85th Assembly of Delegates of Swissmechanic Switzerland
At the delegates' meeting, Swissmechanic Switzerland reaffirmed its commitment to the concerns of Swiss SME-MEM, in particular basic and adult education for the MEM professions. New members were appointed to the Executive Board as well as the Basic and Advanced Training Committees.
On October 26, 2024, the 85th Assembly of Delegates of Swissmechanic Switzerland, the agile association of the SME MEM industry, took place at Kartause Ittingen (TG). In the 85 years of its existence, the association has grown considerably and evolved with the course of technology. However, the basic values have remained the same.
President Nicola Roberto Tettamanti has been leading Swissmechanic into the future with agility and networking since 2022. In view of the numerous challenges, in particular the shortage of skilled workers and company succession, the President emphasized: "We all have the same goal: to secure our workplace in Switzerland."
Vocational training and its further development was and is a key topic in the ongoing revision of the professions, the operational preparation phase of which will be completed this year. It will ensure that basic training in the eight MEM professions is attractive to young people, keeps pace with rapid technological developments and meets the requirements of MEM companies.
Jürg Marti, Director of Swissmechanic Switzerland, explained: "Next year, the revision of the occupation will be about preparing the implementation for the roll-out in 2026 - and it is important that the implementation is suitable for SMEs and that our SMEs can continue to train apprentices to a high standard. In this way, we can ensure that our workplace remains competitive and that less central economic regions also have strong skilled workers and strong SMEs."
Elections
Ueli Meyer and Hansruedi Graf, who stepped down from the Swissmechanic Board, were thanked for their great commitment. Pascal Degen, section president of both Basel sections and owner and CEO of Dero AG, was newly elected to the Board.
Jan Sutter, Head of Training at Swissmechanic Solothurn, and Patrick Schlenker, Head of the central mechanical workshop at the Biozentrum of the University of Basel, were elected as new members of the Basic Training Commission.
The delegates confirmed Daniel Arn, Christoph Nägeli, Christian Gerlach and Matthias Zurbuchen as members of the Continuing Education Committee. Roger Portmann, Head of Training at the Continuing Education Center (wbz) Lenzburg, and Frédéric Grand were newly elected to this committee,
Lecturer at the Centre Valaisan de Perfectionnement Continu (CVPC). Dominik Spycher, Head of Vocational Training at the Frauenfeld Training Center for Technology (BZT), is a new guest member of the Continuing Education Committee.
Greetings and keynote speech
This year, Swissmechanic received words of welcome from Peter Bühler, President of the Thurgau Grand Council, Walter Schönholzer, President of the Thurgau cantonal government, Martin Hirzel, President of Swissmem, and Urs Furrer, Director of the Swiss Trade Association. Following the delegates' meeting, Prof. Dr. Christoph Schaltegger, Director of the Institute for Swiss Economic Policy (IWP) at the University of Lucerne, gave an insightful presentation on the topic of savings in federal policy.
Source: www.swissmechanic.ch
