Small high-precision machine shop firms dot the Black Forest, just like their cousins nearby in central Switzerland.
Harry Lime: “What did we ever get from the Swiss? The cuckoo clock!”
Well, yeah, Harry. That, and precision machining technology.
Let’s not forget, the Swiss not only make watches and precision parts, just a sample of what they make (real products) :
* ASEA BROWN BOVERI (power and automation technology)
* Caran d’Ache, supplier of pencils, pens and other office supplies as well as art supplies
* Ciba Specialty Chemicals
* Ciba-Geigy (materials, chemicals, dyes and drugs of all kinds)
* Flug- und Fahrzeugwerke Altenrhein, plane manufacturer, now Dornier Flugzeugwerke
* SITA — Based in Geneva. a multinational information technology company specialising in providing IT and telecommunication services to the air transport industry.
* Holcim, construction material supplier
* Kühne & Nagel, world’s biggest shipping company
* Lindt & Sprüngli, chocolatier
* Nestle ( if yuo don’t know who they are you ought to get around more often )
* Nobel Biocare (dental implantology and aesthetic dental solutions)
* Sandoz — specialty chemicals (Sandoz merged with Wander AG (known for Ovomaltine and Isostar). Sandoz acquired the companies Delmark, Wasabröd (a Swedish manufacturer of crisp bread), and Gerber Products Company (a baby food company).
* Wenger (bought by Victorinox), manufacturer of the Swiss Army knives
* Novartis (pharmaceuticals and biotech)
High labor specialisation, industry and trade are the keys to Switzerland’s economic livelihood.
Also, Electricity generated in Switzerland is 56% from hydroelectricity and 39% from nuclear power !! On 18 May 2003, two anti-nuclear initiatives were turned down: Moratorium Plus, aimed at forbidding the building of new nuclear power plants (41.6% supported and 58.4% opposed).