Stewi
| STEWI AG
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| legal form | Corporation |
| founding | 1947 |
| Seat | Winterthur , Switzerland |
| management | Stephan Ebnöther, Lorenz Fäh |
| Branch | domestic appliances |
| Website | www.stewi.com |
Stewi is a manufacturer of clothes horse in Winterthur in the canton of Zurich . Stewi (an art term from the words Ste iner and Wi nterthur) is a synonym for these household appliances in Switzerland. The company was founded in 1947 by Walter Steiner Senior.
history
Walter Steiner senior (born May 31, 1921) began manufacturing his rotary clothes dryer at the age of 26 in his parents' house in Winterthur- Töss and in 1947 founded the company “Stewi”. In 1952 the first expansion into a larger workshop took place on Oberseenerstrasse in Winterthur Seen .
In 1954, the «DeLuxe» rotary clothes dryer was recognized at the sample fair in Basel . The sales figures in Switzerland increased. The expansion into the European market followed step by step.
The products consisted of wood (support arms), metal (standpipes) and hemp (ropes). In the meantime, production has been switched to aluminum and plastic parts . Walter Steiner pursued the vision of making the products easy to use for women from back then. Therefore, a switch was made to the much lighter and more resistant aluminum. The further development based on a quality maxim included all details in the construction of the products and strived for perfection.
In 1961 Walter Steiner brought the “Stewi-Libelle” onto the market as a new solution for the interior and the terrace. It also developed into a sales success. 1970 Allzwecköffner "Party Jack" was introduced, a combination of cans and bottle opener . It has been sold over 900,000 times in Switzerland. In 1972 the company moved to the newly built manufacturing facility on Rudolf-Diesel-Strasse in Winterthur. All “Stewi” products are still produced and delivered here today.
In 1987, a few years before the sole proprietorship Stewi was transformed into Stewi AG, the company had 80 employees. In its heyday, the Stewi company grew to 120 employees. Walter Steiner died in 2009 and passed the company on to his children. Despite the more than 200 patents from Walter Steiner Senior, the “sunny times” of the Stewi company were over and the company was losing around 10% of its sales annually. In 2017 the family business was sold to the two entrepreneurs Stephan Ebnöther and Lorenz Fäh.
The new owners Fäh and Ebnöther fundamentally reformed the company in all areas. Until 2009, the MS-DOS operating system was used . A new ERP system, for example, reduced the time required for payroll accounting from three days to three quarters of an hour. The facility was revised and employee dossiers completed. The two owners and their remaining team of 21 employees faced many hurdles. In the following year, profits were made for the first time in a long time; in 2016, sales increased to 66,000 items. New employees were hired and the production facilities were modernized.
Brand and company profile
According to the news portal Watson, “Stewi” is an innovative brand with a worldwide impact. This makes it one of the top 10 Swiss Made brands ; the products are cult in Switzerland. With the change of ownership, it is planned to sharpen the profile of the formerly innovative product category - consisting of a clothes screen, rotary clothes dryer and clothes horse - as a quality brand in the future.
“Stewi” pursues a premium strategy and is regarded as the quality leader in the field of rotary dryers and clothes horse. Many “Stewi” products have been produced unchanged for more than 40 years and are classics in the household sector. The products are perfected, meet the highest quality standards and are designed for durability. «Stewi» offers all spare parts right back to the beginning and thus ensures that almost all repairs are possible. The individual parts are manufactured at the production site in Winterthur and the products fully meet the “ Made in Switzerland ” requirements. In order to keep prices competitive, the assembly and packaging of the products mainly take place in the Pöschwies correctional facility . Ebnöther offers the best prisoners a second chance after their imprisonment with permanent employment.
company
“Stewi AG”, based in Winterthur, is responsible for production and domestic business. The Stewi Foundation is assigned to “Stewi AG” . The Stewi of Switzerland AG is responsible for export and the global brand presence. The parent company is "Stewi Holding AG", based in Zollikon . Stephan Ebnöther is the Chairman of the Board of Directors and the Board of Trustees of “Stewi AG” and “Stewi Holding AG”. Lorenz Fäh is Chairman of the Board of Directors of the “Stewi of Switzerland”.
Products
- Rotary clothes dryers
- Clothes horse
- Wall dryer
- Ceiling dryer
Web links
- Stewi's website
- Stewi - New momentum for the traditional company. "Eco" programon Swiss television SRF on June 26, 2017, accessed on July 21, 2018
- Stewi at 100 seconds - the audio dictionary
Individual evidence
- ↑ Stewi - entry in the lexicon of the brand evoq communications, Zurich
- ↑ a b Martin Gmür: The Stewi dragonfly should fly on. in: Der Landbote , February 3, 2017
- ↑ a b Lena Schenkel: The rotary clothes dryer is hunting again | NZZ . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . March 14, 2017, ISSN 0376-6829 ( nzz.ch [accessed April 27, 2018]).
- ↑ a b Michael Graf: Why the workers love their time clock . In: Der Landbote, Der Landbote . October 23, 2017 ( landbote.ch [accessed April 27, 2018]).
- ↑ These 10 innovations from Switzerland have changed the world - or will still do so . In: watson.ch . ( watson.ch [accessed April 27, 2018]).