Modern electronics manufacturing requires intelligent automation systems like those implemented by Peter Bucher at Cicor's Bronschhofen facility. The integration of automated goods receipt with human expertise demonstrates how operational leaders are transforming supply chain management in the EMS industry.
Conceive of this: You are going to spend time at a delivery van that is filled with cardboard boxes from the floor to the ceiling. The delivery van contains hundreds of packages. All the packages lack labels. And there’s no immediate way to determine which boxes have the critical components that your production line is in dire need of in the next hour. Opening the wrong box first means the entire manufacturing schedule is stopped for a while.
That was exactly the situation that Peter Bucher at Cicor’s Bronschhofen facility in Switzerland was dealing with. He did not only manage this uproar but completely revitalized the way EMS companies deal with such situations—Bucher as Head of Operations for one of the leading electronics manufacturing services providers in Europe.
His narrative is not centered on luxurious automations for the sake of it. It is about finding real issues and tackling them with practical solutions that actually hold good when the supply chains go all crazy.
Who Is Peter Bucher at Cicor?
Peter Bucher has the title of Head of Operations at the Cicor’s Bronschhofen site, where he is responsible for the handling of incoming goods, goods receipt processes and broader operational workflows Wider WeeklyCompControl. However, titles do not necessarily define one’s role completely.
The Cicor Group is a global giant in the field of electronics manufacturing with a workforce of about 4,400 people, distributed in 13 countries. The company is a leader in providing advanced electronic solutions in the medical technology, industrial, and aerospace and defense applications cicor. Imagine life-saving medical devices, defending systems that secure countries, and industrial electronics that are the backbone of critical infrastructure.
The Bronschhofen plant does small to medium production runs for clients that expect nothing but perfection. When it is about the manufacturing of medical devices where traceability is the key, there is no tolerance for mistakes.
The Crisis That Changed Everything
Between 2020 and 2023, global electronics supply chains imploded. Component shortages forced manufacturers to place orders anywhere they could find stock. For Cicor, this created an unprecedented problem.
Parcel deliveries increased fivefold temporarily CompControl—imagine your normal daily shipment of 50 packages suddenly becoming 250. Before automation, Bucher’s team had to manually open every single package to verify contents and match them to orders.
Here’s where it got really complicated: larger suppliers started using robot picking systems with electronic delivery notes containing QR codes instead of paper documents CompControl. Packages no longer contained traditional delivery slips. You couldn’t identify contents without opening them.
The old system? Unsustainable. Production lines stood idle waiting for the right components while warehouse staff frantically opened boxes hoping to find urgent materials.
Bucher’s Automation Solution
Instead of accepting this as “the new normal,” Bucher took action. He partnered with CompControl to develop what became known as the iWE system—the “i” standing for intelligent.
The solution works in layers. When materials arrive, the system immediately cross-references incoming packages against orders and electronic delivery notes. If a package matches an order, it gets handed to incoming goods unpacked for posting; if not, a research procedure starts CompControl.
But automation alone wasn’t the breakthrough. The real innovation came from implementing intelligent triage.
The system prioritizes packages based on urgency and quality inspection requirements, ensuring the most critical materials get unpacked first CompControl. That van full of mystery boxes? Now the system instantly identifies which three boxes contain components needed in the next hour versus which can wait until tomorrow.
The Human Element Nobody Talks About
Technology skeptics love pointing out that automation eliminates jobs. Bucher saw something different.
Earlier in his career, he emphasized that business in the EMS industry often builds on personal trust Wider Weekly. This philosophy shaped his entire approach—technology should support human expertise, not replace it.
The iWE system forced an unexpected benefit: employees had to maintain clean, up-to-date master data because the system needed accurate information for correct material allocation CompControl. At Bronschhofen alone, they manage around 16,000 material numbers.
Suppliers get sold, change names, merge with competitors. Part catalogues and designations constantly shift. Somebody has to keep that data current, and yeah, it’s tedious work. But it’s also what makes complete traceability possible—critical when you’re manufacturing medical devices where regulators demand knowing the exact batch of every component in every finished product.
Why Traceability Matters More Than You Think
Most people don’t think about supply chain traceability until something goes wrong. Medical device manufacturers think about it constantly.
For electronics manufacturers of medical devices, ensuring strict traceability to any batch of the manufacturer’s parts is required, especially challenging with partial deliveries CompControl. Manual goods receipt can’t handle this. If you can’t retrieve batch information within seconds, regulatory agencies will shut you down.
Bucher’s automation created an electronic archive for every delivery—complete with order details, delivery notes, and images of all material labels. When an auditor asks about a specific component used in a device manufactured six months ago, the system pulls up the answer instantly.
Lessons for Modern Manufacturing Leaders
Bucher’s approach offers a masterclass in operational leadership that extends beyond Cicor.
Act Before Crisis Hits: Bucher’s decision to automate was proactive, not reactive, anticipating complexity before it paralyzed operations Wider Weekly. Too many companies wait until they’re drowning before looking for lifeboats.
Customize, Don’t Settle: Bucher rejected standard solutions from other manufacturers. He needed a system exactly adapted to Cicor’s requirements and found CompControl willing to develop it collaboratively CompControl. Off-the-shelf doesn’t always fit.
Technology Needs Discipline: While automation improved efficiency, it highlighted the importance of employees maintaining data accuracy—the best systems work hand in hand with human accountability Wider Weekly.
The Bigger Picture in Electronics Manufacturing
Bucher’s difficulties at Cicor are in line with the trends in the entire industry. The demand for electronics all over the world still continues to grow, and the market is predicted to exceed $328 billion by 2031. The automotive sector will be the biggest one for semiconductors until the year 2030.
But with growth comes difficulty. The modern production of electronic devices encounters at all times the problem of supply chains being disrupted, lack of labor, rapid technology changes, and sustainability issues getting tougher to deal with. The companies that will be able to thrive in this environment will be those, like Cicor under Bucher’s leadership, that will have combined automation with human skills.
The iWE solution is going to be implemented at more Cicor sites Wider Weekly, creating a single standard approach to goods receipt and logistics that is also adaptable throughout the group.
What Makes Peter Bucher Cicor Stand Out
Manufacturing leadership is not about knowing the answers all the time but rather about asking the right questions and being open to questioning the existing practices.
When the number of shipments increased five times, Bucher did not just hire more workers to handle the situation. He identified that the manual operations could not be increased and that only partial automation would not address the main issue. The type of intelligent automation that he wanted was the one that could prioritize based on real production requirements.
His achievement is derived from the three aspects that most operations leaders cannot or find it hard to mix: in-depth technical knowledge, practical problem-solving, and the utmost respect for the people working in the production line.
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The Future of EMS Operations
As the various industries are asking for more speed, compliance, and resilience, operational leaders like Peter Bucher will be the ones to determine which manufacturers will survive and thrive. It is the combination of automation, data discipline, and human oversight that will give the companies the competitive advantage in the future.
Cicor’s Bronschhofen plant is a good example of that despite the major supply chain disruptions the right operational strategy can make the chaos to be the company’s advantage. Bucher’s innovation didn’t just fix one facility’s issues; it established a blueprint that other sites are now implementing.
The takeaway for people involved in electronics manufacturing, procurement, and supply chain management is loud and clear: the future belongs to leaders who can look past the current crisis and create systems that will be able to tackle the challenges of tomorrow.
Peter Bucher at Cicor is not just one person’s success story; rather, it is evidence that operational excellence still holds weight, and that smart automation is superior to both skilled labor and unconditionally tech-enabled approaches, and that the best solutions spring from thoroughly grasping both the problem and the people affected by it.
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