Growing up in Kloten watching the flights coming in and out of nearby Zurich Airport made a big impression on Marcel Pernici, daily reminders of a big, wide world out there. “As a young man, I always saw the airplanes going up. So, for me, it was clear: one day I wanted to go away.” He had no inkling though that it was to be Asia where he would spend almost his entire adult life.
A proud product of the apprenticeship system, Pernici believes his time at a toolmaker while studying gave him a thorough grounding in both his chosen field and the realities of life. Though he felt an affinity with all things mechanical in his youth, Pernici says he realised he lacked the technical aptitude of some of his contemporaries and so would likely not excel as an engineer. This did not stop him putting his skills to work tinkering with his small motorcycle to boost its speed beyond the designated limit. “But of course, it was not legal. So sometimes the police caught you and you had to pay a fine.”
Not so hands-on
Believing that his path lay on the administrative side, Pernici then undertook studies in the financial, marketing and managerial aspects of the business, dedicating his evenings and Saturdays while he worked. “It was almost three years of no private life. But I was a little bit lazy when I was young, so this was the penalty,” he recalls with a smile.
To fulfil his international dreams, English was the next piece of the puzzle. At a university in Vancouver, one of Pernici’s fellow students was a young Japanese lady whom he would go on to marry. When Pernici’s plan of working in Canada didn’t pan out, she followed him back to Switzerland. There an opportunity arose in Japan as a logistics manager with what is now the Schaeffler Group, a German bearings giant. Pernici arrived in 1996, following what he calls, “One of the best decisions in my life.”
Promotions saw him relocate to Singapore and then Shanghai for senior regional logistics roles. He returned to Japan in 2006 with a different employer. “I found a new company that was smaller, which suited me much better. I’ve now been with Feintool for 19 years.”
Pressing matters
Lyss-headquartered and majority owned by the Artemis Group, Feintool specialises in fineblanking, the production of precision parts through metal pressing processes, and supplying customised pressing machines.
Feintool established its Japan operations in the 1970s, with what began as a showroom in Atsugi to demonstrate the company’s presses that soon evolved into full-scale production. Today, Feintool Japan has around 140 employees, with another plant near Chubu airport. Japan also serves as Asian headquarters and technology centre.
These days, the Japan business is almost entirely automotive, with its technology producing parts for a high proportion of all the seats made by Japanese auto firms.
Part of the family
Operating in Japan has never been easy for foreign manufacturers, but Feintool’s persistence has paid off. “Probably the first 20 years we lost money here. If the company had not been privately owned, I think the plug would have been pulled.”
Though the pressure to cut costs and innovate are relentless, Pernici acknowledges the advantages the company has earned: “Japanese customers are very demanding, but also very fair. Once you’re in their supply chain, you’re part of the family. Even in a crisis, they support you. That’s something I never experienced with customers elsewhere.”
New hurdles
Topping the list of current challenges are the shift to EVs, demographics and – most recently – US tariffs.
Feintool is preparing for the electrification of automotive but, “The volumes are not coming as quickly as predicted. And in EVs, nobody can beat China: they are faster, cheaper, better.”
Another shift has been the make-up of the domestic workforce. “It’s very hard to get young Japanese people who want to work in factories… they often want to be YouTubers or influencers rather than engineers.” Feintool has begun turning to workers from Vietnam, Cambodia and India.
With automotive at the heart of the recent Japan-US trade negotiations, Pernici has been closely following every development: “I mean, it was the first time in my life I could, in the morning, read the newspaper and see the impact in the afternoon.”
Despite some headwinds, Pernici believes he is fortunate to enjoy the stability of Japan and be able to experience the dynamism of other Asian countries on his frequent work trips. He contrasts this with European industry, which he feels moves too slowly to keep up.
“I travel to China or India or elsewhere, and meet so many young people and business people, and they’re so smart and motivated that I’m really, really impressed.”
Text: Gavin Blair for SCCIJ
