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35 years HRS

After almost 35 years in leading positions in the family business, Hans-Rudolf Schurter –

known internally only as HRS – is retiring. An era comes to an end. Time to look back.

The reason for Hans-Rudolf Schurter's retirement as Chairman of the Board of Directors is not due to office fatigue, but to the company's Articles of Association. According to these, the term of office of a family member on the Board of Directors of SCHURTER Holding AG ends at the Annual General Meeting following the completion of his 70th year of age.

How it all began

But lets take a look back. Even as a young boy of 10, Hans-Rudolf Schurter was often to be found in the company. There he could raise his pocket money a little. A simple office work on an hourly wage was his first job. The holiday job as a boy and as a teenager was followed by internships in Switzerland, Germany and later also in the USA during his studies.

After successfully completing his law studies at the University of Berne and being admitted to the bar, the first thing he had to do was earn his spurs which started externally.

First management position

Some years passed until the first permanent position at SCHURTER AG in Lucerne was obtained. At the beginning of 1986 Hans-Rudolf Schurter was appointed Commercial Director. This first position, as unusual as it may sound today, already involved a great degree of responsibility. For example, the Commercial Director was responsible for finance and human resources, all purchasing and sales activities as well as marketing. In addition to him, there was also a Technical Manager and above him the Managing

Director, his father Rolf Schurter. At that time SCHURTER AG was already a very reputable medium-sized company with a turnover of CHF 25.2 million.

Expansion

In the years to come, things went one after the other. SCHURTER grew strongly, further companies were acquired and integrated. These included the Ticino companies Timonta and Ticomel, the British company Rendar Ltd. and Weber Protection AG. With the already existing subsidiaries in Germany, the USA, Sweden and France, the time had come to implement a holding company structure to better organize international expansion. This took place in 1991, with fully consolidated sales of CHF 80.5 million generated for the first time.

Hans-Rudolf Schurter in his element: He has always felt particularly comfortable on the water.

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"Now he's completely nuts"

One year earlier, Hans-Rudolf Schurter, who was at that time CEO of SCHURTER AG, had a plan to develop Eastern Europe. This decision caused head shaking in many places. "Now he's completely nuts", he was told. Fears grew that many Swiss jobs would be lost. The decision was indeed an unusual one at the time. The plan was actually to set up a company in Portugal, but then came the collapse of the Eastern Bloc. Moreover, everyone was drawn to the East. Asia wanted to be "conquered". A gigantic market in which one wanted to participate. But Hans-Rudolf Schurter preferred Eastern Europe. The Czech Republic, to be precise. The reason for this was the very attractive wage structure at that time and the proximity to glass processing, where the employees in the production departments were used to working very precisely. From scratch, a company was then set up that met Schurter's high quality standards. As we know today, this decision was absolutely right. The Czech Republic has been one of the group's key locations for years.

Chairman of the Board

In 1992 Rolf Schurter - who had also reached the age of 70 at the time - resigned as Chairman of the Board of Directors. His son, Hans-Rudolf, followed in his footsteps. So the rules of the game today applied from day one. This was again the case in May of this year, when Thomas Schurter took over the position of Chairman of the Board from his brother Hans-Rudolf.

India before China

But Asia was added then after all. The choice between the giants China and India was decided by the latter. However, Hans-Rudolf Schurter considers this decision to be rather "clueless" today. He assumed

that the Indian mentality would be easier to integrate because of the English legal system and language. Religiously caused imponderability were not yet an issue in the decision. That should change. Gujarat, the state in which the factory was located, was strongly Hindu influenced. The local management, however, was in the hands of Muslims. After a good two years, religiously motivated riots then led to a devastating incendiary attack on the company building with total loss. Fortunately, no persons were injured. A bitter lesson! But giving up was not an option. Back to step 1.After India, however, came China – or more precisely: first Hong Kong with a production facility in Dongguan. It started with a minority shareholding in Chi Lick, a producer of 5x20 fuses which could no longer be produced at cost in Switzerland. In the meantime, however, the SCHURTER Group holds a majority stake in this company, which was able to fit in very well. Hong Kong was followed by a 100% subsidiary - a production facility for plastic parts such as appliance connectors and fuse holders in Shenzhen on the Chinese mainland. For some years now, the hub in Singapore has held the lead in Asia.

Europe grew strongly

In Europe, too, there was naturally no idleness. Many new companies joined the group: in Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Hungary, Poland and Romania. Under the leadership of Hans-Rudolf Schurter, the group grew to its present 22 subsidiaries worldwide.

Hans-Rudolf Schurter was honored as "Entrepreneur Of The Year" in 2016 by the international auditing firm Ernest & Young.

Record year in 2018

The SCHURTER Group, under the leadership of Hans-Rudolf Schurter and Ralph Müller, who has since been promoted to CEO of SCHURTER Holding, reached its peak so far in 2018: Consolidated sales reached CHF 289 million.

And now?

For almost exactly 60 years, Hans-Rudolf Schurter was always connected with the company in one way or another. The family business was omnipresent. What now? From one day to the next nothing but time for leisure? Far from it! Hans-Rudolf Schurter is a well-known personality in Lucerne. A personality with obligations. Among other things he is president of the Lake Lucerne Navigation Company. He still regularly attends his Italian course, and sport is part of it anyway. Besides skiing, rowing has been one of his great passions for decades. He will certainly be seen often on the water. He likes the fours best. Keep an eye out. We wish him lots of fun!

About SCHURTER

The SCHURTER Group is a globally successful Swiss family business. With our components ensuring the clean and safe supply of power, input systems for ease of use and sophisticated overall solutions, we impress our customers with agility and excellent product and service quality.

SCHURTER AGWerkhofstrasse 8-126002 LucerneCH-Switzerland+41 41 369 31 11contact.ch@schurter.comschurter.com 3-

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"Those who make 70 % correct decisions manage their com-pany well", Rolf Schurter already said. This credo was also follo-wed by his son, who knew how to deal with ups and downs.

The incendiary attack in Gujarat was a bitter lesson! But giving up was not an option. Back to step 1.