News On 16 October this year, Rolex inaugurated the new building of its movement manufactory in the presence of personalities from the world of politics, the economy and the media. A small jewel of technology... Read on!
At an event without precedent on 16 October this year, Rolex invited communal and cantonal authorities, the media, and also councillor Johann Schneider-Amman, to the inauguration of its new building at Les Champs-de-Boujean, in Biel. In 107 years of existence, only a handful of people have had the opportunity to visit the brand’s workshops, still less to film the interior of buildings or workshops. The brand reserved for its guests a guided tour which not only revealed the advanced technology within its new walls, but also the meticulous precision with which each operation is carried out. The Biel site is devoted entirely to the production of different movement components and their assembly.
Hitherto the manufactory operated a total of seven buildings in the Biel industrial zone, mostly independent from one another. The acquisition of land in 2006 opened up new perspectives for the brand, enabling it to start a process of regrouping designed to optimise and develop still further its production capacity. 400,000 m3, including 230,000 m3 for the new entity (92,000 m2) – the equivalent of more than thirteen football pitches – house all machining, stamping, heat and surface treatment, maintenance, laboratory and finally assembly activities needed to manufacture the watch movement. With this innovative new seven-floor building, including three basement levels, and its three other sites in Geneva (Acacias, Chêne-Bourg and Plan-les-Ouates), Rolex has attained an unrivalled industrial potential: from the fusion of gold alloys to the assembly of components for the movement, case, dial and bracelet, not to mention machining, the brand designs and manufactures in-house all of the essential components of its watches.
The construction of this new building in Biel, which took three years to complete, marks the culmination of a strategy begun more than ten years ago by the brand designed to integrate and control independently the manufacture of all essential components of its watches – from the case to the movement, including the dial and bracelet – on four sites built or developed for that purpose: an avant-garde strategy to which Rolex today owes its unrivalled production capacity.
The regrouping of movement production in a new manufacturing unit increases efficiency and productivity, rationalises the different manufacturing operations and improves the circulation of people and products, thanks in particular to an impressive automatic stock system. Entirely robotised, the latter contains more than 46,000 compartments for the secure storage of components and finished products, which can be quickly routed to production workshops via 22 stations and more than 1.2 km of rail throughout the site. Fourteen pick-and-place robots move around in this stock at a speed of three metres a second, working tirelessly inside four towers more than 80 feet tall.
The ambition to manufacture a quality product, with quality personnel in a quality environment, is deeply rooted in the Rolex tradition. The new building in Biel was conceived and designed with this in mind and allows optimisation not only of the product, but also of the production process, working conditions and brand image.
With its purposeful, streamlined architecture offering huge spaces and generous natural light from seven metre diameter light wells inspired by the watch movement, the new complex also contains a large, panoramic company restaurant seating 450, several relaxation areas for employees, two car parks (outdoor and indoor) and even a sewage treatment plant. To date, more than 2,000 people, including around 60 apprentices, work at the Biel site (more than 4,000 people in Geneva).
Echoing other Rolex sites, the new constructions are designed and built according to very strict guidelines in terms of safety, integration with the environment and respect for the landscape, with the emphasis on sustainable development. The new buildings in Biel conform to the Swiss Minergie label, which is exceptional for a production site of this size. They stand out by a range of features: the rational use of energy (groundwater is used as a source of heat and cooling); 1,200 m2 of photovoltaic cells on the roof of one of the buildings capable of generating more than 100,000 kWh of electricity per year; glass facades - triple glazing, plus an additional pane to ensure air circulation incorporating automatic blinds - guaranteeing a maximum influx of natural light in workshops; advanced integration of industrial processes with the building’s technical systems; and vegetation on the roof, improving thermal inertia and limiting temperature peaks inside the workshops. A further small example of the colossal scale of the construction of this new entity: the depth of excavations (11 metres) necessitated re-routing of the groundwater, managed by pumps and a wall of sheet piles.
Next to this freshly inaugurated new building stands the site’s main edifice, housing management and all administrative activities. With an interior space of approximately 80,000 m3, it is connected to the production building by an underground tunnel. Another entity, converted in 2008, is dedicated to technical activities such as engineering, research and development.
The existing orientation of the complex offers possibilities for future extensions to the south, on land already owned by the manufactory.
Thanks to this new high-tech building, Rolex is ideally placed to write a new chapter in a history that already dates back more than a century. It underlines in «royal» fashion its unrivalled reputation for quality and expertise.
October 30, 2012
