Fischer Connectors - worldwide HQ - Switzerland

Fischer Connectors is a

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri *Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internati ...

multinational company that

design A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design'' ...

manufactures Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a ran ...

and distributes

electrical connector Components of an electrical circuit are electrically connected if an electric current can run between them through an electrical conductor. An electrical connector is an electromechanical device used to create an electrical connection betwee ...

s and

optical fiber connector An optical fiber connector joins optical fibers, and enables quicker connection and disconnection than splicing. The connectors mechanically couple and align the cores of fibers so light can pass. Better connectors lose very little light due ...

s, cable assemblies and electronic and connectivity systems. Founded in 1954, the company has its main manufacturing facility and R&D Center in

Saint-Prex Saint-Prex () is a municipality in the Swiss canton of Vaud, located in the district of Morges. In 1973, St-Prex was awarded the Wakker Prize for the development and preservation of its architectural heritage. History Saint-Prex is first mentio ...

, Switzerland, and eight subsidiaries employing 550 people worldwide (including 300 at the group headquarters in Saint-Prex), with cable assembly facilities in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

, North America and

Asia Pacific Asia-Pacific (APAC) is the part of the world near the western Pacific Ocean. The Asia-Pacific region varies in area depending on context, but it generally includes East Asia, Russian Far East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia and Pacific Isl ...

. Fischer Connectors is part of Conextivity Group.

History

Walter Werner Fischer, a Swiss engineer, founded the company in 1954 in

Morges Morges (; la, Morgiis, plural, probably ablative, else dative; frp, Môrges) is a municipality in the Swiss canton of Vaud and the seat of the district of Morges. It is located on Lake Geneva. History Morges is first mentioned in 1288 as ''M ...

, Switzerland. The company developed the first sealed connector and, in 1962, took out an international patent on its proprietary push-pull locking system. In 1964 it developed a

hermetic Hermetic or related forms may refer to: * of or related to the ancient Greek Olympian god Hermes * of or related to Hermes Trismegistus, a legendary Hellenistic figure based on the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth ** , the ancient and m ...

connector. Overseas expansion started with the first subsidiary being established in the UK in 1988, followed by other European countries, North America in 1991 and the first Asian subsidiary in Hong Kong in 2000. In 2017, the company opened a subsidiary in Tokyo, Japan. In 1996, Walter Werner Fischer's son, Peter Fischer, was named CEO. In 2016, Jonathan Brossard, a 3rd-generation member of the Fischer family, was appointed CEO. At the 2013 International Broadcasting Convention (IBC), the Fischer FiberOptic Series won a 'Best of IBC' Award in the category production and infrastructure. In 2017, Fischer Connectors became partner to SolarStratos, an aeronautical project that aims to fly the first

solar-powered Solar power is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Photovoltaic cells convert light into an electric current using the photovoltaic ef ...

airplane to the

stratosphere The stratosphere () is the second layer of the atmosphere of the Earth, located above the troposphere and below the mesosphere. The stratosphere is an atmospheric layer composed of stratified temperature layers, with the warm layers of air ...

. In the PriceWaterHouseCoopers Study presented at the 18th Swiss Economic Forum in Interlaken on June 1, 2017, Fischer Connectors was designated Swiss Champion 2017 for its

Industry 4.0 The Fourth Industrial Revolution, 4IR, or Industry 4.0, conceptualizes rapid change to technology, industries, and societal patterns and processes in the 21st century due to increasing interconnectivity and smart automation. The term has bee ...

approach. In 2018, CEO Jonathan Brossard was named by Ernst & Young as a finalist of the EY Entrepreneur of the Year competition for Switzerland in the Family Business category. The Fischer LP360 connector, the first product of the Fischer Freedom Series launched in 2018, won four awards in one year for its technological innovation: the Innovators Award (Platinum) from Military &

Aerospace Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astrona ...

Electronics in the interconnect technology category, and the Leadership in Engineering Achievement Program (LEAP) Award from Design World in the connectivity category, the Electrons d'Or, and the Electronics Industry Award and the Red Dot Award for Product Design in two categories: the “Mobile Phones, Tablets and Wearables” category, and the “Smart Products” meta-category. In 2019, the Fischer Connectors Group created the spin-off Wearin'. Wearin' creates

Internet of Things (IoT) The Internet of things (IoT) describes physical objects (or groups of such objects) with sensors, processing ability, software and other technologies that connect and exchange data with other devices and systems over the Internet or other com ...

wearable solutions that enhance safety and efficiency by improving situational awareness and by enabling a better coordination of connected humans such as lone workers, firefighters and first responders. It makes high-risk work environments safer and smarter with real-time insights from user-generated field data. New products were also launched in 2020 to integrate connectors and cable assemblies into portable and wearable flexible structures. Since February 2022, Fischer Connectors has been partnering with SP80 to provide connectivity solutions supporting the transmission of sensor data for the wind-powered boat setting out to reach the sailing speed of 80 knots. In 2022, the founding family Fischer created the technology group Conextivity to meet the connectivity challenge posed by the emergence of new cross-functional and scalable ecosystems, from locally interconnected devices and sensors to cloud-managed IoT platforms. Conextivity Group comprises two business activities: Fischer Connectors and Wearin’.

