Clockworks to the Limit
Thursday, 13. October 2016 | 15:30 Uhr
Speaker
Organisation
Reporting
Ronald Jäger, Executive Director, Production, of IWC Schaffhausen since 1993, took those present on a journey through the history of the Schaffhausen company and the Swiss watch industry as a whole.
At the beginning, the latter was characterized by a high degree of division of labor, which led to low production capacities. “In the United States, watch manufacturers were more industrial and less expensive,” Ronald Jäger explained to the audience.
Therefore, it came as no surprise that an American saw great potential for the Swiss watch industry and founded IWC Schaffhausen. “Schaffhausen won out because even then, the Canton of Schaffhausen was already successfully conducting some kind of ‘business development’”.
The video reveals how the company overcame various crises over the years, what limiting factor makes manufacturing life difficult, and what IWC Schaffhausen has learned from Apple.
Ronald Jäger
Born in 1954, he completed his apprenticeship as industrial watchmaker at IWC International Watch Co. in Schaffhausen in the early 70s. Thereafter, he trained as ‘horloger complet’ at IWC. Following military cadre training, he completed his training as technical merchant and took various management courses.
In May 1984, he was promoted to Production Manager Assembly Division, including customer service, with some 100 employees.
As Executive Director Production, Ronald Jäger has also been managing production with a further 60 employees at IWC Schaffhausen since July 1993.
