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Design Product News
September 2006
Feature: Motion Control
“Where tiny is beautiful”
Traditional Swiss adapt to a hi-tech future
By James Tulk
Special to Design Product News
W
hen you think of Switzerland,
it’s hard not to think of watches! After all, the Swiss have
been making watches for over 400 years
and many of the most famous names in the
industry are located in this mountainous
country.
However, while the Swiss have maintained a dominant position in the market
for high-quality luxury timepieces, the
introduction of low-cost digital and electronic watches have cost the Swiss a con-
A miniature
pump so small
it could
be surgically
implanted
siderable amount of market share at the
consumer end of the market.
To meet this challenge, Swiss firms have
moved forward with new products and
new technologies. At the same time
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though, the Swiss have kept
in touch with their traditions
and taken advantage of their
long experience in building
high-quality and high-precision
mechanisms. These developments were presented to a group of
international media in May during a tour
of Swiss companies and research facilities
organized by the Swiss economic development agency ‘Location Switzerland.’
One of the companies showcased was
Micro Precision Systems AG (mpsag.com),
located near the traditional watch-making
centre of Bienne. MPS began by making
tiny ball bearing assemblies for the watch
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Miniature ball bearing manufactured by Micro
Precision Systems AG.
trade. And, while they continue to service the watch industry, an increasing portion of their business is in non-traditional
areas, with products such as miniature
rotary and linear ball bearings, ball screws,
micro-motors and sophisticated, smallscale mechanisms built around these components.
One example is a high-precision drugdispensing pump, so small and reliable that
it can be surgically implanted into the
patient’s body. MPS has also built high-precision miniaturized assemblies for use in
demanding aerospace, telecommunications, medical and optical applications.
While these new applications are often cutting edge, the importance of tradition is
clear. As Nicola Thibaudeau, the Quebec
born and educated CEO of MPS explained,
“Our unique know-how in assembling
micro-mechanical components is the fruit
of the pure Swiss watch making tradition.”
Another company that takes advantage
of Switzerland’s strong traditions of precision and miniaturization is Advanced
Micro Technology AG (am-tech.ch). AMT
is a comparative newcomer, set up by the
German automation giant Festo.
In 2002, Festo identified miniaturization of components and equipment as an
important trend in the automation industry. This trend is driven by the need for
“microassembly” of smaller and more
complex products for the industrial and
consumer markets. Festo also recognized
that as automation equipment becomes
smaller and more complex, it becomes
increasingly important to reduce the number of separate components by integrating
multiple functions into each part. (For
example, a hydraulic actuator could incorporate a hydraulic cylinder, control valves
and position sensors in a single unit.)
With these requirements in mind, Festo
decided to set up a special development centre, dedicated to creating a new generation
of miniaturized, multi-function products.
And, since the emphasis was on quality, precision and miniaturization, it was perhaps
natural that they decided to locate this centre in the traditional watch-making region
of western Switzerland. Today, AMT specializes in the development of pressure sensors, flow sensors and proportional valves
for miniaturized automation devices such as
‘intelligent’ grippers for production robots.
On a larger scale, Trumpf (trumpf.com)
builds laser cutting and laser marking
equipment in eastern Switzerland. Here
Trumpf produces equipment that ranges
from large machining system machines
with CO2 lasers as powerful as 15 kW,
down to marking systems that use small
solid-state lasers to etch names, logos, serial numbers and other marks onto the surfaces of metal, plastic or ceramic objects.
James Tulk is a freelance writer living in
Toronto ([email protected]).
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