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Training is an integral part of BNB Concept’s approach
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Training is an integral part of BNB Concept’s approach

Wednesday, 20 February 2008
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Christophe Roulet
Editor-in-chief, HH Journal

“The desire to learn is the key to understanding.”

“Thirty years in journalism are a powerful stimulant for curiosity”.

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5 min read

Having spent 20 years as a Technical Director with some of the leading names in watchmaking, Mathias Buttet sought to implement an original form of business organization at BNB Concept, the complicated movements company in which he holds a majority stake. Result: respect, training, and accountability at every step.

A quick tour of the new BNB Concept workshop at Duillier (read our Expert point of view column) leaves the visitor in no doubt that this factory goes about its business differently, working against the grain of certain principles laid down by the industrial watchmaking environment, and adapting them to an approach where productivity is more an overall result than a goal in itself. “After spending some twenty years as a technical director in prestige watchmaking – basically twenty years of voluntary confinement in la Vallée de Joux – I knew more than anything what it was I didn’t want to do when I founded BNB Concept”, explains Mathias Buttet, co-founder of the company. “No doubt this basic premise is the key to understanding why we adopted a form of organization that is different from the others” he concludes.

A learning enterprise

And different it is. Mathias Buttet goes on: “We tend to hear about how watchmaking is a passionate vocation, but the reality is that those who work in it are left to do the same mechanical tasks day in, day out. In the interests of profitability, activities are broken down into routine tasks that leave employees with little to get excited about. I don’t function like that because what drives me is enthusiasm. What I wanted at BNB was for each watchmaker to assemble his or her watch from A to Z. In the early days, this was far from plain sailing, but things gradually fell into place.” At the core of the system lies a training center where each employee spends three to six months learning everything there is to know about the watch. Students fresh out of watchmaking schools and taken on by BNB can thus put their knowledge into practice, acquiring the experience needed in every aspect of the job. Only they are they incorporated in the various work units BNB assigns each client. Last year, BNB was the company that hired the most graduates from Geneva’s school of watchmaking.

For all that, resting on one’s laurels is out of the question. Once an order has been completed (typically a series of 20 – 25 timepieces), the corresponding unit is effectively dissolved and the watchmakers assigned to new workgroups dedicated to other types of watches, i.e., other calibers. So far so good, but what if a watchmaker does not have the necessary knowledge on a new complication? This is where the training center steps in, delivering a one or two-week knowledge acquisition course, synonymous with the person’s integration in the corresponding unit. The same goes for engineers in charge of the entire process, from the programming of machines, the adjustment and machining of parts to quality control. Mathias Buttet: “That way, we build up our employees’ professional capacities because they are receiving constant training, to say nothing of their motivation. Each change of unit is a bit like a change of employer. In fact, this organization has proved to be excellent in terms of quality, with a return rate of only 2.7% since BNB was founded in 2004. We thus provide the complete after-sales service for our timepieces, which is also a formative aspect. Given that each watchmaker is responsible for the entire product, identifying those responsible for any mistakes is easy. And anyone who does make mistakes will be all the more encouraged to learn from them.”

BNB has set up a two-person team system that brings together prototypers and engineers.
A factory where the lights stay on

In keeping with this philosophy, nothing has been left to chance in the technical department. Instead of the traditional hierarchical splitting of tasks whereby the manufacturer’s projects are passed down to the workshop via the prototyper, BNB has set up a two-person team system that brings together prototypers and engineers, whereby the latter are not from the watchmaking world. Indeed, BNB does not make watches, it makes micromachines that tell the time. The system’s distinctive feature is that instead of opposing the prototyper and the engineer, as is usually the case in this environment, both participants have to successfully understand one another in order to jointly uphold their project in front of management, whose executives assess work progress on a weekly basis.

This distinctive approach doesn’t stop there. At BNB, working hours are completely free, with no constraints. Employees can work the hours they want – day, night, weekends… This allows divorced mothers, sports enthusiasts or parent coaches to consolidate their private and working lives. “People at ease in their lives are at ease in their jobs”, explains Mathias Buttet. “With this system, everyone’s a winner even if, inevitably, a few will try to take advantage of it. However, I’m not about to change my mind because of a select few.” The same goes for wages, comprehensively adapted to the level of proficiency within the units, and for which there are no unjustified differences. Mathias Buttet has decided to take this philosophy one step further, opening BNB’s doors to handicapped people. After two successful hires, this approach will now be oriented toward apprentices. “After all, our new workshop was designed to accommodate and train anyone with the right skills”, concludes Mathias Buttet. Respect is due at every level.

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