Evénements

On November 5, during the 13th Economic Event in Geneva, the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Services (CCIG), the Department of Security and the Economy (DSE) and the Office for the Promotion of Industries and des Technologies (OPI) awarded the 2015 Innovation Prize to Qualimatest.

Major advances

It is in particular for having contributed to major advances in the field of automated quality control, its core business, that the company based in Plan-les-Ouates (Geneva) was awarded this distinction. In particular, in collaboration with the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), it has developed the QMTSubFace platform, the first system allowing human criteria to be retained in appearance control, an asset particularly appreciated in watchmaking.

Since its founding in 1989, Qualimatest has developed, installed and maintained hundreds of vision systems around the world, for renowned customers in the watchmaking, medical, automotive and rail industries.
The fact that a company such as Qualimatest receives such an award is indicative of the importance that automated quality control systems are taking on in the industrial ecosystem, at a time when there is more and more talk of factory of the future and connected industry. In addition to considerable savings in terms of time and reliability in the identification of faults, these allow production costs and laboriousness to be reduced.
Beyond these aspects, this prize rewards a company rooted in its region, which a long-term vision leads to invest in innovation, to maintain and create jobs locally but also to grow beyond its borders. , since Qualimatest bought Saphir at the end of last year, a company from Isère with complementary know-how due to its specialization in the acoustic and vibratory fields.

During his speech, Ivan Meissner, Director of Qualimatest, did not fail to discuss this acquisition and the new opportunities generated for his group. He also wanted to thank his entire team, to whom this 2015 Innovation Prize was dedicated.

A human adventure

This award was initiated in 1989 by a group of 3 engineers when Qualimatest was founded in the industrial zone of Plan-les-Ouates. At that time, in Plan-les-Ouates there were more fields than watch factories.

The first developments were made from the creation of the company, these integrating digital imagery. Today digital imagery is everywhere, but 25 years ago we were pioneers.

A first quality control machine, Le Multimicro, was born from these developments. It allowed automatic control of the hardness of very small watch parts. This innovation was awarded by Credit Suisse in 1995, the Qualimatest team then had 6 people.

To innovate, Qualimatest also collaborates with the universities of French-speaking Switzerland. For example, we have developed, in collaboration with EPFL, the QMTSubFace platform. The first system to keep human criteria in aesthetic control. This is an asset that is particularly appreciated by watchmakers. We can thus offer the rigor of the machine while maintaining the sensitivity of man.

Qualimatest has thus developed and marketed a complete range of products. These are measuring devices and machines for automatic quality control. These machines can control up to 10 parts per second. Our devices control the quality of a large number of manufactured products that each of us use on a daily basis: for example, railroad tracks, watches and even cornflakes!

Ivan Meissner, CEO
November 5, 2015