New Tornos strategy combats European weakness, currency strength, business cycle compression and emerging market shift

The aims of the new strategy are to broaden its international footprint, improve sales volumes and strengthen organisational flexibility to absorb economic cycles. With six strategic thrusts, the new direction will, says the company statement, build upon the success the company, which has seen the company increase market share in key markets in parallel with a relentless drive to introduce new products and industry solutions targeted at key sectors. The six elements are: increased internationalisation of its business activities; the strengthening of flexibility; growth through innovation; higher revenues from the service business; enhanced operational excellence; and the offering of unique solutions for targeted market segments. Traditionally, Tornos has very strong market coverage in southern Europe, which has made Europe the group's most important market region for many years. As a consequence of the economic crisis in 2008/2009, markets have shifted towards Asia and other emerging countries. In order to cope with this relocation of demand and to offer products close to its local customers, Tornos says it will strengthen both its footprint and its sales and services structure in the BRIC countries. To coincide with the globalisation of its activities and to contribute to the growth it is intending to achieve, Tornos says it will continue to develop innovative products geared to specific customer needs in the four key segments of automotive, medical/dental technology, electronics, and micromechanics. This will involve extending existing product lines (such as MultiSwiss) by adding new capabilities, as well as Asia-based manufacturing of mid-range products, aimed at emerging markets, plus developing the Cyklos solutions that allow more energy efficient surface processing. In order to cope with the cyclic nature of the machine tool business, operations in Switzerland will be adapted while enhancing operational excellence, irrespective of the current business cycle, the statement adds. This leaner organisation will be complemented by flexible outsourcing, enabling Tornos to quickly adapt its capacity to fluctuating demand due to both upswings and downturns. Tornos' headquarters will remain in Moutier, where high-end products and key components will be developed and manufactured. In Moutier, the former organisation with heads of product lines has been transformed into a new, simplified and functional organisation. Responsibilities for single spindle machines (Mono), multi-spindle machines (Multi), micro-milling machines and for customer service are now integrated into a new 'Market & Sales Support' department. The new set-up eliminates organisational overlaps resulting from combining responsibilities for both products and functions. Existing manufacturing capacity at Almac in La Chaux-de-Fonds will be integrated into the operations in Moutier while keeping a development, sales, and service team in La Chaux-de-Fonds, close to Tornos' customers in the watch-making industry. With the new strategy, Carlos Cancer who was previously the head of single spindle products will now assume responsibility for the Market & Sales Support department. Other key members of Tornos' general management team will be Michael Hauser (CEO), Willi Nef (Sales), André Chardonnereau (Development & Engineering), Pierre-Yves Mueller (Operations), Luc Philippe Widmer (Finance & Controlling) and Olivier Marchand (Chief Technology Officer). Tornos will also reduce headcount by 147 employees. Additional optimisation will be achieved by streamlining the business to improve services whilst continually providing the end user with market leading innovations, concludes the company statement.