Omega yesterday officially inaugurated its new production building in Biel. Present at the event, in addition to Nick Hayek, CEO of the Swatch Group, and Raynald Aeschlimann, President and CEO of Omega, were Johann N. Schneider-Ammann, Head of the Federal Department of Economic Affairs Education and Research (EAER), and the award-winning Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, who designed the new building. Built on the same site where the brand has resided since 1882, the eco-friendly, five-storey building is made of Swiss spruce and features an ingenious climate and energy concept.
"Omega has been producing watches at this historic site since 1882. The brand has been, and still is, a pioneer in the field of innovation in the Swiss industry and the rest of the world. The strong tradition of investing in new technologies, new production methods, but also in its employees, finds its fulfilment in this new manufacture. It perfectly reflects the brand's commitment to achieving the highest standards in watchmaking,' said Nick Hayek.
"We have managed to create an innovative workspace, but the real value of this new building is efficiency. We have managed to unite all our production and testing processes under one roof. This leads to a consolidation of work that will help Omega become even more productive and dynamic than ever before," added Raynald Aeschlimann.
All processing steps, including T2 (watch assembly), T3 (bracelets) and T4 (shipping) as well as warehousing and logistics will be completed within the new building, which was also designed for staff training. At the heart of the facility, a storage system has been installed that runs through 3 floors of the building. The fireproof system contains over 30,000 boxes with all the necessary storage for the brand's watches. In addition, the new building was also created to house quality and technology control processes, including Metas testing for Master Chronometer certification.
