Victorinox
| Victorinox AG
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|---|---|
 |
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| legal form | Corporation |
| founding | 1884 |
| Seat | Schwyz , Switzerland |
| management |
Carl Elsener junior (President and Delegate of the Board of Directors ) |
| Number of employees | 2100 (2017) |
| sales | 465 million CHF (2016) |
| Website | www.victorinox.com |
The Victorinox AG , based in Ibach in the town of Schwyz is a Swiss knife manufacturer and since the takeover of rival Wenger in 2005, the sole producer of the patented Swiss Army knife in numerous designs. In addition, include kitchen knives , watches , luggage and - accessories and perfume for Victorinox range. The company name is a suitcase word from Victoria, the first name of the mother of the founder, and the rustproof Inox steel.
The company was founded by Karl Elsener in 1884 , employs around 2,100 people worldwide, including around 990 in the canton of Schwyz , and generated sales of 465 million Swiss francs in 2016. Annual production is around 26 million pieces, of which 6 million are Swiss knives, 7 million other pocket tools and 13 million household and professional knives. The company is managed by Carl Elsener junior , the founder's great-grandson.
organization
The corporate headquarters of Victorinox AG is located in Ibach , which is part of the Schwyz municipality .
Victorinox has offices in nine countries on four continents:
- Switzerland, approx. 990 employees
- Brazil, approx. 24 employees
- Chile, approx. 51 employees
- Hong Kong , approx. 125 employees
- India, approx. 57 employees
- Japan, approx. 36 employees
- Mexico, approx. 94 employees
- Poland, approx. 6 employees
- USA, approx. 260 employees
The group produces the various products in different places in Switzerland, partly through subsidiaries, and is the licensor of a US luggage manufacturer. At the beginning of the 2010s, the company's sales were broken down into Messer (55%) and other products (45%). Before 2001, the Messer share of total sales was 90%.
- Pocket knives , household and professional knives: Victorinox AG, Ibach, Switzerland
- Watches : Victorinox Swiss Army Watch SA, Biel / Bienne, Switzerland
- Perfume: Victorinox Swiss Army Fragrance AG, Ibach, Switzerland
- Luggage: TRG Group, St. Louis, MO, USA (license)
From 2001 to 2017, Victorinox SA Apparel LLC, based in New York City , operated a business unit for men's clothing and accessories. The functional travel and sportswear was initially only available in the USA and was eventually offered in other countries, particularly Japan. In 2017, Victorinox discontinued the division due to high losses.
history
At the end of the 19th century there were large knife manufacturers in Solingen , Germany, whereas Switzerland was still little developed economically and industrially. The Swiss cutler Karl Elsener founded a cutler's workshop in Ibach in 1884 after he had spent his days as a journeyman in Paris and southern Germany . On his initiative, the Swiss Cutlery Association was founded in 1891 . Karl Elsener and his professional colleagues supplied the Swiss Army with soldiers' knives for the first time.
This knife should be suitable as an aid when eating and at the same time provide tools for the maintenance of rifles. However, many of his colleagues gave up the following year because a company in Solingen, Germany, was able to manufacture the knives more cheaply. As a result, Karl Elsener was the only one left, albeit with great losses. With the help of his relatives, he managed a moratorium to achieve and thus the threat of bankruptcy averted. Due to the great success of the officer's and sports knife , which he developed as a lighter, more functional successor to the soldier's knife, he was later able to voluntarily compensate all creditors of the estate, including interest .
On June 12, 1897, the Swiss officer's and sports knife was legally protected. This model later became known around the world as the Original Swiss Army Knife . Even if the officer's knife did not become an official item of armament of the Swiss Army like its predecessor, it later helped his company to achieve an international breakthrough. The officer's knife has been continuously developed and is now available in over 100 designs. After the death of his mother Victoria , Karl Elsener chose her first name as a factory brand in 1909. In 1909, the company's founder had the characteristic emblem with cross and shield legally protected. Today it is registered as a trademark in over 120 countries, although the use of the Swiss cross for commercial purposes is prohibited in Switzerland itself.
With the invention and increasing popularity of stainless steel , which plays an important role in the production of knives, the Victoria brand and the international INOX label for stainless steel became the Victorinox company name in 1921 . In 1931, the world's first fully electric hardening shop was installed at Victorinox.
From November 1978, Victorinox knives were part of the crew equipment of the NASA space shuttle . The American Space Agency ordered 50 Master Craftsman officer's knives.
On January 2, 1979, the sole proprietorship Messerfabrik Carl Elsener was converted into the family stock corporation Victorinox AG .
At the end of the 1980s, the American Forschner Group from Shelton in Connecticut, an importer of Victorinox knives since 1937 and sole US sales partner since 1972, in consultation with Swiss authorities, left the "Swiss Army" brand on the condition that all products must be manufactured in Switzerland. In 1989, Forschner launched wristwatches on the American market under the name Swiss Army with the help of the Swiss watch manufacturer Xantia SA. Sunglasses and a compass followed. In 1995 the Forschner Group was renamed Swiss Army Brands, Inc.
