Social contribution
Bühler’s success depends on people, collaboration, and the ecosystems we build. People are our most important resource. We value our employees and therefore provide safe and healthy work environments in which they can build their skills and knowledge. We understand how essential this is to future success and that is why we also offer services to our customers to build the skills and knowledge of their employees. As a company, we believe that the best way to meet challenges is through collaboration. We therefore build strong partnerships across our industries to create positive impact.
Social contribution
Bühler’s success depends on people, collaboration, and the ecosystems we build. People are our most important resource. We value our employees and therefore provide safe and healthy work environments in which they can build their skills and knowledge. We understand how essential this is to future success and that is why we also offer services to our customers to build the skills and knowledge of their employees. As a company, we believe that the best way to meet challenges is through collaboration. We therefore build strong partnerships across our industries to create positive impact.
In 2024 we continued to promote the health and lifelong learning of our 12,350 employees, while creating a collaborative and supportive corporate culture which enables people to thrive. By building resilience within our workforce we ensure that Bühler is well placed to grasp and shape opportunities in an increasingly uncertain world.
We continue to put health and safety at the forefront of all decision making. In addition to having the right safety rules and regulations in place, Bühler aims to develop and nurture the right mindset within every employee to ensure our health and safety culture has maximum impact throughout the workplace. In 2024, we developed and launched the Global EHS Management System. This comprehensive framework includes policies, directives, and instructions that govern, guide, and sustain Bühler’s EHS programs. It covers all operations within our value chain, aiming to foster a strong EHS culture focused on continuous improvement, risk mitigation, and regulatory compliance. In addition, we piloted an app to enhance incident reporting and create a safer and more sustainable workplace.
Enabling opportunities for lifelong learning remains central to helping colleagues adapt and develop the skills needed to keep pace with a fast-evolving work environment. As Artificial Intelligence (AI) becomes more prevalent in both our private and work life, we are educating employees how to use these powerful new tools. In 2024, we launched our own internal ChatGPT program, while also designing five learning modules explaining what AI is, the risks and benefits of the new technology, the role of data, and how to best apply AI for process solutions and to achieve business excellence.
Apprenticeships program
Bühler continued to build on its successful apprenticeship program in 2024. The apprenticeships are based on the Swiss dual-vocational model, a global benchmark that has been adapted by other countries. Students receive a mix of practical and academic training. In 2024, Bühler trained 565 apprentices globally, 305 of whom were trained in Switzerland. Apprenticeship programs are run in 26 locations across Europe, North and South America, Middle East and Africa, and South Asia.
These 3- and 4-year courses cover 10 different vocational fields and continually evolve to meet the changing skill sets required by companies. Of those completing their apprenticeships in Switzerland in August 2024, 72.9% of them chose employment with Bühler. A new cohort of 87 apprentices, of whom 18% were women, joined the new intake 2024 in Switzerland. Since the foundation of the program in 1915, 8,420 apprentices have trained at Bühler in Switzerland.
Bühler young talents at WorldSkills 2024
Three candidates represented Bühler and Switzerland in the Swiss national team at the WorldSkills 2024 competition in Lyon, France, showcasing outstanding dedication. Maurin Schickli won the silver medal in the "Industry 4.0" discipline and, along with his teammate Leon Bamert, earned the title of Vice World Champion. Florentin Kaufmann (Mechatronics) and Manuel Ulmann (Welding) also delivered exceptional performances, each receiving a "Medallion for Excellence". In total, 45 Swiss candidates participated in WorldSkills, making the achievements of the three Bühler candidates even more remarkable.
Lifelong learning for employees
Each year we launch new lifelong learning programs and initiatives to help colleagues build the skills they need. In April 2024, we ran a lifelong learning week and in September launched a lifelong learning festival, in which we laid out all the learning programs we run at our learning centers across the company. We also published a global learning newsletter with daily nudges and hints on learning strategies.
Bühler offers many different career paths for colleagues. In 2024 we focused on our manufacturing, logistics, and supply chain organization, comprised of around 3,500 employees across the world, to help them develop their skill sets and build a career development plan with their managers. We also designed and piloted a new Trainer Excellence Program (TEP) to help our trainers design and facilitate our training programs in a structured way that best meets the needs of individual employees and focus the training so that it drives the type of learning that has the greatest business impact. In addition, we launched an AI powered self-authoring training tool giving our trainers access to state-of-the-art technology to stay ahead of the curve when delivering lifelong learning.
