Jauch Quartz GmbH celebrates its 65th anniversary. Having started as a regional commercial agency, the company has developed into an internationally sought-after specialist for frequency components and battery technology. Jauch’s development is a lesson of a successful change process.
On July 1st,1954, Herbert Christian Jauch had his company entered on the commercial register of the city of Schwenningen. Soon, the new entrepreneur moved together with handful of colleagues into his first business premises in “Haus Merkur”, located in the city center of Schwenningen. Like so many Black Forest companies at that time, Jauch also sought his fortune in the watch industry. With his young company, he supplied the watch manufacturers of the region with precision components from Switzerland. Axles, shafts, gears - Jauch had everything a watchmaker's heart desires.
With the development of quartz watches in the 1970s, the market changed radically. Thanks to their built-in quartz, the new electrically operated clockworks were far more accurate than the mechanical watches previously used. While many manufacturers reacted too late to this pioneering technology, Jauch recognized its potential. Through a cooperation with the American electronics giant Motorola, Jauch secured access to the much sought-after quartz crystals.
But it was not only in the watch industry that the crystals were in demand. "Gradually more and more fields of application were added. Telecommunications, consumer electronics, white goods - our crystals were used everywhere. For example, in the first Siemens mobile phone or in the Commodore 64", recalls the son of the company founder, Thomas Jauch, who today heads the company. And that's not all: "In the meantime, we've even sold monitors here," recalls Thomas Jauch with a laugh.
However, the focus always remained clearly on the quartz crystals. In the 1980s, the medium-sized company made its way to Asia. Through cooperation with the Japanese manufacturer JVC, new knowledge was rapidly gained. In 1988, Jauch began series production in China. "At that time, many people called us crazy. Not many people at the time dared to invest in the Far East on the scale we did," recalls Thomas Jauch.
But the courage has paid off: Because Jauch also invested in its own production and in particular in research and development at the main site in Villingen-Schwenningen, the company is now an important player in its industry.
Recognizing opportunities offered by a new technology and taking advantage of them – what has been achieved with quartz crystals Jauch now wants to repeat in its second division: battery technology. "Our battery division has been existing since 1976 and has grown historically. A quartz requires an external power source, otherwise it won’t vibrate and thus is useless. So it was obvious for us to offer watch manufacturers the right button cell in addition to the quartz," explains Thomas Jauch.
Although the button cells are still part of the Jauch portfolio today, the focus has long since shifted to lithium technology. Accordingly, the medium-sized company has invested in the development of corresponding production and development capacities in recent years and, in addition to numerous standard designs, also offers customer-specific designs.
"As a consumer, I get the right batteries for my needs at every supermarket checkout. But when I design a new product as a company, the question of the right power supply is much more complex. For example, I must consider what voltage I need, what temperatures the battery will be exposed to and how much space I can and want to leave for the battery in my housing. We can answer all these questions in cooperation with our customers and design individual solutions," says Thomas Jauch.
From a regional commercial agency to an internationally reknown specialist for quartz crystals and battery technology – over the past 65 years, the medium-sized company has repeatedly shown that it knows how to exploit the potential of new technologies. Thomas Jauch sums it up, "We always had a good instinct here; that and the energy of our employees have brought us to where we are today."