One of the most extensive pocket knives in the Victorinox range, called (Swiss) Champ , was introduced in 1985. It consists of 64 individual parts, has up to 33 functions and is offered almost unchanged to this day. Since then, however, individual versions of the pocket knife with up to 49 ( Swiss Champ XLT , 2000), 72 ( Swiss Champ XXLT , 2002–2005) or even 83 functions ( Swiss Champ XAVT , 2006) have been produced.
Victorinox expanded into the Japanese market with its own branch in 1992. In 1999, Victorinox entered the luggage market and granted the US TRG Group in St. Louis the license to manufacture and sell. In 1999, Victorinox Watch SA was founded in Bonfol , its own watch factory in the French-speaking part of Switzerland.
The Victorinox Company Foundation was established in October 2000 to ensure the continued existence and prosperity of the company. It holds 75% of the share capital of Victorinox AG . Another 15% are owned by the charitable Carl u. Elise Elsener-Gut Foundation , the Elsener family still own 10% of the shares.
In 2001 Victorinox opened its first flagship store in SoHo (Manhattan) . In addition, a men's clothing line was launched for the American market. As a result of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 and the associated tightened safety regulations in the aviation sector, pocket knives were no longer allowed to be carried in hand luggage . This meant that Victorinox's high-volume duty-free business at airports was temporarily lost. The company reacted to the crisis by diversifying its products.
In 2002, after successive share purchases, Victorinox became the sole shareholder of Swiss Army Brands, Inc. in the USA in 2000 . This was the first time that sales exceeded CHF 400 million. The name was changed to Victorinox Swiss Army, Inc. The watch supplier Xantia SA was bought up in 2000.
In 2005, Victorinox took over the economically troubled competitor Wenger from Delsberg , thus preventing Wenger from being bought by foreign investors because it was feared that its reputation would be damaged. In 2003, Victorinox had already bought Wenger North America and the associated Swiss Army Fragrance, Inc., which has been producing fragrances under the name Swiss Army since 1996. Wenger remained in the Victorinox Group as an independent brand until the beginning of 2013 and until then continued to manufacture its own Swiss knives, which differed from Victorinox products in terms of construction and design. Victorinox and Wenger together produced over 25 million knives annually, some Wenger models are still manufactured under the brand name Victorinox.
In 2006, after the loss of Xantia SA, Victorinox Watch SA moved from Bonfol to the new watch production facility in Porrentruy through a management buyout , which significantly increased watch production capacities. The watch range now includes around 160 different models in three product lines (Active, Classic and Professional).
Victorinox Swiss Army Fragrance AG and its perfume business have been located at the company's headquarters in Ibach since 2007. The RescueTool has also been available since 2007 , a rescue knife that includes functions such as a one-handed blade with a liner lock system, a belt cutter, a windshield saw and a window breaker. This was voted “Knife of the Year” at the IWA OutdoorClassics trade fair in Nuremberg in 2007. Victorinox manufactures the current pocket knife for the German armed forces with one-hand opening . In 2008 Victorinox opened its first European flagship store on London's Bond Street .
At the beginning of the 21st century, the Victorinox swissFlash was introduced, a combination of a pocket knife and a USB stick . In 2009, at the CES in Las Vegas, the Victorinox Presentation Master was presented as the latest product in the Victorinox electronics series , which contains a laser pointer , a fingerprint scanner and a Bluetooth module.
In 2012, the family company entered into a cooperation with a vehicle manufacturer for the first time. With the Smart Center Düsseldorf of the Rhein-Ruhr branch of Daimler AG, a special model limited to 100 copies was created. The vehicle was shown at the Geneva Motor Show.
On January 30, 2013, Victorinox integrated the knife business of the formerly independent subsidiary Wenger.
Since the mid-2010s, the company has been pursuing a stronger presence in retail at airports. In Germany, for example, it is allowed to carry knives with a blade length of less than 6 cm in hand luggage on airplanes. A Victorinox boutique opened at Zurich Airport in 2013. The only German Victorinox store is on Wallrafplatz in Cologne .
Corporate governance
After the company's founder, Karl Elsener, his son Carl Elsener (1886–1950) ran the company: from 1918 together with two brothers, from 1929 he was the sole owner. After his death in 1950 his wife Elise b. Gut (1900–1991) ran the company together with his sons Carl Elsener senior (1922–2013) and Eduard Elsener (* 1926). Carl Elsener senior worked for the company for over 70 years. The Swiss Army Knife (Swiss Army Knife) is considered his work. After Carl Elsener senior, his son Carl Elsener junior (* 1958) has been running the company as CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors since 2007 .
