STEINEL Stories

Josef Röösli, Teamleader SMD

The machinery in the production and mechanics area of STEINEL has increased enormously since I started working in 2006 and is technically state-of-the-art. Many things have been automated and optimised so that the team can take care of know-how-intensive work steps. It makes me proud to be part of STEINEL and thus part of the further development. My job is very exciting and challenging, but also very flexible thanks to my activities as a zero series programmer. As I pursue my passion, music, alongside my work, STEINEL offers me the necessary leeway in terms of time; sometimes leaving 2 hours before block time but staying longer in emergency situations is therefore quite normal for STEINEL and my team and I am supported accordingly in my musical projects by arrangement. The fact that I also live and work in Einsiedeln makes STEINEL a top employer for me.

Bozana Jankovska, Teamleader SMD

After moving from Germany, STEINEL was my first port of call in Switzerland. Not only did I meet a lot of great people here, but I was also able to develop personally and professionally. As a team leader in production, my area of responsibility is wide-ranging and requires constant attention and vigilance, both in dealing with people and with the machines. I always make sure that both our team and our systems are in top form in order to achieve our goals and deliver first-class products to our customers. It's an exciting challenge that I approach with passion and commitment.

Marcel Graber, Electronics & Firmware, OEM Engineering

I have been a passionate developer for 30 years, but it has never been as exciting as it is today.

Rita Zoller, Quality & Incoming Goods Control

STEINEL Solutions has been my employer for 25 years now. During this time, I have been able to get involved in many departments and do interesting work. Anyone who shows interest is encouraged and supported in their own development accordingly. In my eyes, the company never stands still, but is always developing to keep up with the market and the latest technologies. But it is not only the market that is kept in mind, the well-being of the employees is also taken care of. For example, I was able to work the evening shift when my children were small and later increase my workload to 80% and switch to the day shift. I see STEINEL Solutions AG as a very valuable employer for the whole Einsiedeln region and I am proud to be part of this family.

Thomas Straub, Business Development

Every STEINEL customer is individual. Individual in its field of activity, individual in its corporate culture. And as the world changes, so do our customers. That's why it's always better to be a few steps ahead instead of waiting for the world to change us. Of course, this also means listening to our customers' needs, analysing them and translating them into targeted actions. We are a solution-oriented company that works proactively, focuses on the customer and takes the solutions for their needs from the network and resource pool of the entire company.

Martina Lütscher, Head of Marketing & Assistant to CEO

In STEINEL Solutions AG, I have found an employer that suits me and allows me to work as a thinker, communicator, coordinator and controller in various roles in a diverse range of tasks. The SME in the EMS industry has presented me with exciting challenges, whether it be setting up marketing, implementing digitalisation projects or optimising workflows and processes. Moving towards a successful future together with the STEINEL team - for me as a generalist, this is a dream, because I see myself as a creative and analytical idea generator, like to connect people, promote and challenge as an active designer and prefer to have the «big picture». Last but not least, the soft facts are also right for me, so I really enjoy coming to work!

Andrea Lachner, Business Development & SENSOTEC

As a contact person in the field of customised sensor technology for luminaire and sanitary manufacturers and building automation, I and my team are jointly responsible for the course of the project and support a wide range of customers, from innovative start-ups to global market leaders. Sensor technology is no longer just sensor technology, but an intelligent and networked system made up of many components that must harmonise with each other without interference. IoT has been with us for years in a wide variety of applications. I am convinced that there is an innovative use case for every one of my customers, because almost every product can and will be transferred to the IoT world in the future. We have to start thinking today about what we will equip the next generation of sensors with so that we can keep our finger on the pulse. The range of possibilities and technologies is growing and changing at shorter intervals. So my work remains enormously exciting and multi-layered!

Jim Meier, Technical office

As an employee in the technical office, I am part of the interface between planning and implementation. From the beginning of the project, we accompany the work in the customer team and realise the products together with the production department until they are ready for series production. Thanks to my experience as a former team leader in production, I recognise the needs of the individual departments early on and can provide targeted support in the project accordingly. One project I am in charge of is the SENSOTEC line. In my eyes, the SENSOTEC line is like a "rich buffet" of sensors; there is something for every customer that can be perfectly integrated into their application. The end result and thus customer satisfaction have top priority. And it is precisely this challenge that makes the collaboration so exciting for our customer team.

Erika Thoma & Tamara Reichmuth, Inside Sales

In our internal sales function, we do much more than the same purely administrative tasks day in and day out. We respond to the needs of our external and internal customers and contacts on a daily basis. Our hub function covers communication with our customers in the area of inquiries, orders, confirmations and planning, and we are also responsible for ensuring that the appropriate shipping documents are ready for goods to be shipped and that they arrive on time. We operate in different cultures as well as in different languages, which makes our work very diverse and exciting.

