SFS Group

The origin of SFS dates back to 1928 and the Stadler Hardware Store in Altstätten, Switzerland. In 1949 a branch was opened in the near-by village Heerbrugg. Motivated by shortages of supply, Josef Stadler and Hans Huber started the production of screws in 1960 and founded the SFS Presswerk AG. The manufacture was based on the cold forming technology (also known as work hardening)[2]

Both, the retail as well as the manufacturing activities were continuously developed and expanded over the following decades. From 1971 on the company started to build up an international network of market organisations. In 1993 the SFS Group was brought together under the umbrella of SFS Holding AG, in 2014 the name changed to SFS Group AG.[3]

Today the activities are split into the three segments Engineered Components, Fastening Systems and Distribution & Logistics.[4]

While retail and logistics activities stayed focused on the Swiss market (Distribution & Logistics), the manufacturing sector comprises worldwide more than 70 sales and/or production sites (Engineered Components and Fastening Systems ) in 24 countries.[5] Through various acquisitions SFS expanded the competence portfolio by the injection moulding, deep drawing and blind riveting technology (by the acquisition of the GESIPA Group)[6][7]

On 1 September 2012 SFS Group acquired the Unisteel Technology Group, which is based in Singapore and has production sites in Malaysia and China.[8][9] Unisteel manufactures miniature screws and precision metal components (e.g. for smartphones and hard disc drives).[10] Although SFS itself produces precision components of a diameter of 0.5 mm, which belong to the thinnest fasteners in the world, it gradually lost market shares due to the continuous migration of the mobile phone industry. The acquisition of Unisteel Technology strengthens SFS' position in its market segment. With the construction of a new plant in Nansha (CN), SFS increases the production of fasteners in Asia.

Since 7 May 2014 SFS is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (ticker symbol SFSN).[11][12]

In 2016 SFS significantly expanded its position in the growing medical device industry through the acquisitions of Stamm (Switzerland) and Tegra Medical (USA).[13]

Since 2018 the claim "Inventing success together" has been introduced as a new summary of the DNA of SFS that has existed since its foundation. In this context the SFS intec and SFS unimarket brands are merging and are now SFS. The concentrated communication as well as the corporate identity further support the focus on our performance promise.

The SFS Group consists of three operating segments which represent the three business models:[4]

• Engineered Components: customer-specific products under the SFS intec, Unisteel and Tegra Medical brands
• Fastening Systems: application-specific products under the SFS intec and GESIPA brands
• Distribution & Logistics: market-oriented product ranges and innovative logistics solutions under the SFS unimarket brand throughout Switzerland

The three operating segments are supported by the cross-segment functions Technology and Services.

Based on the core technologies of cold forming, deep drawing, plastic injection moulding and the riveting technology, SFS serves diversified end markets including the automotive, construction/construction supply, electrical/electronics, aerospace and medical components industry.[14]

Source: SFS Group[15][16]

• Website SFS