A strategic customer story from the Corona crisis

Undiscovered strengths
The pandemic and the current crisis - like any crisis - has shown us weaknesses. Things that do not work right. But it has also shown us positive things that work very well for us and have not been noticed so far - undiscovered strengths. We want to promote these new discovered strengths and make them accessible to our customers and partners. With the following client story from the worst phase of the Corona crisis to date, we would like to show you how the SUHNER Group has discovered new strengths.

A strategic customer story
The pandemic has hit our ABRASIVE sales force particularly hard, as they are used to work in close contact with customers to improve the surface finishing on workpieces. During the pandemic, contact with the customers and their production was no longer possible. In the middle of the pandemic, a young member of our office staff did not lose sight of the joint solution with the customer. Together they chose the following procedure: He had the prospective customer send him the raw unworked workpiece. It was about a success-critical, geometrically demanding INOX workpiece in sensor technology in a conveyor system with the highest demands on a mirror-smooth surface up to a surface roughness of RA-4. Together with the sales force, he derived the perfect surface finish for this metal workpiece: In the training center they defined the corresponding process steps. They returned the finished workpiece to the customer, together with the corresponding processes and abrasives list and the machines to be used for it. The customer was then able to go into series production himself. This procedure is already customer standard in our machining and stamping processes. We have managed to establish it in surface finishing as well.

Our lessons learned
Through the crisis, we have discovered unconscious strengths and competencies, as our customers have challenged us more holistically and in alternative channels. They have chosen us as an integral partner for the creation of their workpiece.
The SUHNER Group has therefore developed itself beyond the previous perception:

• We are more than a machine manufacturer.
• We are more than an abrasive distributor with e-commerce applications.
• We are more than a consultant and training partner for process cost reduction.
• We are more than a component supplier.
• We are more than the sum of our areas ABRASIVE, MACHINING, TRANS-MISSION and STAMPING

We want to consistently build the strategic future of the SUHNER Group on this knowledge. We will show you the idea in the coming months. Until then, we wish you continued success and stay healthy.

Best regards

Jürg Suhner
CEO SUHNER HOLDING AG