Sabrina Keller, Quality Management & Customer Service

As a committed employee in quality management and customer service, I enjoy working out solutions to problems independently. The wishes of the customers and the maintenance of the high quality of our products have top priority for me. In case of complaints, I am particularly concerned about customer satisfaction and proper communication with the departments concerned in order to be able to contribute to the improvement of products and smooth processes. STEINEL offers me a wide range of opportunities to develop professionally and personally. Ongoing training and innovative part-time models open up a highly qualified and flexible working environment for me as an employee. I am pleased to be able to contribute to the success of STEINEL with my work and my commitment.

Adrian Braun, Mechanics & Testing, OEM Engineering

Working in mechanics at STEINEL Solutions AG offers me a very versatile and varied field. My activities range from the elaboration and design of series parts to the individual production of operating equipment. The demands of these activities are very varied and always a new challenge. Due to the close cooperation with the different departments, I take different needs into account in my work, mostly with one thing in common: prompt results. Thanks to our versatile workshop, I am able to deliver these accordingly. One of my favourite projects was a product where I received a prototype as a basis, which I was then allowed to develop further in cooperation with the customer. I was able to scrutinise the production, choice of materials and thus the costs of parts and introduce possible new solutions. I succeeded in reducing the costs of parts, improving the stability of the basic construction and replacing the surface treatment of the parts with a resistant powder coating.

Loris Bisig, Planning Operations

As a junior scheduler, my main task is to supply the production department with orders on a daily basis. When I started the job, my background guaranteed a challenge. For me, it was a new job in a new industry with a new ERP system. However, as the training was tailored to me and approached carefully, it remained challenging and not too demanding. My range of products was slowly but steadily expanded and in the meantime I am responsible for various customers and my own products. I react as early as possible to the currently increasing material shortages and work out a strategy together with purchasing and sales. Thanks to the goal-oriented and informal working atmosphere, such «problems» quickly turn into joint solutions.

Florian Blöchlinger, Head of Sales & Marketing

STEINEL Solutions AG enabled me to take my first steps in the professional world a few years ago when I chose a career as an electronics technician. A few years and further training later, STEINEL Solutions is still my companion and valued employer. In my opinion, the recipe for this good partnership is: Appreciation, respect, flexibility and continuous development on both sides. These are all qualities that we pass on to our customers, partners and potential customers every day, because especially in times of COVID19 and material bottlenecks, it shows who lives values and reacts to changes, interacts, works well together and as a result develops and produces innovative, functioning products.

Stefan Kälin, Electronics & Firmware Engineering

Being continuously confronted with new challenges makes my working day exciting and automatically expands my own expertise. Because as a hardware and software developer in the OEM business, I do exactly that by getting to grips with new technologies and topics. The proximity of development to production means that as a developer I am automatically part of the industrialisation of the product. I see this proximity as the best possible situation, because production-related changes can be directly incorporated into product development.

Christian Müller, Head of Quality Management

We are committed to the highest quality every day and try to achieve it in the best possible way. Quality is no coincidence, which is why we comply with the quality standard DIN EN ISO 9001:2015 and the international environmental management standard ISO 14001:2015. Be it in terms of customer service, quality assurance or quality management, we in the quality department are constantly optimising in all areas. Our LEAN professionals are constantly developing new, creative approaches to reduce waste of all kinds - be it time, material or route. This optimizes internal processes in favor of process and product costs - so our customers also benefit.

Roman Schuler, Production department manager

Digitisation in incoming goods and modern industry means that components can be traced back to the manufacturer - and at STEINEL Solutions we ensure this with the MODI Trace system! The scanning of manufacturer-specific labels and codes enables the shortest cycle times and leads to the highest reading accuracy, eliminating the risk of incorrect placement through visual checks and manual entries in incoming goods. All read information is assigned to an individualized, unique label that can be further processed by the production systems, thus enabling traceability to the components installed.

Tanja Heuberger, Project purchasing

We do not buy parts indiscriminately. We buy the desired item at the best possible date and of course at the best price! Because we work in customer teams, we identify strongly with the customers assigned to us and their products. Our goal is to satisfy them with adherence to delivery dates, quality and competitively priced products. My tasks are very diversified and international, because besides suppliers from China we work intensively with local suppliers and distributors from Switzerland. The specific sourcing services for the benefit of the STEINEL Group round off my everyday work.