In 2024 we worked with Gartner Inc, a world-renowned information technology research and advisory company, to create a model for how businesses can help employees develop their lifelong learning paths based on current Bühler practices. The model will be made available for other businesses globally to help develop their own employee learning strategies and acts as external recognition of the efficacy of Bühler’s current approach to lifelong learning.
Meet our Leaders: 60 second spotlight
Fernanda Berezovsky, Head of Commercial and Legal in South America
Rachael Madziwanyika, CFO and Head of HR Bühler Southern Africa
Sandra Lutz, Head of Business Unit Wafer
Training opportunities for customers
We continue to offer training opportunities to our customers through our different specialist schools around the globe, including the Milling Academy in Uzwil, Switzerland, the African Milling School in Nairobi, Kenya, the Cocoa Competence Center CFIA, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, and the International Rice Milling Academy in Bengaluru, India.
For example, at our African Milling school in Nairobi, Kenya, 18 apprentice millers graduated in 2024 and over 250 students have completed courses. Those attending courses included front-line operators as well as upstream managers (CEOs, CFOs, general managers, and managing directors). Since its opening in 2015, over 1,500 students have trained at the African Milling School. Students come from over 30 countries including Kenya, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Germany, Senegal, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Pakistan, Yemen, Cameroon, Jordan, Pakistan, India, Lebanon, Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, Ghana, Algeria, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Congo, South Africa, UAE, Oman, and Azerbaijan. Courses are offered in English and French, in person and online, and include Wheat Milling, Feed Milling, Maize Milling, Baking Technology and Flour Lab, and Electrical and Mechanical Maintenance. Over 45 Bühler employees also completed courses at the African Milling School in 2024.
Food safety training
Food safety training plays a vital role in our business, for our customers and employees. In 2024, 672 employees received food safety training, of whom 65 attended intensive workshops (more than 1 day). Since we began the food safety training in 2010, in total 7,594 colleagues have been trained, of whom 1,403 have attended intensive workshops. For our customers, we held 16 customer events in 2024 with food safety on the agenda, in North America, South America, Europe, and Asia.
Sustainability training
In 2024, we provided sustainability training for 927 people, including external training for customers, technical schools, and internal training programs. We ran 49 webinars, conferences, and workshops on the topic. 473 Bühler people were reached with training, workshops, and community updates. All Business Areas assigned a sustainability ambassador and successfully completed the sustainability training. This enabled us to bring sustainability even closer to everyday business and helps Bühler to support its customers to grow their businesses while improving the efficiency of their installed assets and reduce their footprint both in terms of operational costs and emissions. The external training, which reached approximately 454 people, included conferences, events, courses, and tailored 1:1 workshops with experts from Bühler Environmental Impact Services.
Educational Partnerships
We continue to support Partners in Food Solutions (PFS), an independent non-profit organization, to help strengthen food security, nutrition, and economic development in Africa by providing volunteer consultation to African entrepreneurs in the food sector. In 2024, 73 Bühler employees volunteered to support 70 services in 9 countries. PFS estimates that by sharing Bühler expertise it has helped a supplier base of 185,338 farmers and helped produce 5.8 billion nutritious meal servings.
We believe in educational partnerships as one of the most effective ways to help develop the next generation of business talent. We are a proud partner of One Young World, the NGO that brings young people together to create impact. We are also a co-founder of One Young World Switzerland which in 2024 ran a conference to discuss leadership with integrity attracting 150 leader delegates from different industries and backgrounds.
Bühler also continues to work in partnership with UNITECH International, a leadership development program for talented STEM students comprised of eight distinguished technical universities and 14 multinational companies. Throughout their UNITECH year, students undergo a coaching and training program to build the required skills to interact optimally in the corporate world.
In 2024, Bühler worked in collaboration with ETH Zurich in Switzerland to create a new approach to research and development involving a new rapid prototyping methodology for simulating complex issues and processes quickly and cost-effectively. Eight ETH Zurich students joined forces with Bühler employees to form the Bühler Exploration Lab (BEXL) based in the CUBIC at Uzwil with the aim of increasing the speed at which innovations are launched while minimizing the risk and enabling greater creativity.
MassChallenge Startup Day 2024
Leadership development
Throughout 2024, Bühler continued to strengthen its leadership capability by running targeted programs suitable for employees at different points of experience and seniority. First launched in 2022, the Basics in Bühler Management (BBM) program was expanded beyond Switzerland with the first European cohort graduating in 2024. The graduates of this program form the bedrock of a pan-European network for the exchange of ideas.
