Editorial 2022
Dear ladies and gentlemen,
Since the completion of the unbundling process, RUAG has been in an exciting and challenging transitional phase. This was again evident in the 2022 business year. After the split of the former RUAG Group, the aim in the year under review was to consolidate the young company with targeted measures and investments, to position and develop it further to meet future requirements and make a significant contribution to sovereign Swiss security. This includes improving the current operational performance capabilities for the customers. An important measure in this regard is the “Cervino” program. The main goals of this program are improving the operational performance capabilities as well as introducing a uniform,
transparent resource planning system.
With regard to the future-oriented development of RUAG, absolutely necessary investments needed to be made in the year under review. In particular, properties had to be renovated, new test facilities built and the robustness of the IT infrastructure improved.
The resulting high costs in combination with the remediation of legacy issues had an impact on the financial result. However, RUAG wants to position itself in a stable way in the long term and act in an economically efficient manner for the benefit of the Confederation as its owner as well as for its customers. This requires a solid foundation as well as preparation for future requirements and new systems of the Swiss Armed Forces.
RUAG is sure about one thing: the future needs innovation. For this reason, the new Business Area “RUAG Innovation Organization” (RIO) was created and successfully integrated into the organizational structure in the year under review. This way, RUAG makes sure that innovative technology solutions as well as new market potentials are given the appropriate priority.
Even in this challenging transitional phase, RUAG managed to fulfill the defined performance mandate completely. System maintenance as well as system availability for the main customer, the Swiss Armed Forces, were ensured without increasing costs. The global supply problems were compensated and thus had no negative effects.
The difficult and volatile situation on the labor market also concerned RUAG, which is why, as in the past few years, the company continued to focus on training talented professionals internally, promoting them and convincing them to stay with the company in the long term. The renewed success with five medal winners at the vocational championships “SwissSkills 2022” shows that RUAG is on the right path. In addition, the collaboration with national universities was optimized and intensified. Nevertheless, employing skilled professionals will remain one of the main challenges of the future.
In September of the year in review, Brigitte Beck became the new CEO and took on the overall operational management of RUAG. She succeeded Peter E. Bodmer, who headed the company on an interim basis.
Despite the transition and the difficult framework conditions in the 2022 business year, RUAG managed to successfully work on the future viability of the company without disregarding its performance mandate. Therefore, another step was taken toward positioning and establishing RUAG as an innovative and holistic technology company contributing to the sovereign security of Switzerland in the coming years.
Nicolas Perrin, Chairman of the Board of Directors RUAG MRO Holding Ltd
Brigitte Beck, Chief Executive Officer RUAG MRO Holding Ltd