André Bisig, Mechanics Engineering

I have been working as a design engineer at STEINEL Solutions for 12 years now. In the OEM environment in which we operate, I am involved in projects ranging from feasibility analyses to series production and design, among other things, housing parts for sensors or create operating equipment. My job in this diverse environment is very varied and challenging, as new things like robotics and other automation technologies are becoming more and more common. Thanks to my many years of experience and the know-how I have acquired, I was given the opportunity at the beginning of the year to take on the position of head of construction. Thanks to the Swissmem vocational trainer course, I am now able to train apprentices, pass on my knowledge and support the next generation.

Petra Giordano, Marketing & Sales Assistant

As a mother of two children, I really appreciate the fact that I can take on many exciting and challenging tasks at STEINEL Solutions on a part-time basis with job sharing. In 2013 I started with a full-time workload at STEINEL Solutions and only reduced it later. That's why my role has been constantly changing and renewing over the past few years - I think that's great! I feel part of the team and enjoy coming to work.

Irene Studhalter, Head of Human Resources

I enjoy the familiar atmosphere, the uncomplicated cooperation and the short lines of communication at STEINEL Solutions, which is why I really like coming to work. In the HR department, we support employees from the moment they join the company to the moment they leave, providing support and advice to their superiors. The size of the company, which has around 120 employees, means that the whole job in HR is very varied and exciting. Here we have the opportunity to redesign, structure and constantly professionalize HR. I also like the openness of STEINEL Solutions to innovative ideas, changes and innovations, explicitly also with regard to personnel recruitment and development. In addition, the work-life balance is a very high priority and the company tries to respond as best as possible to the wishes of its employees, which contributes to a pleasant working atmosphere.

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Erich Mächler, Erika Thoma, Arthur Ott, Tanja Heuberger - Customer Team

We work in client teams to focus entirely on our clients and to maintain a high level of identification with products and projects. We live our values for product development and harmonize agility, quality, costs and speed! A good team spirit also helps here. If there is also a common understanding of values with our customers, the conditions are ideal for creating innovative products together.

Andreas Zehnder, Vocational Trainer Electronics

We train young talents to become professionals in electronics and design. In the last ten years alone, we have accompanied more than 20 apprentices on their way into the working world. As an SME, I think we are a model training center in our industry and in Canton Schwyz, because in addition to their field of specialization, they also get extremely exciting insights into manufacturing and product development and can participate in cool projects that are used throughout the company!

Stefan Walker, Head of OEM Engineering

STEINEL stands for sensor technology. And STEINEL Solutions also stands for sensor technology. As a sensor pioneer, we deal with a wide variety of sensor technologies every day. After all, the future will be shaped more and more by sensor technology and networking. It's not just the sensor itself that decides on good and reliable values, but the harmony of signal acquisition, conditioning and processing. The interplay between hardware and firmware is concentrated in the hands of the developer, who understands the system as a whole and can therefore tailor the product exactly to the customer's needs.

Marco Lang, CEO

We strike a chord with the times, that's what makes us successful. Our OEM engineering with expertise in lighting, sensor and communication technologies are must-haves to stay successful in the market with new business models and products! Our one-stop-shop in combination with common values makes us an interesting partner. For us, agility and cooperation with our customers are the be-all and end-all. My experience shows that when the interpersonal relationship is right, shared values are present and the service offer is convincing, successful solutions and functioning products emerge! For us, the focus is on individuals and interaction, transparent cooperation with customers, and quick reaction to changes! This applies to product development as well as to product manufacturing, from electronics to the finished device.

Gisela Kälin, Operations SMD

At the age of 18, I came to STEINEL Solutions, where my boyfriend also worked, because of love. I was hired at the time to record the error rate in SMD production. At the same time, I helped out wherever there was a need. After my maternity leave - which lasted 17 years - I was employed by the company again. For me it was like «coming home», because many familiar faces were still here. Today I work 3 shifts on SMD placement machines. It is very impressive for me to observe the progress of the products, machines and components - they are getting smaller and smaller and I am on the front line.

Rolf Senn, Project Manager

Working for STEINEL Solutions as a project manager is an exciting challenge. The fact that we work with many customers and suppliers all over the world results in many interesting contacts and you come into contact with a wide variety of cultures. Getting to know the various software tools used by customers to map their processes is also instructive. Depending on the customer, these tools are either pure information platforms for us as a partner or tools that we use to map our deliverables directly. Since we are located in Europe between Asia and the USA, we contact Asia in the morning and the USA in the afternoon. This allows us to focus on each one individually. We are looking forward to meeting the customers again personally after Corona and to getting to know them further.

