Corporate history

HUBER+SUHNER acquired Phoenix Dynamics Ltd, a provider of customised, assembled cable solutions, electro-mechanical assemblies, concept design and consulting for the industrial markets in Europe and North America.

HUBER+SUHNER acquired ROADMap Systems Ltd., a technology start-up located in Cambridge, UK, through an asset deal. The company is developing the next generation of highly integrated wavelength-selective switch technology and will be integrated into the Communication segment.

2019 HUBER+SUHNER acquired the antenna business (rail, bus, special communications) from Kathrein SE in Germany. With this acquisition, HUBER+SUHNER expands its own range of antennas and thus strengthens its leading market position in connection with the growing need for mobile com-munication in public transport.

Also in 2019 HUBER+SUHNER acquired the BKtel Group. BKtel develops, manufactures and implements active and passive components for broadband networks and has extensive expertise in fiber-to-the-home (FTTH), hybrid fiber coax (HFC) and distributed access architecture (DAA) as well as optical signal processing.

In 2019 HUBER+SUHNER AG celebrated its 50th anniversary.

In 2017 HUBER+SUHNER acquired 100 per cent of Inwave Elektronik AG in Reute, Switzerland. The company specialises in microwave and RF-over-fiber solutions. This acquisition sees HUBER+SUHNER strengthen its technological competence in the radio frequency systems business.

The takeover of Polatis in May 2016 saw HUBER+SUHNER strengthen its position as an innovation leader in Fiber Optics. Since 2000, Polatis has been developing, manufacturing and selling optical network distributors, known as optical switches. These products faciliatate the efficient management of steadily rising data volumes and perfectly support the trend towards software-based networks. The company is situated in Bedford, USA, and Cambridge, UK.

In October 2014, HUBER+SUHNER acquired the German company Cube Optics based in Mainz. Cube Optics develops, manufactures and sells multiplexer products and systems based on high-precision injection moulding technology and the very latest fiber optic technology. The company, which was founded in 2000, is an ideal fit with HUBER+SUHNER, particularly in its strategic market segments of data centres and Fiber to the Home.

In 2013, HUBER+SUHNER invested in China and opened a new production facility in Changzhou. This enabled HUBER+SUHNER to manufacture products from all three core technologies of Radio Frequency, Fiber Optics and Low Frequency in China. This, in turn, meant that customers in Asia could be supplied with a wider range of locally manufactured, high-quality HUBER+SUHNER products. Shorter transport routes and improved logistics also ensure better and faster service.

The American company Astrolab, Inc. ,based in Warren, USA, has been part of the HUBER+SUHNER Group since December 2012. With its patented minibend® and microbend® cable assemblies, Astrolab is particularly successful in high-tech niches such as aerospace and defense and supplies high-quality solutions for industrial radio frequency applications. The products are therefore an ideal supplement to the portfolio of the Radio Frequency division.

The production facility in Empalme, Mexico opened for business in 2012.

The opening of the Witzberg compounding facility in Pfäffikon, Switzerland in 2011 was one of the largest single projects in the company history of HUBER+SUHNER.

HUBER+SUHNER began to manufacture special compounds for cable insulation using its own recipe. These compounds give RADOX® cables the high quality and sturdiness which are appreciated around the world. The compounding facility in Pfäffikon means that the core skills in plastics will be retained in the future, which will once again strengthen the company's innovative strength and benefit Switzerland as a location.

HUBER+SUHNER opened an assembly plant in Sousse, Tunisia in 2010.

In 2006, production for the Redio Frequency and Fiber Optics divisions started in Gurgaon, India.

HUBER+SUHNER managed to reverse the trend in 2003. After two extremely difficult financial years, the Group once again returned to profit. Dividend payments were issued again after a break of just one year.

The management trio put in place in 2000 was replaced by a Chief Executive Officer (CEO). The company's internal structure was also simplified, splitting into the two divisions of Mobile Communications + Electronics and Wired Solutions + Networks.

The company focused on components and systems relating to electrical and optical connectivity. As part of an extensive restructuring process, the new strategic alignment focused on a 3x3 strategy with three core components, Radio Frequency, Fiber Optics and Cable and Polymer Technology (now known as Low Frequency) in the three main markets of Communication, Transportation and Industry.