Products
The company's best-known product is the Swiss Army Knife , which was originally produced solely by Victorinox. Between 1908 and 2005, the company shared the contract with Wenger. An established compromise between the two companies made it possible for Victorinox to advertise the knives as "original" Swiss knives, while Wenger was allowed to offer its products as "real" Swiss knives. Victorinox bought Wenger in 2005. Victorinox produces a large number of variants of the knife. With the variants developed for the military (soldier's knife), Victorinox supplies not only the Swiss Army , the German Federal Armed Forces and the French armed forces but also the armed forces of over 20 other countries.
Victorinox also manufactures household knives ( marketed under the name Forschner until 2011 ), outdoor knives, professional knives, ceramic knives, forged knives, garden knives, multi-function pocket tools (multitool), sharpening tools and kitchen items .
Another variant of the multi-function knife is the SwissCard in credit card format .
Victorinox is the manufacturer of the bayonet for the Swiss Assault Rifle 90 as well as the bayonet for the earlier Assault Rifle 57 .
Victorinox's other product range includes wristwatches , luggage and perfume, as well as a clothing and accessories collection for men from 2001 to 2017.
The original Swiss Army perfumes include Swiss Army Classic (1996), Swiss Army Altitude (2001) and Swiss Army for Her (2002). More fragrances have been added to the Victorinox portfolio since 2008, including Swiss Army Mountain Water (2008), Swiss Unlimited (2009), Swiss Army Forest (2012) and Ella (2014).
Trivia
In the television series MacGyver , which was produced in the 1980s and 1990s, Victorinox knives were regularly shown in the form of product placement . The main character Angus MacGyver used them regularly to build improvised devices or to get out of emergency situations.
Around 2,500 tons of steel are processed in the Ibach plant every year , half of which comes from German and French steelworks .
The Swissness regulations stipulate that only products that are at least 60% made in Switzerland are allowed to carry a symbol similar to the Swiss cross. Since Victorinox has been using its logo since 1909, the company was granted an exception for its products manufactured abroad (bags, perfume, and watches as well as former clothing). However, the company is not allowed to use national colors in the logo of these products .
literature
- Heidy Gasser : Victorinox - the knife makers from Ibach , 3rd volume in the book series «Central Switzerland on the way to today» by the Albert Koechlin Foundation, 2009, ISBN 978-3-905446-07-4
- Derek Jackson: Original Swiss Army Knife. Heel, Königswinter 1999, ISBN 3-89365-794-0 .
Web links
- Victorinox website
- Franz Auf der Maur: Elsener (SZ). In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
- Urs Oskar Keller: The Art of Sharing (PDF; 813 kB) , article in Pauli Cuisine , 03/2009, pp. 11–15.
- Pirmin Schilliger: Victorinox: Creative Destruction . The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 plunged the knife manufacturer into its greatest crisis. Today he is better than ever. In: Handelszeitung .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Entry of "Victorinox AG", Schwyz, in the commercial register of the Canton of Schwyz
- ↑ a b c The 100 largest employers in Central Switzerland , In: Luzerner Zeitung , October 18, 2017
- ^ "Victorinox: Much more than just knives - one brand world" , nachrichten.ch, April 6, 2009
- ↑ Victorinox: Kreative Destruction handelszeitung.ch, September 7, 2011
- ↑ Victorinox: 70 million francs loss due to clothing handelszeitung.ch, July 11, 2018
- ↑ 10-to-10 article on the relevant law
- ↑ Victorinox knife at NASA (PDF; 76 kB)
- ↑ Successful landing: Limited Edition Man on the Moon pocket knife
- ↑ SwissChamp sakwiki.com, February 16, 2020
- ↑ Foundation: Sustainable Stability ( Memento of October 16, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), article in No. 11 of the Swissconsultants.ch series: Successful Succession , p. 14, accessed on June 7, 2013
- ↑ Handelsblatt (April 26, 2005): Pocket knife manufacturer Victorinox buys Wenger .
- ^ Victorinox Swiss Army. Clock wiki, accessed November 22, 2014
- ^ Victorinox: Support Page Victorinox Secure . Archived from the original on May 28, 2010. Retrieved January 11, 2010.
- ↑ Lucerne newspaper
- ↑ Victorinox integrates Wenger knife business , bielertagblatt.ch
- ↑ Victorinox boss Carl Elsener wants to go on cruise ships handelszeitung.ch, August 3, 2019
- ↑ Carl Elsener Sr. died , article in the Neue Luzerner Zeitung Online from June 3, 2013
- ↑ He made Victorinox a global brand , article in the Tagesanzeiger from June 3, 2013
- ↑ Cut down. The guardian on July 5, 2005, accessed November 22, 2014
- ↑ CT Monroe: RH Forschner by Victorinox has a new name. ( Memento from September 19, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF) Victorinox in February 2011, accessed on November 22, 2014
- ↑ SwissCard product page on the Victorinox AG website
- ↑ This is Switzerland's hottest export hit , article from September 13, 2014 in Die Welt
- ^ Cover text of the book ( Memento of December 24, 2013 in the Internet Archive )