Our Story: From Local Hardware Store to Global Leader in Fastening

In 1831, Franz Caspar Bossard-Kolin founded an ironmongery on Kolinplatz in Zug, Switzerland, which marks the starting point of Bossard. In the shop, customers could find tools, fittings, and screws.

After the Second World War, the demand for fasteners for sophisticated engineering products increased. Bossard expanded its product lines and networks of subsidiaries, and soon became well-positioned to meet the demand from an increasingly industrialized customer base.

As many of its customers expanded into new markets abroad, Bossard also internationalized its business in the 1970s and 1980s. Firms from all over Switzerland chose this reliable supplier. Bossard became a national company with a global procurement network.

Bossard went public in 1987 and its shares are now traded on SIX, the Swiss Stock Exchange. From the 1980s to 2000s, Bossard founded 14 subsidiaries in Europe, the US, and Asia with more than 1,000 employees worldwide.

The main focus was on consolidating the global business units through the introduction of a uniform IT platform that allowed Bossard as a group to significantly increase efficiency. Global sales rose to 480 million CHF in 2010 with 1,500 employees globally.

Bossard pursued a global, profitable growth strategy: growth was achieved organically through the acquisition of major customers and through acquisitions of companies in Europe and the US.

The 3-stage concept was further expanded with marketable solutions (products, technical advice, and logistics) and the market promise “Proven Productivity” was launched. In this phase, Bossard grew to 660 million CHF in sales and around 2,000 employees.

Technology leadership is further expanded by developing new products and marketing technical consulting services. Bossard is making the tried-and-tested logistics system “SmartBin” suitable for Industry 4.0 and thus meeting the core of the digitization needs for C-parts management at industrial customers.

Today, Bossard is a leader in modern fastening technology in the three important industrial regions of America, Asia, and Europe. Still, Bossard remains connected to its roots: the company’s success is now being shaped by the seventh generation of the founding family.

In 2020, Daniel Bossard, the CEO of Bossard Group, announced “Strategy 200.” Bossard turns 200 years old in 2031. The goal: focus on the business model and accelerate growth in all key markets.

Bossard’s business model has proven not only its strength for growth in normal circumstances, but also its extraordinary resilience in these unprecedented times. With Bossard “Strategy 200” – Bossard turns 200 years old in 2031 – we will focus on this business model and accelerate growth in all our key markets.

In this interview, CEO Daniel Bossard describes how people at every level of the organization are included in driving strategic change processes at Bossard. He highlights the importance of collaboration to facilitate learning and create lasting, successful, and – most importantly – sustainable change.

“Together, we bring Proven Productivity and sustainability to every assembly operation in the world”

To turn this aspiration into reality, we focus on OEM customer groups with the aim of supporting them to boost their competitiveness. In doing so, we rely on high-quality products, outstanding services, assembly technology consulting, and efficient processes along the entire supply chain.

Within the context of our winning aspiration towards 2031 we are aiming to achieve sustainable, high-quality growth by focusing on our key strengths. We want to substantially increase our sales revenue to further expand our market position – organically and through acquisitions.

However, volume growth should not come at the expense of profitability, which must at least keep pace with revenue. In addition, the invested capital must yield a reasonable return for our investors.