Schulthess Maschinen SA is a long-established Swiss company headquartered in Wolfhausen in the Zurich Oberland. For years, it has been producing washing machines (and not only), the crown jewels of top quality mechanics and electronics. This historical brand has turned innovation and reliability into their company mission.
MS Group Srl is an Italian company that has been producing industrial washing machines, dryers and linen treatment machines for more than thirty years with passion and expertise
The most beautiful and engaging stories are born when passion and the need to create an alliance become necessary to capitalize the resources and best energy. But not only.
In order to build a winning team, it is necessary to collaborate with another successful business that could guarantee a valid technical and logistics support over the Italian territory and an efficient distribution of Schulthess products. And here comes the winning match: Schulthess and MS Group. Schulthess commercial collaboration with one of the best Italian businesses in laundry and textile finishing sector starts in 2020. MS Group is a successful, historical and still a family-run business in spite of strong centrifugal forces of market globalization. Such a combination assures multiple advantages for distributors: an efficient warehouse with “ready to sell” products, special show room offers with extended
payment terms and ready technical/commercial support on site.
“Year 2020, a commercial
collaboration between
Schulthess and MS Group begins”
Since February 2020, MS Group commercial team has fully activated its perfectly working network in order to visit the distributors in Italy and illustrate the numerous technical and commercial new of Schulthess products, “we are highlighting the benefits of the Cash Card system, a particularly useful system for all the seasonal activities linked to tourism such as campsites and small hotels that aim at offering a different service to their clients, an
efficient and punctual one”, explains Enrico Milesi, the Sales Manager
at MS Group. A recently signed, three-year agreement with the Soligena Group is also worth mentioning, especially in reference to the Cleaning sector, where an exclusive, new product, 7720 Lavamop Schulthess, was chosen by a group of 13 distributors who had tested the top quality of the Swiss product. The Schulthess/MS Group collaboration has also resulted in the creation of a last generation, brad new self-service format called Swiss 
Fresh that translates to well-designed shops where highly professional, efficient and reliable staff meet any request by investors.
Massimo Poli, the Export Manager at Schulthess talks about the added value of the Helvetian company, “innovative capacity, quality and the sense of responsibility for the environment: these are our main points of strength that we have focused on. Motivated and inspired by many years of professional experience, including intense research activities carried out in Switzerland, we continue doing our pioneering work while presenting revolutionary products and continuous innovations. Less than sixty years ago, as the first ones, we launched a washing machine in Europe. We have kept, preserved and constantly reinforced our role of a forerunner”.
“The Schulthess/MS Group collaboration
resulted in the design of a new
self-service format”
Perfectly coherent with more specific values of “Made in Switzerland”, Schulthess machine lines within “7 – 30 kg” range offer incomparable performance standards to small and medium laundries: low consumption of water and energy, distinctly eco-friendly products, integral steel to guarantee machines durability, thoroughly studied ergonomics – starting from portholes positioned at a specific height for the comfort of operators – and the total reliability of pressure fasteners applied to all the parts in direct contact with water combined with the absence of uncovered wires inside the functional and well-designed engines. All the above components and their quality prove the production cycle expertise that have constituted the solid base for the world leadership of Schulthess.
“As linen treatment experts, our know-how and long experience are constantly fueling the development and manufacturing of innovative products”, explains Massimo Poli. “The ultra-modern technology in use and the R&D department in Wolfhausen both guarantee the quality of production and assembly processes. What is more, the fact that our production is placed in Switzerland allows us to ensure high productive flexibility and qualified, specialized staff, which contributes to preserving our autonomy and the freedom of action. Swiss quality is a vocation for us, while precision and reliability are the inspirational principles for our production and development. It gives us the certainty that we are always able to offer innovative solutions and quality at the highest levels”.
This is how the innovation and product quality by this Swiss business got rooted in the history. Many years have passed since Schulthess supplied Vatican City exclusively. It was back in the 1970s when Wolfhausen (the production headquarters) would ship washing machines destined to the most important offices in Vatican, in particular to the prestigious private laundry of the Swiss Guards of the Pope. “With time, the company’s structure
evolved and it now exports their “made in Switzerland” products all over the world”, underlines Massimo Poli, “our small but extraordinary 7/8 kg washing machines have been particularly successful. They have been equipped with a new 3D drum system
that offers very high washing performance, also designed for the delicate mop cleaning”.
How is it possible to “crank out” high quality products at all times to keep the clients satisfied? In order to reach such a result, the company continues its production in Switzerland because producing here, in the Helvetian territory, stands for quality and innovation. Actually, what does made in Switzerland mean? How much «Switzerland» should there be in a product in order for it to be called «Made in Switzerland» or to be embellished with a Swiss cross? The question looks simple but it is not that clear as it had taken almost four years of debates, in and out of the Parliament, before the new law on brand protection was finally approved in June 2013. Why is it so important? The reason is simple, Poli adds: the «Swissness» is identified with high quality, precision, luxury and exclusivity, and therefore it needs to be protected. Who puts a «made in Switzerland » on their product, will obtain a profit. Recent studies have actually quantified it very precisely”.For instance, 60 % of the Swiss population are willing to pay up to a double price for meat, milk or fruit produced in Switzerland. Abroad, consumers are also willing to pay 
from 20% to 50% more for a Swiss made product, from food to luxury goods. The strictest laws concern animal origin products that need to come from Switzerland in order to carry the «Swiss made» brand. In case of dairy products, milk needs to be 100%, Swiss while for
the majority of other food products, it is enough if 80% of the raw materials are Swiss with the exception of rare materials. As far as industrial products are concerned, the regulations turn out to be less strict. The brand «Swiss product» can be applied if at least 60% of the production cost was sustained in Switzerland.
Yet, Schulthess Maschinen offer much more. The products by Schulthess are renowned for their extraordinary quality and durability, and they are 100% «Swiss made» as they are all produced in Switzerland, in Wolfhausen (Zurich). The philosophy is reflected by the entire company. The guidelines and values are immediately communicated to the “dealers”, the
successful sales people who constitute a pillar of the business thanks to their professionality. In Italy, the Helvetian company has developed, in agreement with MS Group, a business relationship based on regular visits to the headquarters, constant contacts with distributors and the search for clients’ feedback. As a matter of fact, Schulthess commercial strategy is shared with the distributors spread all over Italy so that everyone can participate in the choices made by the company. Irresistibly attracted not only by the unquestionable excellence of the products, clients choose Schulthess. The total reliability of the “team” guarantees a quick delivery time, quickly presented solutions to problems, the capacity of supplying an answer to any type of an enquiry, a wellestablished
and tested collaboration with the producers of detergents and materials.
In Bolzano, in Italy, they understood that. The special “Made in Switzerland” tunnel washers are going to wash Bolzano’s firemen uniforms. An important success story that, starting from this year, will obtain a real support also in Italy thanks to the collaboration with MS Group. And the story continues in the name of innovation and product efficiency.
edited by Marzio Nava
Detergo
February 2020
