two days. Godel also included two more challenges in the tasks: Instead of a vacuum sensor, the materials provided to the athletes included a pressure gauge that was identical in appearance. In addition, the basic configuration of the control software that they were initially provided with was rather unsuitable for programming. “With the help of such situations, the young vocational athletes are learning to scrutinize every work step and also to make allowances for the seemingly impossible when troubleshooting,” said the trainer with a wink of the eye in justification of the obstacles that he snuck into the training session. A practical task and a simulation of an authentic competition The assessment criteria cover a wide range of topics: Problem-free functionality of the mechanics and programming The creativity of the solution The quality of the setup and cabling The cleanliness of operation The safety and efficiency of the system Godel – the trainer – designed the public training session to be as realistic as possible. From the briefing to the task assessment, all conversations were held solely in English. Even the rituals in the competition environment were kept exactly the same as they would be in the competition proper. The test task of designing, building and configuring a system for the packaging industry was largely consistent with the setup of the previous competition. Different types of small pots had to equipped with lids of different colors according to the respective order set up on the control panel. In so doing, the system had to be able to properly identify the color and size of the lid and the type of container, and then combine the components accurately. In the event that the magazines were loaded incorrectly, the incorrect parts had to be rejected and sorted out of the system. This is because malfunctions are also simulated in the assessment and the reliability of the system’s response is also evaluated. Creativity, speed and accuracy – the most important success factors The competition is always a race against time. However, our automation athletes were able to manage their time perfectly. The young automation talents presented their system to the jury with five minutes still left on the clock. “The PB Swiss Tools precision tools put us at a considerable advantage during the assembly stage thanks to their fitting accuracy and the color coding system. Simply put, ‘Work with the best.’,” said a smiling Dario Flükiger. “When every second counts, I am grateful for always having the right screwdriver close to hand so that I can secure and fit the components to the support rails quickly and accurately. And in such a miniature system, our 30° L-wrenches with a ball point make tightening concealed hexagon socket screws much easier.” Committed to winning a medal – a great deal of work for athletes and their families, employers and sponsors. The athletes have had to put up with a lot of stress and a great many restrictions, ranging from the postponement of secondary school and the start of their studies to the numerous overnight stays away from home every week on their training days. However, the people close to the athletes are also helping them. Their employers are fully committed and are continuing to pay their wages, and their families – from their siblings to their grandparents – are also diligently supporting the project. The previous winners of gold medals scored 98 out of 100 points. Thus, the results at the top hardly differ from ski racing – every point counts! The participants also need a healthy portion of good luck. And that is what we, here at PB Swiss Tools, wish Dario Flükiger and his team colleagues with their performance in Shanghai. PB Swiss Tools will continue to place a strong focus on young talents in the future – such as the SwissSkills winner Dario Flükiger, who will represent Switzerland at the WorldSkills competition in the fall. Dario Flükiger and Adrian Matthys not allowing themselves to be distracted from their work despite the large number of visitors in the Gäupark Shopping Center in Egerkingen. #Automation #WorldSkills #SwissSkills #AutomationEngineer #PBSwissTools #WorkWithTheBest #Gäupark #DarioFlükiger #AdrianMatthys #Actemium