Interview with Laura – Process Optimisation and industrialisation

It’s high time for a new HORAGE interview! Today we are talking to Laura, who is a key member of the watchmaking team.

Hi Laura, can you introduce yourself and briefly explain what your role at HORAGE involves?  Hi, my name is Laura Flütsch, I joined the team in 2023, and I am responsible for Process optimisation & Industrialisation.

What types of process are the focus of your work?  My role is to improve processes and increase the industrialisation of our movement production and assembly. By industrialisation we mean making things with a higher degree of accuracy, efficiency and automation. Mostly I am focussed on the task of assembling components in to finished movements, but I also support improving processes in component manufacturing and decoration/finishing.

And what are the key areas you are hoping to improve on? The main aim is to improve efficiency allowing us to produce a greater quantity of movements in a shorter time. This process also improves the precision and quality of the movements.

How do you identify an area which requires optimising? There are two parts to this. The first is for newly developed calibres. In this case I work closely with our prototyping team to produce a defined assembly process for the new movement. This is broken down into individual steps for the watchmakers and from these steps we can define what tooling is required.

Secondly and as an ongoing process we continuously review how existing movements and watches are built. This can be refining work steps or is often the result of a single component being revised. In this case we must re-examine existing tooling to see if it still works or requires modifying.

Can you give us an example of this situation?  Of course, an example might be that the engineers have optimised a component -  to improve its function or perhaps to optimise the manufacturing process. So, the component has a new shape, dimensions or contours. This means any tools built to hold the component during assembly will also need revising or at the very least analysing. So, a small change can have a big impact ‘downstream’. When the engineers make a change part of their check list is to take into consideration what steps will be required further along in the production/assembly process. 

Looking at the tools which you design and construct, what materials are you mostly using? We use a mixture of metals and plastics. The brass blocks which are the basis of bridge plates are also an excellent material for many assembly tools, we also use stainless steel. For certain applications plastic is a better material.

And how are the tools made? This depends on the material used and the required characteristics. For many tools which are used to hold parts during assembly we can use 3D printed plastics. The resulting tools are not super robust and are quite soft – but for holding delicate watch straps this can be a big advantage. Where we need much higher precision a metal tool is required which we would either turn on the lathe or mill using a CNC machine. We try to make as many tools as possible in-house but building a one-off tool can be quite a disruptive process in the factory (set up time relative to quantity produced) so this needs to be taken into consideration.

Sounds like you need to keep Jürg and his team well supplied with cake!

We saw you working at a pretty cool looking machine in the atelier – can you tell us about that? Yes, this is my ‘baby’ the Axnum computer controlled pressing machine! It has 9 different pressing tools mounted onto one rotating head. We use it to press the jewels into movement bridges and parts. To improve efficiency, we only have seven different jewel types across all calibres. But the machine needs to be programmed for every different jewel and calibre. This is also part of my role. And of course, we need a precision tool to hold each bridge and movement part where the rubies are pressed into.

Do the watchmakers also come to you with suggestions for improving their workflow?

Of course! It’s super important that they are also involved in the process – my workplace is in the middle of the atelier so there are no glass doors…..and we have a very open culture at HORAGE.

Very true, and this is something we all love and appreciate about this company!

Huge thanks to Laura for giving us a little insight into her world – it certainly allows us to appreciate how much effort goes into turning a product from drawings and ideas into reality.