Our SNV members in the spotlight

Balthasar is Switzerland’s largest manufacturer and distributor of candles. Everything started in 1939, when the company was founded as a cosmetics producer selling eau de cologne and hair tonic. Back then, its founder, Theo Balthasar, personally collected the birch sap for his well-known birch hair tonic. As demand for additional products, such as lipsticks, nail varnishes, powders, creams, bath salts and shampoos, grew, so did the catalogue. Back to candles: Balthasar is a long-standing member of the SNV Swiss Association for Standardization. One of the purposes of standardization work is to ensure that the candles meet all relevant safety requirements.

At CertX, it all comes down to safety and security. As the first Swiss certification body for functional safety and cybersecurity, CertX plays a key role in ensuring that products and processes are reliable. A wide range of standards serve as the foundation for their work and their customers’ certifications. As a member of SNV, CertX is greatly involved in the development of standards, and therefore it is no surprise that standardization work is a fixed part of their employees job descriptions and is expressly stipulated by management.

Summer, sun and the beach … the time has finally come. But the sun can also have its darker side, says Dr Jürgen Vollhardt from DSM. It is a mood enhancer, essential to vitamin D production, and even helps to lower blood pressure. At the same time, however, we’ve probably all come home from a holiday with sunburn as a souvenir at one time or other, and know the pain and after-effects that come with it. While our holiday memories slowly fade once we get back into everyday life, our skin will remember each ray of sunshine for years to come. Skin cancer numbers continue to rise, with Switzerland having the dubious distinction of being No. 1 in Europe.

«Metrology?» – Is that where you try to forecast the weather? No, it isn’t. The word metrology is often confused with meteorology. METAS is the Swiss competence centre for all questions relating to measurement, measuring equipment and measuring procedures. There’s a tendency to think that this particular science takes place in a manner somehow far removed from everyday life – but this impression is wrong. In our daily lives, we all benefit in one way or another from a world that can be precisely measured. We met Dr Jürg Niederhauser and Dr Peter Blattner in Wabern. In a video interview, the two explain what METAS does and demonstrate the importance of standardization on the national and international level. Join us in taking a glance behind the scenes of the Optics Laboratory and find out how LED technology is even capable of increasing our comfort in the office.

TCS is seen as the ultimate Swiss institution when it comes to mobility. The organization has been dealing with issues related to moving people for 125 years. Nearly every adult knows that they can call TCS if their vehicle breaks down and that the vehicle test ratings of TCS can be relied on. Consumers in the media throughout Switzerland consider its independent testing reports of vehicles, tyres and child seats a reliable and convincing source of information. In this article, we would like to show why the TCS test team comes into contact with standards practically every day.