Wauwiler Champignons focuses on automation
Wauwil LU - Wauwiler Champignons AG has acquired the Aargau production site of Kuhn Champignons AG, but the move does not give the company a monopoly. Instead, the mushrooms supplier wants to counter foreign competition with automation.
In June, Wauwiler Champignons AG announced its acquisition of the production site of Kuhn Champignons AG in Full-Reuental in the canton of Aargau. The acquisition is part of a succession plan, according to a statement from Wauwiler Champignons. The partners have agreed not to disclose the details of the takeover.
The owner of Wauwiler Champignons AG, Roland Vonarburg, told the newspaper “Luzerner Zeitung” that the takeover has not generated only positive feedback from its customers. There has also been criticism of the size of Wauwiler Champignons AG, which will produce 85 per cent of Swiss mushrooms after the acquisition. The company boss goes on to say that he wasn’t looking to acquire Kuhn Champignons AG, but that it presented an alternative to closure.
Vonarburg underlines that the takeover does not give his company a monopoly because competition from abroad is too great. This competition generates price pressure that Wauwiler Champignons intends to counter with automation and innovation. Part of the harvest is already brought in via a system from Holland that drives the pickers along ergonomically angled beds. In the future, manual sorting will be automated.