Ronald Reichmuth, Hard-/ Firmware Engineering

Whether it's regulatory guidelines or product requirements that are constantly evolving - my work has changed over the years as technologies have advanced and the complexity of development work is constantly increasing. At the beginning of my career, I developed more hardware; today, the know-how is increasingly in the software or even in the interaction between hardware and software. With these changes, the demands on an entire development team and on the working methods are also increasing. That's why we at STEINEL Solutions work in interdisciplinary teams that are spread across several Group sites, depending on the project. Communication channels are shorter these days and development is becoming increasingly agile.

Andreas Amstad, strategic purchasing

Thanks to BOM Connector, we are able to provide our customers and prospects with quotes for component assembly much more quickly and efficiently. At the same time, obsolescence and alternative management take on a whole new dimension. What was previously only possible through manual work is now done professionally and highly automated by the newly introduced software. This gives us the opportunity to concentrate on the A-parts and to develop market advantages for us and our customers' products. Digitalization increases our performance and our added value for existing and new customers. At the same time it underlines our top positioning in the industry.

Urban Diethelm, Lead New Product Introduction

At our Einsiedeln site we have many years of experience with New Product Introduction. Our expertise in the areas of prototype construction of electronics, mechanics and plastics, test and equipment design as well as IP protection and EMC pre-testing enables us to seamlessly transfer our customers' products into series production and to make this as efficient, high-quality and flexible as possible. Likewise, since we offer all this in Einsiedeln, we can respond flexibly and at short notice to product changes and fluctuations in demand. Our NPI team is renowned for flexibility and time-to-market. For me this means coordinating with all important internal interfaces and overcoming new hurdles every day!

Erika Thoma, Head of internal sales department

In my function as head of the internal sales department, I have to deal with a wide variety of tasks on a daily basis. As the hub between internal and external contacts, I cover the needs of our customers in the areas of orders, confirmations and planning. Internal deadline clarifications with the scheduling department to ensure punctual delivery to the customer are also part of my daily tasks. I am further responsible for ensuring that the appropriate shipping documents are completed for the goods to be shipped. Clarifications with forwarding companies are also part of my job. My work is very varied and I like the high degree of independence in the fast-paced daily routine. Customer satisfaction is my top priority and positive customer feedback spurs me on to do my best every day.

Andreas Münger, Hardware and Firmware Engineering

The design of the sensor characteristics is supported by the Confusion Matrix to vividly describe the detection behavior and the limits of sensors. In the technical implementation, many disciplines meet in a sensor application, which I find extremely exciting. All these areas require appropriate expertise, infrastructure and tools to design the adaptation to customer-specific solutions based on existing technology modules. STEINEL has specialized in the field of PIR, high-frequency and optical sensors and has become the market leader. Its experience and resources in the field of hardware and firmware development, PCB design, mechanical development, application testing and manufacturing know-how are correspondingly extensive.

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Florian, Erich and Jim

Personnel development and promotion of employees is a constant mission of every company. But this alone is not enough. It requires employees who communicate their needs, are open to change and are willing to learn new things. We are therefore especially proud that Florian, Erich and Jim remain loyal to us as employees and take their next step in their development with us! The internal castling between sales, project management, technical office and production is a win-win situation for everyone - using strengths correctly, maintaining know-how, promoting and developing employees.

Andreas Höhn, Head of Department PCB-Design & Electronics Lab

The PCB is the heart of the electronics hardware world. In order for it to be manufactured, a functioning PCB-Design is needed, which is laid out with the most modern tools. Housing space conditions, EMC interference, layer structure, routing, production suitability and other issues are the major challenges that have to be overcome. The demands of our customer-specific OEM products and projects challenge me again and again and make my job varied, because it is my task to dutifully implement all rules and standards and to create a functioning PCB-Design so that the PCB is suitable for production and thus leads the product to success.

Josef Reichmuth, IT Management

When employees are in the home office from one day to the next, it is both a challenge and an opportunity, but above all, IT is needed! New software, modern collaboration tools, and an expansion of the bandwidth so that we could continue to serve our customers as usual. The security aspect could not be ignored. Now we realize: "Online" enables efficient and flexible collaboration, which I see as a great opportunity for the future.

Arthur Ott, Technical Office

The technical office is the hub function par excellence! We are all generalists with a technical and business background and are involved in our products throughout their entire life cycle. It starts with the preparation of the offer, where we prepare the customer data and define the production steps including investment costs. When we receive the customer's order, we open the material masters in SAP, store work plans and parts lists and prepare calculations. When the product is ready for series production, the handover from the project manager takes place and from then on we are responsible for the technical product life cycle. We conduct active product cost controlling and optimise processes where possible. In short, we know the products inside out. Since we live and experience our customers' products, we can implement change requests in a focused, short-term and efficient manner.

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