25 years of Waterjet: that sounds more like a great future ahead than only a grand past.
I hope so! As a matter of fact, we have many reasons to look back and ahead.
Reasons like growth?
Growth is a warranty for the future but it's not enough. Switzerland has high unit costs. Whatever we produce you surely find a competitor from abroad which offers lower unit costs. Consequently we don't need growth but new methods, new products, we must optimise our proceedings and invest in the right place.
Let's quickly look back. What fascinated you most in water jet cutting? Was it an innovative method back in the 80s?
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From now on the Bernese Waterjet add it's two-cents to St.Gallen – as we clearly declare our support for our eastern location of industry and commerce and thus our growth strategy.
This strategy is represented by our new head of agency Mr. Christian Rick. He is a trained draughtsman with a focus on steel- and metal engineering and has a 10-year track record in the water jet cutting industry. He will be responsible for the consolidation and the expansion of the site.
Waterjet Ostschweiz is an independent profit centre of the Waterjet Group and profits from the parent company Waterjet and its R+D.
Micro water jet cutting and medical technology are a young and promising couple.
For different reasons production plants of medical-technical components opt for our thermo-neutral procedure. We are ready for mass-production with 0.17 mm fluid-abrasives and we cut most of current materials: surgical tools from tool-steel and implants from chrome-steel, titanium and even bio-compatible materials.
All our burr-free workpieces are free of any misalignments. Moreover we produce prototypes without tooling, which makes water jet cutting interesting in price.
When in 1992 Martin Waltert received his first contract at “Maurer Affentrager Waterjet KG” at the planning and scheduling he was twenty-four years old and had just returned from a four-month-stay in Ireland.
He distinctly remembers how he sat in a Langenthal pub when a friend handed him a job advertisement: “Looking for programmer.”
He was not completely happy but it wasn't the job but the co-owners wife who helped out in the office. She forbid him to use the toilet – and he remembers some other circumstances which were a little bit tiring. When Walter Maurer told him that the company was looking for another programmer he quit.
Each success needs a solid ground. Waterjet is a proud Bernese company which is proud of selling its products worldwide.
During its 25-years history the company has developed from a water jet cutter to a supplier of watchmakers and the medical-technic industry thanks to entrepreneurial spirit and its R+D. Only recently this achievement was acknowledged by the national Swiss Merchant Paper.
Waterjet and Microwaterjet are participating at the SIAMS with their own stand. SIAMS is a trade fair held in the Jurassic Moutier, and brings together major players in the micro-technology industry every two years and thereby takes into account our specific needs as producers in the precision industry. In addition, Welshland with its watch industry, which is of significant importance to Switzerland, is an important market for our micro parts.
We are participating in the trade fair in close cooperation with two companies closely associated with us: one of them is MBC Engineering, a software developer. Microwaterjet and Waterjet are important application partners for its control software. The other partner is BIBUS Metals with whom we have had close business relationship for several years now. BIBUS Metals is a specialist in nickel and titanium, zirconium, tantalum, etc.
Waterjet Arena. Live football
12th June – 13th July
The major football tournaments are always a magnet for the public and an occasion for spontaneous, small folk festivals. Since Aarwangen community does not participate in the events this year, it fell to the private club "Bannfestivale" to pick up the slack.
After 2006, 2008 and 2010, "Bannfestivale" once again organized the only public viewing in the region with the help of the numerous Waterjet employees. We are honoured to support our Waterjet employees in this effort. In addition, we are once again setting up a multimedia tent with refreshments directly on our premises near the company.
The event is free to the whole public. We look forward to exciting games and cheerful evenings!
There are occupations for which there's no diploma. In 1992, when the twenty-two year old Michael Loosli took his place at Waterjet, the water jet machining was still one of such professions: "After apprenticeship and military service, I was looking for a provisional solution and found it with Walter Maurer." The 'provisional turned into providural', as he himself puts it jokingly.
In his case however, the provisional does not mean that he would have been responsible only for small things. Walter Maurer personally introduced him to the art of water jet machining: after a short time he became one of the pillars of the company and one of the important sources of know-how.
The processes in the company –at the time located at the old Aarwangen address - were less rigidly distributed. Everyone helped everyone else, even Michael Loosli. Hence, he represented the former sellers and had already programmed a machine. Needless to say, he wrote the delivery notes by hand.
Therefore, he was more than just an operator: he was also responsible for sales and was involved in production and process planning. During his time as deputy to Christoph Neukomm in the 2D production, he also went to Bystronic for trainings on the double-headed machine and subsequently became MH-operator (multi-head systems) at Waterjet.
Especially noteworthy is his place of residence. Michael Loosli lives namely in Waterjet, or to be more exact: on Waterjet. During the construction of the new location on Mittelstrasse a spacious loft was planned for an employee. Michael Loosli never made a fuss about having to empty out sand from 25-kilo sacks into the abrasive tank every two hours during the start-up years, sometimes even at night time. This was made easier with the loft apartment. He just had to go down two staircases. Today not even this much is necessary.
Not only his functions but also those of his mentor and company founder Walter Maurer, who was in the workshop at the time on daily basis, have undergone changes over time. "Walter Maurer was always an inventive genius, an innovator for whom the 'impossible'' did not exist. When no one in Switzerland was able to remove a flange from a turbine with 1.5 m diameter, he thought of a water jet system in the manual mode. Once during a trial period he was busy at work with protective mask and red overalls when some business people from Germany asked to have an unscheduled meeting with the boss. They were led to the workshop: the boss was there soaking in sweat in his red overalls and standing in front of the gentlemen in ties".
The story of the manual system is like many others of its kind in the company, but its memory remains alive. Today, Michael Loosli works in the MH department (multi-head) and is part of an independent, experienced team with three machines. They operate almost as a team within a team: they not only machine the parts, they also take the ready-for-shipment parts to the freight forwarding. There the most senior Waterjet employee, Christoph Neukomm, takes over.
The moment of triumph was a moment of great joy for us! We at Waterjet have supported bobsleigh sports and the Beat Hefti for years now. The silver medal in Sochi therefore brought great satisfaction to all of us. It demonstrates the fact that top performance is possible only when everyone is willing to give their best. Congratulations to Beat Hefti and his team! We relive the moments through a magnificent selection of photos from Sochi.
For many years now, Waterjet has been supporting bobsleigh sports and the team at the European championship as well as the Olympic silver medallist, Beat Hefti and his brakeman, including Thomas Lamparter from Aarwangen. Waterjet was one of the reliable partners on the way to Sochi and used water jet technology for machining high-tech start bar, which is of such a great importance.
