Glass-fibre cable company with 85 jobs to relocate to neighbouring canton

The Connect Com telecommunications  company of Hünenberg, which specialises in glass-fibre cable technology, has announced it is to relocate to new headquarters in Rothenburg in the neighbouring canton of Lucerne 23 kilometres away, next year. Not surprisingly, regret has been expressed in the Zug municipality.

The CEO of Connect Com, Roman Wigger, explained that CHF 30 million was being invested in the new company headquarters on a 10,000-square-metresite next to Ikea (the photograph shows a computer- generated image). He mentioned how it was hoped the new building would be ready by the autumn of 2020 when all production and office staff, some 60 in all, would be working from there. Sales and service teams would continue to work from wherever required. In all, 85 jobs currently based in Hünenberg are affected, with five jobs dealing with customers in French-speaking Switzerland to work from Gland in the canton of Vaud.

In recent years the company has been able to enjoy increased demand as customers want an increased amount of data through quick internet service. Founded in 1993 in Küssnacht am Rigi in the canton of Schwyz, the company invests heavily in research prior to the manufacturing of its products. Indeed, along with the Dätwyler, Huber & Suhner, and Reichle and de Massuri companies, Connect Com belongs to the top four providers of glass-fibre cabling in Switzerland.

Over the past decade the company, which is owned by Jörg Frei, who also acts as the chairman of the board, has seen the number on its staff in Switzerland rise from 45 to just under 90, not to mention a further 50 at its plant in Nürtingen near Stuttgart. As to its turnover, this amounts to CHF 60 million a year, 50 per cent of it generated from Switzerland, the other half from Germany.

The company left its Schwyz location in 2008 to move to Hünenberg as it needed more space, and now this is the same reason for it moving to Rothenburg. As Wigger mentioned, the company had sought larger premises within the canton of Zug but to no avail.

While, as mentioned, the mayoress of Hünenberg, Renate Huwyler, expressed her regret at the company’s move, she understood the reasons behind it.