The Swiss never begin sentences with ‘If I only had a…’. Much of that is owed to the handy little multi-purpose pocket knife that is pretty much an indispensable for any Swiss citizen.
Victorinox was founded by Karl Elsener in 1884. 1880s was a period of tough economic conditions. The Swiss were immigrating to the other countries. Elsener, started a factory in Ibach to manufacture cutlery, to create jobs and maintain them in the long-term. This was the underlying principle behind Victorinox. The company is proud in saying that they never had to lay off any of its workers. They go to the extent of making sure they get temporary employment elsewhere during recession periods. The company considers employees as their biggest strength their principle…show more content… The utility of the knife is such that the company made its products available to public and has expanded its portfolio into a long line of multi-functional knives as well as diversified into cutlery, travel gear, fashion accessories and fragrances. The company has deeply ingrained itself into the heart of Swiss culture and heritage.
The USP of the Swiss-army knife lies in its reliability. It is considered as the pinnacle of evolution of knives through the ages. Such is the level, that it is part of standard equipment for NASA astronauts. The versatility and longevity of the knife cannot be expressed in words, that it is quite surprising that the company makes just enough money for self-sustenance.
The factory at Ibach, Switzerland is the largest of its kind in Europe, with close to 1000 workers producing over 60,000 knives in a single day with a passion for perfection and extreme conformance to quality standards.
The company continues to evolve further and stay in trend by constantly incorporating newer features and tools in the knife. The latest additions involve laser pointers, flash drives and Bluetooth. A new range of aesthetic knives with softer designs have been developed by Victorinox in association with Japanese designer Kazuma…show more content… Only longer serving workers are used for assembly and nobody starts with assembly.
The assembly machine is a sophisticated system. Logic governs the layout of the machine design. The main assembly pressing machine is the center of the workbench. It is operated by legs, which makes the hand free to pick up and set the components for assembly in the machine. Tools that open on the left are laid out to the left hand side, and tools for the right similarly placed in the right. A skilled worker requires around 3 minutes to assemble the most intricate product with maximum layers- the Swiss Champ.
The tool then goes through a final inspection process. Workers check every millimeter of the knife and its various tools. It takes a well-trained eye to spot defects that may otherwise go un-noticed to a novice. Even a minute scratch anywhere on the product is rejected for rework. Any adjustments that need to be made are also performed. This combination of high standards and low tech by usage of human eye provides an extreme strict quality process. The area of the defect are marked and rejected for