With its slogan "Excellence in Connectivity Solutions", the HUBER+SUHNER Group is perfectly prepared for the future.

Also in 2002, HUBER+SUHNER opened its first production facility in Poland, primarily to support the manufacture of Radio Frequency and Fiber Optics products.

The production facility in Shanghai, China was opened in the same year.

The global economic downturn, particularly in the communications technology sector, hit HUBER+SUHNER hard. For the first time in the history of the company, jobs were lost in Switzerland and other countries. During the portfolio adjustment process, the company decided to exit the production of rubber goods and rubber format products, as well as environmental technology and filter production for the communication technology market.

The production facility in Shah Alam, Malaysia, was also opened in 2001.

In 2000, a production company for fiber optics was created in a former plant in Kollbrunn, Switzerland. HUBER+ SUHNER AG built a new assembly plant for railway cables and cable systems in Daventry, Great Britain.

Production for the Latin America region started in Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil in 1999. In 2012, the production facility was relocated to nearby Caçapava.

HUBER+SUHNER is represented in 28 countries around the world. Its research and development activities are bundled together.

To provide improved financing for its ongoing growth, HUBER+SUHNER AG floated on the Swiss stock market SWX in 1998.

The foundation of HUBER+SUHNER GmbH in Bad Salzdetfurth, Germany, provided the Group with better global access to the field of mobile communication. At the end of the year, products for the globally expanding telecommunications sector made up more than half of total sales.

The development of heat-shrinking chemically or electronically crosslinked plastic parts and hoses for power distribution and the electronics industry sets a new focus in the material sector of the plant at Herisau, Switzerland.

A subsidiary was opened in Sydney, Australia – the start of the globalisation of HUBER+SUHNER.

Two family companies with a strong tradition, Aktiengesellschaft R+E Huber, and Suhner & Co. AG merged in 1969. The resultant HUBER+SUHNER AG focused on the product sectors of cables and cable systems and communication transmission technology.

In the years after 1948, the company opened new branches in Tiefe near Herisau, in Schwellbrunn, and later on in Winkeln.

After World War I, Suhner gradually extended his line of products to hard and soft rubber mouldings for engineering applications, overhead conductor materials, container and pipe linings, and roller coatings. The company expanded continuously: it started the injection moulding shop (brand name “Suconit”) and began producing “Sucoflor” flooring.

Dissatisfied with the quality of the imported rubber which was being used for insulating cables, Gottlieb Suhner set up his own rubber factory to produce rubber compounds.

Gottlieb Suhner purchased a wire factory in Basel and relocated it, along with its employees, to Herisau. But business did not really start booming before machinist Suhner constructed his own high precision braiding machine. He soon set up a branch of his factory in Brugg in order to improve the service for his best customer, the Brown Boveri Corporation.

Gottlieb Suhner, a machinist, opened a workshop on the ground floor of a rented dwelling house in Herisau, Switzerland. There he produced metal components for hand looms, starting what would later become Suhner & Co. AG. He soon shifted his activities to the construction of auxiliary equipment for the embroidery industry.

Vibration absorbers for machine-building purposes were included in the range of products produced by Aktiengesellschaft R. & E. Huber.

The company continuously extended its product range to solid rubber tyres, cobber brands, hard-rubber linings for the chemical industry, telephone cable, resistor wire, and pneumatic car tyres.

The young company’s name changed to Telegraph Wire and Cable Factory. It operated its own wire drawing shop and – something of a sensation at that time – had electrical lighting.

The founder abandoned his cotton thread mill. He recognised the need of the emerging electrical engineering industry for insulated wire. He did not hesitate to seize this opportunity and began wrapping copper wires with textiles.

Hans Rudolf Huber opened his own cotton thread mill in Pfäffikon, Switzerland. He thereby laid the cornerstone for the subsequent Aktiengesellschaft R. & E. Huber. Because the textile industry was very volatile, R. Huber started winding cotton yarn around iron wire for the ladies’ hat industry.