Packaging (1906–today) 1906–1950 In order to address the volatility of the railway vehicle and firearms businesses, SIG started to produce packaging machinery starting from 1906 as a third main business area. The machines were produced at SIG in Neuhausen on behalf of the patentee of a "folding box" die-fold system, a co-founder of
SAPAL (Société Anonyme des Plieuses Automatiques). Most of SIG's earlier packaging equipment efforts were focused on small dry food items such as chocolates and candy. The first packaging machines were delivered to Swiss chocolate manufacturers. In 1921, SIG started to construct its own packaging machines.
1950–2000 1956 SIG launched its first continuous flow wrapping machine. 1964 the business unit moved to
Beringen where it had built a new factory. By 1981, it was producing 60 models of packaging machines.
2000–today In 2000, SIG started to focus on food and beverage packaging technology. At that time, SIG already ranked as the second-largest manufacturer in the world, after
Tetra Pak, of cardboard composites for fluids packaging. Motion control specialist SIG Positec, which was mostly successful on the German, Swiss and Italian markets, was sold to
Schneider Electric in the same year for €195 million. With this, SIG divested its automation division. Management directed revenues from the sales of SIG Sauer and Rocktools to acquire global businesses, including
Krupp Kunstofftechnik (Corpoplast, Blowtec, and Kautex brands) Ryka Blow Molds in
Canada; and a substantial portion of the Italian conglomerate SASIB. The food-related (dry) businesses were organized under the SIG Pack division, The former SASIB wet businesses
Simonazzi, Alfa and
Meyer/Mojonnier were sold to
Tetra Laval in 2005, while HAMBA,
Kautex and Blowtec were sold separately to private investor groups. The food packaging businesses were sold to Robert Bosch Verpackungstechnik in 2004. The former SASIB dry unit Stewart Systems (bakery products) was sold to UCA Group in 2004. Laser-guided vehicle manufacturer 80, part of the 1999 SASIB acquisition, was sold back to its original Italian owners in 2004. By 2006, Sigpack Systems had an export ratio of 97% of its products. In 2007, SIG Holding AG was acquired by Rank Group Limited, the private investment company of
New Zealand businessman
Graeme Hart, and operated under its subsidiary, Reynolds Group Holdings Ltd., which, in March 2015, announced completion of its sale of SIG to
ONEX Corporation. In the early 2010s, SIG started to promote as a world first extra-slim small-format carton packs starting from 80ml tailored for children especially in fast-growing regions as Asia and Middle East. Today, SIG Group focuses on aseptic packaging. In 2016, the company introduced Combibloc RS Composite, a composite structural inner layer which increases system stability and reduces the
carbon footprint of carton packs. In 2017, SIG introduced the first individual
QR codes with digital sourcing transparency, tailored for dairy product consumers. In 2018 the company was relisted to the SIX Swiss Exchange. In 2020 SIG Group fully integrated its Joint Venture SIG Combibloc Obeikan into SIG. The Joint Venture with a manufacturing plant in
Riyadh and customers in the Middle East and Africa region had been established in 2001. In April 2022, the company was renamed from SIG Combibloc Group AG to SIG Group AG. In the same year, SIG finalised the acquisition of Scholle IPN, an American producer of flexible food and beverages packaging including spouted pouches and
bag-in-box solutions originally developed by William R. Scholle. Also in 2022, SIG acquired the Asia business of US competitor Pactiv Evergreen with its production facilities for fresh products, especially fresh milk in the
People's Republic of China,
Taiwan and
South Korea.
Railways, Vehicles (1853–1995) The
Schweizerische Waggonfabrik ("Swiss
Wagon Factory") was founded in 1853 by
Friedrich Peyer im Hof, Heinrich Moser, and Johann Conrad Neher. From 1854, it produced railway cars for the emerging
Swiss railway companies. Friedrich Peyer was one of the directors of
the Swiss Northeastern Railway, also founded in 1853. In 1855 SIG railway carriages were honoured with an award at the
World’s Fair in Paris. Their factory in
Neuhausen am Rheinfall was originally
powered by the nearby
Rhine Falls and employed 150 workers, The remaining 190 L2 vehicles, along with 52
articulated variants, were made by
Thunder Bay, Ontario-based
Urban Transportation Development Corporation (UTDC), now a subsidiary of
Bombardier Transportation. From around 1981, SIG focused in the railway segment on the production of bogies as part of a division of labour with other Swiss railway manufacturers such as the
Schindler Group (Schindler Waggon,
Schweizerische Wagons- und Aufzügefabrik AG Schlieren-Zürich) and
Flug- und Fahrzeugwerke Altenrhein. These bogies can still be found in many countries today. In the early 1980s, SIG was the designer and builder of the
Utrecht sneltram trams. 27 were ordered and delivered in 1983. Their scheduled replacements ran from 2017 to 2020. The tilting system of the
SBB RABDe 500 was developed by SIG. The railway branch of SIG was sold in 1995 to
Fiat Ferroviaria. File:Sbb rabde500.jpg|SBB RABDe 500 File:CLRV TTC Streetcar No 4004 (8063115473).jpg|SIG-built CLRV L1 4004 in Toronto File:TEE Northlander in Zwolle.JPG|
SBB RAm TEE I train set in
ONR Northlander service File:Bieler Tram Ce 2 2 Nr. 5.jpg | SIG-built tramway Ce 2/2 in
Biel-Bienne Firearms (1859–2000) SIG started to produce the Prélaz-Burnand in 1859. It was invented by gunsmith Jean-Louis Joseph Prélaz and forestry inspector Colonel Édouard Burnand (father of Swiss painter
Eugène Burnand). In 1860, the rifle won a competition held by the Swiss
Military Department, resulting in a contract to produce 30,000 pieces. The
SIG P210 pistol was developed in 1937 based on the French
Modèle 1935, and was adopted by the Swiss military in 1949 as the "
Pistole 49". This pistol's frame design incorporates external rails which fit closely with the slide, thus eliminating play in the mechanism during firing. The P210 was noted for its accuracy. The Petter-Browning patent was a refinement—and
John Moses Browning's last design—of the Browning Hi-Power (P35). In 1975, the Swiss military replaced the P210 with the
P220, dubbed the "
Pistole 75", which was the first product of a partnership with J.P. Sauer & Sohn. In a 1984 bidding contest to provide more than 300,000 sidearms to the US military, the
SIG Sauer P226 was defeated by
Beretta's
92FS which was awarded the contract for the M9 pistol. The
SIG SG 510, or Sturmgewehr 57, battle rifle was produced by SIG from 1957 to 1983. Its appearance was vaguely similar to the German MG34 light machine gun, due to its ventilated barrel jacket. It employed roller-delayed blowback, as used on the
CETME/
HK rifles. The only
general purpose machine gun produced by SIG was the
SIG 710-3, which is based on the
MG42. Due to Swiss restrictions on the export of military weapons, SIG entered into a relationship with the German company
J.P. Sauer & Sohn, in order to give SIG access to the global
firearms market. During the 1970s, SIG purchased both
Hämmerli and
J.P. Sauer & Sohn, resulting in the formation of
SIG Sauer. In January 1985,
SIGARMS was established in
Tyson's Corner, Virginia, where its handgun models P220 and P230 were imported into the US from its sister company in Europe. and is now known as
SIG SAUER AG. == Business areas and locations ==