Contents

1 - Audemars Piguet: expansion and improvements in Le Brassus
2 - Designing the first Minergie-ECO® production unit
3 - Minergie-ECO®: the requirements of the new label
4 - A wood-fired heating system
5 - Telecommunications: playing it safe
6 - Revitalisation and reforestation of the Brassus stream area
7 - A welcoming entrance to the village
8 - High and medium voltage: the end of overhead electrical lines

Expansion and improvements in Le Brassus

When it became obvious, right from the beginning of the century, that Audemars Piguet needed to build a new production site, the location of the new site was clearly to be in Le Brassus, the company’s birthplace.
In 1875, when the two founders of Audemars Piguet decided to join forces, they established their business in the home which now serves as the company’s private museum. This was in fact the company’s only building for thirty-two years.

The first move
In 1907, a new factory was inaugurated, next to Audemars Piguet’s initial headquarters. The two associates had set their sights high: with 70 employees, the new production facility met all of the company’s needs until 1958.

From 1958 to 2008, the company’s extraordinary growth made it necessary to add several new wings to the main building, the last of which was added in 2000. Then came a period of temporary provisions, with workshops spread across various locations throughout the Joux valley. It eventually became essential to bring all of the production units together at a single, central location. So Audemars Piguet took on an impressive project: building a new factory. In 2007, work began, with an overall budget of 35 million Swiss francs. The Manufacture des Forges will be up and running in 2009. Audemars Piguet (Marketing) SA and the customer service division remained in the 1875 building.

Should we stay or should we go?
The new expansion has nothing in common with the previous construction projects, neither in size nor industrial materials: all of the watches’ production phases would be gathered at a single site, the production flow would be optimised and the working conditions would be absolutely incomparable for the approximately three hundred employees working at the new site, organised in small, autonomous units.

An apparently simple solution would have been to leave Le Brassus, given the limited availability of land in the village, and set up shop in one of the Joux valley industrial areas, or even relocate to outside of the valley. But the debate was quickly settled: Audemars Piguet would remain loyal to its roots, a place where it had flourished and stood as the village’s pride and glory for 133 years.

Build the new industrial building in Le Brassus, but where?
Right across from the home of Georges Golay’s parents, the heart and soul of the company’s manufacturing for a quarter of a century, on the land from an abandoned sawmill adjacent to a building owned by Audemars Piguet. Given its ideal location and despite a few unavoidable constraints, this would be the site of the Manufacture des Forges.

Constraints
The land, having been occupied by a sawmill, needed to be decontaminated. The foreman handled everything brilliantly, taking all the necessary precautions, while simultaneously overseeing the construction of the new production unit. The construction site was located between a residential district and the town’s school buildings. The creation of a new access road to this parcel of land enabled both the employees and the delivery lorries to come and go freely, without crossing through these sensitive areas. Better still, the landscaping actually improved the children’s safety, whether travelling on foot or by bicycle. The Brassus stream ran right through the middle of this site via a by-pass canal. This provided an excellent opportunity to revitalise this section of the stream and to recreate wetland meadows at its junction with the Orbe.

Advantages
Near the new Le Brassus railway station and bordering on a protected zone, the new building had every advantage to offer its users the most comfortable working conditions. Seated at their workbenches in the pleasant workshops, the watchmakers enjoy natural sunlight from the northern exposure and a gorgeous view of the Orbe river valley’s landscape. Despite its impressive size, the architectural design and setting amidst the trees makes this factory feel like the family workshops of the olden times. The shift from randomly dispersed workshops, spread throughout the Joux valley, to a single, high-tech production site, equipped with the latest technical attributes, just a stone’s throw away from the original headquarters, can only strengthen the motivation level of those working for the “master watchmaker since 1875”. Parallel to this project, Audemars Piguet undertook a series of steps, in keeping with the overall economic policy, including the use of FSC paper and the launch of a global review of sustainable development measures.
Georges-Henri Meylan
CEO of Audemars Piguet