Bühler continues to develop its TOP (trust, ownership, passion) leadership program, which in 2024 ran a conference for the 100 most senior leaders and, with the support of academics, provided them with the tools to enable them and their teams to perform at their best and drive cultural transformation throughout the organization. Leaders were encouraged to address cultural assumptions that could potentially hold back the business and to explore how they can best drive sustainability within Bühler.
As part of our comprehensive range of onboarding programs for colleagues first joining Bühler or taking on a new role, we launched in 2024 a new training program aimed at people leaders. We continued to develop our Advanced Leadership Program (ALP), our global leadership development program for experienced leaders, as well as in the Excelerator Developmental Assessment Centers, where we recognize high potential talents, develop their specific needs, and then develop them to greatest effect from within the company.
Meet our leaders
Discover the journeys, insights, and passions of the individuals who are shaping the future of Bühler Group.
Ina Klein, Head of Business Excellence & Commercial
Robin Lu, Head of Die Casting at Bühler China
Désiré Cédric N'zi, CFO Bühler Middle East, Africa & India
Olivia Enriquez, Managing Director Sales & Services at Bühler Mexico
P Chandrasekharan, Head of Manufacturing, Logistics and Supply Chain at Bühler Middle East, Africa & India and Bühler Southeast Asia
Damien Chapelier, Head of Bühler South America
Andreas Kratzer, Head of Consumer Foods
Michael Chin, Head of Service Operations at Bühler Southeast Asia
Service training
To ensure that frontline staff are highly adaptable and able to react quickly to dynamic market changes our customers face, our Service Academy focused on upskilling Field Service Engineers (FSE) and the global salesforce with onboarding and training programs. In 2024, FSEs have also completed 7,866 hours of classroom training, 1,137 hours of online training and 715 hours of training videos to better support our customers.
Trust, Ownership, and Passion
Our corporate values of trust, ownership and passion (TOP) underpin all that we do by providing a framework for how we achieve our goals and collaborate. Our values also guide us in our determination to create team cultures that emphasize the need for diversity and inclusivity in the workplace so that every one of our colleagues feels valued and appreciated.
In 2024, we launched THRIVE, our global empowerment program for early-career female talents. Participants are given access to valuable resources, peer exchanges, coaching sessions, mentorship, and growth opportunities that enhance their skills and knowledge and empower them professional journeys.
Bühler is also working with the Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences (Fachhochschule OST) to better understand the root causes that inhibit women embarking on STEM careers and so help to break down these barriers within our company. In 2024, we launched the Bühler Activity Booklet for children between 3 and 10 years of age to encourage greater participation from young girls in STEM fields.
We continue to develop our Leaders as Allies program as part of our People Leadership Series to help form an alliance between team leaders and team members that encourages inclusivity and psychological safety. To further spread these principles throughout the organization we have launched an allyship toolkit explaining the need for psychologically safe workspaces to help everyone meet their full potential.
We also focused on creating more internal job opportunities as a way of spreading talent and diversity throughout the organization.
Employer branding and talent attraction
In 2024, we refreshed our Employer Value Proposition (EVP) to build a stronger emotional connection with potential employees so that we become the employer of choice for a fresh cohort of talent. We received external recognition for the strength of our employer brand. We ranked in the top 1% of employers in the Leading Employers of Switzerland award, fourth out of 12 in the mechanical engineering sector, and 69th out of 250 across all sectors in the Switzerland-headquartered ranking. Bühler Brazil was awarded with the Great Place to Work certification for fostering a collaborative and dynamic atmosphere.
Bühler was also recognized as one of 1,000 best companies worldwide in 2024 by TIME Magazine. The Award is given to the top performing companies across the globe based on employee satisfaction, revenue growth, and sustainability (ESG), taking internal and public perception into consideration.
Bühler Energy Center
In 2024, we celebrated the one-year anniversary of the launch of the Bühler Energy Center at our headquarters in Uzwil, Switzerland. With a focus on education, health, and innovation, the Bühler Energy Center continues to drive our future-readiness and strengthen collaboration across generations. In its first year, the center has hosted over 100 tours, showcasing innovations and sustainability initiatives to customers, government officials, and educational institutions, sparking new partnerships and innovations. It has become a vibrant hub, offering 50 trial apprenticeships, 6,000 health consultations, and numerous training sessions.
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Gupfenstrasse 5
Uzwil
9240
Switzerland
