The Kyburz Sapphire management team recently met at the Bad Horn Seminar Hotel on the beautiful shores of Lake Constance to discuss strategies and investments. To complement this two-day workshop, a visit was organised to the anniversary exhibition “100yrs Innovation Heerbrugg”.
At its traditional “Future Summit”, held at regular intervals, the Kyburz Sapphire management team meets for a retreat, away from the company premises. Their discussions are all about future strategies and investments. This year, their discussions concluded with agreement on a comprehensive investment plan that will enable the medium to long-term renewal and expansion of processing technologies at Kyburz Sapphire.
An exhibition with an expert guide
The management team’s visit to the exhibition “100 yrs Innovation Heerbrugg” was the highpoint of this year’s retreat. The tour was led by Eugen Voit, whose expertise was well-nigh unsurpassable, and who explained the 100-year history of the company at Heerbrugg, its pioneering spirit and innovative strength. Also present was Peter Kyburz, former CEO of the family business and father of Gregor Kyburz and Lea Unterrassner-Kyburz, who now run the business together. Peter Kyburz has a special connection to Leica Geosystems and to the region in eastern Switzerland.
Coming full circle after more than 50 years
Peter Kyburz is the son of the company’s founder, Victor Kyburz. Peter completed his engineering studies in the early 1970s and then applied for a job at Wild Heerbrugg in St. Gallen’s Rhine Valley. During his two years in the company’s engineering department, he was able to apply and extend his practical expertise in precision mechanics and optical measuring technology. Just a few years later, he was able to apply this expertise and pioneering spirit to working with sapphire materials. Immediately after joining Kyburz Sapphire, he shifted the focus of this family business towards innovative technologies for developing and manufacturing precision sapphire optics. This reorientation has since formed the basis of Kyburz Sapphire’s sustainable, successful business development.
The innovative strengths of Wild Heerbrugg live on today as Leica Geosystems in the Hexagon Group. In 2018, the relationship between the companies in Safnern and Heerbrugg was rekindled. In this manner, after half a century, Peter Kyburz has come full circle.