Operations

Fischer Connectors’ products are used in aerospace, broadcast, defense, energy, food, industrial, instrumentation, marine, medical, nuclear, oil and gas, pharmaceutical, robotics, security, sensors,

unmanned aerial vehicle An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controlle ...

s (UAVs), underwater, transportation and vacuum applications. Fischer Connectors’ range of products includes over 30,000 standard electrical, optical and hybrid connectors – low/high voltage, coax/triax, push-pull, circular, fluid/gas – and electrical, Single Pair

Ethernet Ethernet () is a family of wired computer networking technologies commonly used in local area networks (LAN), metropolitan area networks (MAN) and wide area networks (WAN). It was commercially introduced in 1980 and first standardized in ...

and optical cable assemblies organized across five product lines engineered to fulfill needs in terms of high-reliability connectivity, miniaturization, high-speed data transmissiom, IP68 and IP69 sealing and wearability. Fischer Connectors’ electronic products include flex circuits for military radio units, nuclear control instruments and racing car dashboards; adapter modules for USB-Ethernet radios, computer peripherals and medical scanners; unmanaged PoE+ switches and managed switches with Time Sensitive Networking (TSN) technology for military, industrial and maritime applications; rugged flash drives for ruggedized computers, motorsports, UAVs and dismounted soldier systems; visible low-light cameras for security, vehicle identification and emergency services equipment; tactical power and data hubs for sights, radios, displays and batteries body-worn by dismounted soldiers and security officers. Connectors are produced in different materials such as

Brass Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other wit ...

, stainless steel,

Aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It h ...

and

plastic Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient. Their plasticity makes it possible for plastics to be moulded, extruded or pressed into solid objects of various shapes. This adaptab ...

. Their design and configurations vary from miniature and high-density signal and power connectors to compact, rugged, sealed and

hermetic seal A hermetic seal is any type of sealing that makes a given object airtight (preventing the passage of air, oxygen, or other gases). The term originally applied to airtight glass containers, but as technology advanced it applied to a larger categor ...

connectors made to withstand extreme conditions, such as low and high temperatures, vibration, shock, corrosion, chemicals and radiation. In 2018, Fischer Connectors launched the Fischer Freedom Series, a new product line featuring a plug and use connector with 360° mating and a low profile for integration into wearable devices and various applications in the Internet of Things. The new connector won five innovation awards including the Red Dot Award for

Product Design Product design as a verb is to create a new Product (business), product to be sold by a business to its customers. A very broad coefficient and effective generation and development of ideas through a process that leads to new products. Thus, it is ...

, and the first patent protecting its innovative design was granted in the United States in February 2020. Fischer Connectors’ finished products include ruggedized flash drives for data transfer and storage. The company also provides customized products for design engineers’ projects requiring non-standard specifications. Fischer Connectors’ products comply with international quality standards, including

ISO 9001 The ISO 9000 family is a set of five quality management systems (QMS) standards that help organizations ensure they meet customer and other stakeholder needs within statutory and regulatory requirements related to a product or service. ISO ...

ISO 13485 ISO 13485 ''Medical devices -- Quality management systems -- Requirements for regulatory purposes'' is a voluntary standard, published by International Organization for Standardization (ISO) for the first time in 1996, and contains a comprehensiv ...

ISO 14001 ISO 14000 is a family of standards related to environmental management that exists to help organizations (a) minimize how their operations (processes, etc.) negatively affect the environment (i.e. cause adverse changes to air, water, or land); (b) ...

OHSAS 18001 OHSAS 18001, Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series, was an international standard for occupational health and safety management systems that was subsequently adopted as a British Standard. Compliance with it enabled organizations to dem ...

,
REACH
�and

RoHS The Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive 2002/95/EC (RoHS 1), short for Directive on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment, was adopted in February 2003 by the European Unio ...

. With its manufacturing facility in Saint-Prex, Fischer Connectors has become over the years a model for the

References

{{RF connectors RF connectors Electrical connectors Electronic component distributors