Bernafon
| Bernafon
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| legal form | AG |
| founding | 1946 |
| Seat |
Bern , Switzerland
|
| Number of employees | 500 |
| sales | 115 million Swiss Francs (2010) |
| Branch | health |
| Website | www.bernafon.com |
Bernafon is a Swiss company specializing in hearing aids and hearing systems, headquartered in Bern, and part of the Danish William Demant Holding .
history
The company was founded in the mid-1940s at Gfeller AG in Flamatt , Switzerland. Since his father Hans Gfeller himself was severely hearing impaired, his son started developing his own hearing aid with a fellow student.
The first model from 1946 consisted of the actual hearing aid and the battery, which were housed in two leather cases, which is why it was named A1 2-Pack. Soon afterwards the hearing aids became an integral part of the Gfeller product range and were also exported.
In 1949 sales contracts were signed with agents in Italy, North Africa and the Middle East. In 1975 the hearing aids accounted for 20% of the company's sales, which was mainly due to the success in international business.
In 1986 the American company Maico Inc., based in Minneapolis, was taken over. At that time, Maico Inc. was an established manufacturer of hearing aids and audiological measurement technology (audiometers) in the USA. This takeover should enable Gfeller AG to enter the important American hearing aid market.
In 1987 the companies Autophon , Gfeller, Hasler and Zellweger Telecommunications merged to form the Ascom group. The newly created group of companies employed a total of around 14,000 people and was the eleventh largest telecommunications company in the world at the time.
The new company name for the hearing aid sector was Ascom Audiosys. In 1991 Ascom Audiosys AG won the contract to supply the state organization Australian Hearing Services and in 1992 the hearing aid activities of the German Robert Bosch GmbH were taken over. However, the integration of Bosch hearing aid activities and the simultaneous establishment of an Australian hearing aid production facility brought the company into difficulties. As part of a new strategy for the Ascom group, it was decided in 1993 to divest various business areas, including hearing aids, which were sold to the Danish William Demant group in 1994 .
The head office was moved from Flamatt (FR) to Bern in 1995 and renamed Bernafon. Bernafon's turnover in 2001 was CHF 100 million.
Companies
Today the group has 16 sales companies and 450 employees as well as sales partners in over 50 countries and operates worldwide. Today more than 140 employees from all over the world are involved in the development, marketing and sale of Bernafon products at the parent company in Bern.
Hearing aids have been manufactured in Thisted in Denmark since 1995 , and recently also in Mierzyn in Poland.
In the Demant Group, Bernafon is part of the largest research and development cluster in the hearing aid industry.
Product lines
- Leox
- Viron
- Zerena
- Nevara
- Saphira
- Juna
- Supremia
Previous product lines
- Acriva
- Inizia
- Carista
- Chronos
- Veras
- Briton
- Xtreme
- Vérité
- Priority
- Neo
- Win
Awards
- 2007 red dot design award for brite (Bernafon Receiver-In-The Ear)
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.businesslink.ch/firmenportrait/bernafon_ag
- ↑ http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/ABEA-4C7PH1/1491578191x0x464153/b9ac7fe7-0473-4afd-82c7-d2e69c04f798/Annual%20Report%202010_low.pdf
- ↑ http://www.ionewmanagement.ch/de/artikelbeispiel/artikelbeispiel.asp?pkBerichtNr=24256 ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ http://www.medical-cluster.ch/index.php?section=news&cmd=details&newsid=9&printview=1
- ↑ http://hearingreview.com/all-news/18263-bernafon-wins-prestigious-red-dot-design-award-2007 ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
