In 2023, the poesia group celebrates a number of milestones. This is a reason to look back on the company's history and highly successful 25 years.
Today, the poesia group employs more than 70 people, including four apprentices. It operates at its main location in Unterkulm as well as at its external locations in Hochdorf and Urdorf. The group manufactures and sells plastic gaskets for applications in the construction, engineering, transport and food industries.

If you look back at the beginnings, you can see a continuous development from garage operations to a well-organized group of companies with modern machinery, attractive workplaces and innovative technologies. This is associated with the growth of personnel from four to around 70 employees.

Founding phase
In 1994, Emil Brändli's investment in MK Dichtungen and its transformation into a stock corporation - mk dichtungs ag - marked the starting point of today's poesia group. In the garages and the farmhouse, the logistics of mk dichtungs ag were set up. Garages? Yes, exactly. This sounds familiar, because many well-known companies took their first steps in a garage. At that time, Emil Brändli was still running the company on a part-time basis – parallel to his permanent position at another larger company.

Just one year later, the company bk brändli ag Kunststoffe was added. Michael Brändli manufactured turned parts and offered mechanical processing and mold making. The workshop operated from the same company headquarters as MK Dichtungen AG, i.e. in the garages and the farmhouse.

In 1997, Emil Brändli took over 100% of mk dichtungs ag and moved the company headquarters to Unterkulm.

Step into new technologies
For capacity reasons, the company bk brändli ag moved its headquarters to Schönenwerd in the same year. It needed larger premises to meet the growing demand. The following year, she purchased a Tornos R20 automatic lathe from Kummli. The machine park was expanded to 10 machines by the end. mk dichtungs ag also rented storage space in the Bally premises in Schönenwerd.

With the founding of the new company PBC Polymerverarbeitungs AG, Emil Brändli launched a completely new company that started from scratch. This with the aim of manufacturing extrusion profiles with state-of-the-art equipment and ecological materials. The realization of this business idea 25 years ago was another milestone and a decision of lasting significance for the group, which included three companies in 1998. In 1999, the bk brändli ag team put the first TPE extrusion line of PBC Polymerverarbeitungs AG into operation.

Official foundation of the group
The poesia group was officially founded in 2001 in order to further strengthen and develop the group of companies. In this context, Hans Beat Christen was appointed Managing Director of PBC Polymerverarbeitungs AG and from this point on Michael Brändli increasingly devoted himself to the development of bk brändli ag and the entire group of companies.  Liliane Brändli took over the entire responsibility for the finances.

Again and again the meaning of the name poesia is asked. The name stands for the Italian word poesia, poetry, a homonym (a word that stands for different terms) for the products of sealing.

Construction activity
On 1 September 2005, a building application was submitted for new building 1 in Unterkulm. Prior to this, concepts for the future direction were developed at strategy meetings. The groundbreaking ceremony for the new building took place on March 29, 2007. After a construction period of around 12 months, the new building was occupied on 1 April 2008. The companies bk brändli ag, mk dichtungs ag, pbc polymer ag, poesia group and a larger tenant are based in it. However, the expansion plans were not yet complete and on 20 May 2009 the group submits the building application for new building 2. The groundbreaking ceremony took place about a year later. In 2011, this building was also inaugurated.

Holding structures
On May 30, 2011, poesia holding ag is founded, which acquires all shares of the subsidiaries mk dichtungs ag, pbc polymer ag (formerly PBC Polymerverarbeitungs AG) and bk brändli ag. From this point on, it is also the linchpin for all administrative work and services. This will be done under the leadership of the responsible persons of the Brändli family and the new Board of Directors. With the acquisition of stuck ag Hochdorf, new services are added for all customers in the sealing sector. The former "poesia ag" will be converted into "poesia ag immobilien".

Getting started with extrusion
With the purchase of the new co-extrusion line, pbc polymer ag was now also able to produce 2-component profiles in the field of TPE. It decisively expanded its range of services. By taking over the silicone production of Huber Suhner AG, the company also succeeds in entering silicone profile production. In the same year, one of the most modern silicone extrusion lines is put into operation. With this step, it was possible to produce not only TPE profiles, but also silicone profiles.

Four years later, the official takeover of the "silicone profile production" division of Datwyler AG took place, with two production lines including tools and customer addresses. Associated with this is a contract for cooperation.

Sustainability
The poesia group attaches great importance to sustainability and bought a nearby water source in 2013.

New machines and logistics
In order to enter the field of silicone molded parts production, the poesia group purchased an LSR injection molding machine from the Engel brand in 2014. This step was taken with the aim of replacing the production of turned parts.

In 2008, the Kardex storage system with four shuttles was installed in the tower of poesia. Six more shuttles followed in 2014 and another six in 2019. There are currently 16 shuttles in operation in the Kardex storage system. If required, up to 24 shuttles can be expanded.

In autumn 2014, the installation of the drinking water station with wells from the company's own spring will also be completed.

The splicing project for thermal corners for Ernst Schweizer AG will be launched in September 2015. In December 2015, a separate transformer will be put into operation for electricity production in cooperation with AEW.

The baton was handed over from Emil Brändli to Michael and Daniel Brändli at poesia holding ag on 30 May 2016. This was celebrated with a big party. In the administrative area, the "SyntraNet" management system will be introduced at the end of December 2016.

Strengthening the poesia brand
In 2017, the kick-off meeting for the programming of two brand websites will take place. The websites www.poesia.ch and www.poesia.swiss are intended to strengthen the poesia brand. Later in the year, the mk webshop will also go online.

At the beginning of 2018, the poesia group commissioned two NorMec splicing machines, which are used in the operations of stuck ag. This company is a leading company in the processing and assembly of seals. In August 2018, the two brand websites will be launched to further increase awareness. With the acquisition of the new LSR injection moulding machine of the Engel brand, bk brändli ag is further expanding its capabilities.

Promotion
The promotion of young talents is a central concern of the poesia group. For this reason, poesia holding ag's new maintenance workshop "NextGen" was put into operation at the end of 2018 and inaugurated six months later.

Energy generation thanks to solar power
In the summer, the poesia group put a huge solar plant into operation. It is the largest photovoltaic system in the Wynental and covers around 50% of the poesia group's energy requirements at the Unterkulm site.

With the acquisition of Herzog Dichtungen AG in Urdorf in 2020, the successful growth course of the poesia group continued. Due to the further increase in demand, the LSR insert Shuttle was added in May 2021 and in 2022 a new Engel e-mac 130 injection moulding machine and a TPE extruder were put into operation.

Continuous growth of employees
When it was founded in the year, 4 employees were on board. In 2007, the group had 15 employees. Four years later, the number of employees increased to 22 and in 2014 there were already 40 people. In 2023, 70 people will work for the innovative group of companies from the Wynental. The growth was partly possible thanks to flexible working models. The areas of work are divided into marketing, engineering, production, sales, office sales, warehouse and forwarding.