Seventeen years after the first plant, GiardinaGroup has refurbished the coating line at Zurbuchen Ag in Amlikon, Switzerland, a high-end furniture factory a few kilometers away from Zurich. We must admit that it was the first time in our long career that we travelled to Switzerland to see “live” a furniture industry line made by an Italian company. We were invited by GiardinaGroup, a leading Italian vendor in the coating business; we were glad to accept and we were really curious, as our idea of “Swiss product” was totally different, and in our industry we expected to come across some business in solid wood or constructions. And instead, it was a different story and we ended up in a wonderful elegant showroom, surrounded by top-quality furniture with excellent design.
To be honest, Stefano Tibè, sales manager at GiardinaGroup, had prepared us during the journey from Figino Serenza, where the company is based, to Amlikon-Bissegg, very close to Zurich.
“Zurbuchen is a family-owned business managed by the third generation, we provided them with a “high-performance” coating plant back in 2000. Since then, they have grown, developed new experience and identified new needs, but they did not hesitate to come back to us and ask what we could do for them.
And one year ago, in November 2017, the new coating line was commissioned in a company with a strong focus on quality, so strong that they decided to invest a big sum in a plant offering solid guarantees. This plant will not just finish the production of Zurbuchen, but it will be the heart of the company’s subcontracting coating business. Approximately 40 percent of turnover come from high-end office and contract furniture, while 60 percent is generated by sub- contracting operations, namely the production of components, parts and furniture elements for other companies in the region, and of course, all of these parts are also coated. That’s why they chose a line that represents the excellence of our technological portfolio”.
Such need is certainly combined with a passion for “high technology”. We could see this personally as soon as we came to Amlikon: in the Zurbuchen laboratories, we found the world’s best technology, from panel saws to edgebanding, from working centers to presses. And for coating, of course. More than a joiner workshop or a furniture factory, it looks like you are in a luxury restaurant: everything in its place, each tool, even the smallest one, is exactly where it should be; machines seem to have been installed the day before. Tidiness and precision all around… Swiss precision!
Inside the showroom, a summary of all you can find in the factory, where approximately forty people work and generate revenues above eight million Swiss francs: wellcrafted furniture, fla- wless surfaces, a rigorous style with the best functionalities and performance. The company has always made clear choices, such as keeping the entire process under control, from design to assembling, an approach that has paved the way to collaborations with leading customers and architecture studios.
“This is what you want when you choose Zurbuchen”, said Christoph Zurbuchen, co-owner with his two cousins and technical manager of the company. “To achieve uncompromised quality, you must invest in suitable technology: each year we spend half a million francs on average to renew our machinery and ensure the best quality to ourselves and to our customers. For finishing, we have chosen GiardinaGroup, twenty years ago and again today. The reason is still the same: they can understand our needs and supply a very effective, flexible and smart line. We don’t just have to coat our furniture, we have to do exactly what our customers ask when they turn to us to paint or make components. Some only want us to use specific brands, others prefer water-based coatings, others out- source production operations that require solvent coatings…some even request very peculiar ap- plication cycles. We have selected a GiardinaGroup line that is highly versatile, built around a five-axis Cartesian robot placed inside a pressurized booth. A “closed-loop line”, that’s how it’s called, where parts are prepared with the necessary basecoats, go through intermediate sanding stages so that each piece arrives to the final coating process in optimal conditions, according to the cycle selected by our customers or ourselves. We process all kinds of materials: solid wood, paper laminates, veneered pieces…”.