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Robots Rule at Swiss Factories as Strong Franc and Wages Bite

  • Companies either automate or close shop in Switzerland
  • Perfume maker Firmenich invests in Swiss plant, Sulzer leaves
A robotic arm, manufactured by Robotec Solutions AG, lifts chocolate pralines into packaging on the production line inside the Lindt & Spruengli AG factory in Kilchberg, Switzerland, on Tuesday, July 29, 2014. Lindt, the world's largest producer of premium chocolate, agreed to acquire Russell Stover Candies Inc. to become the third-biggest chocolate producer in North America.
Photographer: Philipp Schmidli/Bloomberg

In the shadows of the Alps, Swiss companies are confronting a new reality: They won’t be adding manufacturing jobs in the country anytime soon -- not for humans, anyway.

Faced with an unsinkable franc and among the highest average annual wages in the world, Swiss companies looking to expand face a simple choice: add robots or leave. Fragrance-maker Firmenich International SA chose robots, spending $60 million in the last three years automating a factory outside Geneva to increase capacity by a third with no added staff. In contrast, pump maker Sulzer AG, is closing a facility outside Winterthur, in the canton of Zurich, to move production elsewhere in Europe, which will cost Switzerland 90 jobs.