Bucher Industries
Swiss industrial group supplying agricultural machinery, municipal vehicles, hydraulic systems, glass-container manufacturing equipment, and specialized process technologies.
Last updated August 22, 2026
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Overview
Bucher Industries AG is a diversified Swiss industrial group headquartered in Niederweningen and listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange. Its roots reach back to 1807, when Heinrich Bucher-Weiss took over a forge in Niederweningen and began making agricultural tools. Over more than two centuries, the business developed from a local metalworking and farm-equipment workshop into an internationally active group serving specialized machinery markets. The group’s principal activities are organized around Kuhn Group, Bucher Municipal, Bucher Hydraulics, Bucher Emhart Glass, and Bucher Specials. Kuhn Group is the largest business and manufactures agricultural machinery for soil preparation, seeding, fertilization, crop protection, hay and forage harvesting, livestock operations, and landscape maintenance. Its brands and product families serve professional farmers, contractors, and agricultural distributors across Europe, North and South America, and other markets. Bucher Municipal supplies equipment for maintaining public and private infrastructure. Its portfolio includes compact and truck-mounted sweepers, sewer-cleaning vehicles, winter-maintenance equipment, and refuse-collection solutions. The division has expanded through acquisitions and operates across Europe, North America, Australia, and Asia. Its electric compact sweepers have positioned the business within the shift toward lower-emission municipal fleets. Bucher Hydraulics develops hydraulic and electronic components, including pumps, motors, valves, manifold systems, cylinders, power units, and electric or electro-hydraulic drive technologies. Bucher Emhart Glass provides forming and inspection machinery, services, and related technologies for hollow-glass container manufacturers. Bucher Specials brings together several focused activities, including wine-processing equipment through Bucher Vaslin, fruit-juice and food-processing technologies through Bucher Unipektin, automation and process-control activities through Bucher Automation, and Swiss agricultural machinery distribution through Bucher Landtechnik. Bucher’s growth has combined internal engineering with acquisitions. Important expansion steps included the development of Kuhn, the addition of municipal-vehicle and street-sweeping businesses, the acquisition of Emhart Glass, and the broadening of hydraulic, automation, and agricultural-equipment capabilities. The group has also used joint ventures and majority investments to enter or strengthen positions in China and other international markets. The company emphasizes technically demanding niche markets, long-term customer relationships, decentralized operating businesses, and product quality rather than mass-market consumer branding. Its customers are generally professional users, municipalities, infrastructure operators, industrial manufacturers, agricultural enterprises, and specialized food and beverage producers. In the 2025 financial year, the supplied reference material reported sales of CHF 2.9 billion and 14,198 employees; these figures should be read as year-specific rather than as timeless company characteristics. Bucher is described in the reference material as the fourth-oldest listed company in Switzerland. Its current portfolio combines established mechanical-engineering expertise with automation, electrification, energy efficiency, and digitally controlled equipment.
History
Bucher Industries traces its origin to 1807, when Heinrich Bucher-Weiss assumed control of a forge in Murzeln, Niederweningen. The early workshop produced basic agricultural tools. During the nineteenth century, the business expanded under the Bucher family into slurry pumps, feed cutters, hand mills, fruit mills, grape and fruit presses, and metal components for farm machinery. In the 1870s it had only a handful of employees, but its product range and trading activities broadened steadily. In the late nineteenth century, Bucher-Manz began importing and reselling foreign machinery, including horse rakes, while continuing to manufacture its own equipment. The enterprise was renamed Maschinenfabrik Johann Bucher-Manz in 1895. Hydraulic fruit-press technology became increasingly important, and the company produced its first hydraulic fruit press with a high-pressure pump in 1901. A second site was established in Griessen in 1923, supporting the continuing expansion of agricultural machinery and food-processing equipment. The first half of the twentieth century brought several significant products. The Luna centrifugal slurry pump, introduced in 1921, offered easier maintenance and flexible power options compared with earlier hand-operated pumps. In 1934 Bucher introduced a team-driven mower with an auxiliary engine, and in 1945 it launched the Rekord single-axle motor mower. The Rekord became a notable commercial success, with the supplied reference material reporting 116,000 units sold by 2003. Bucher also entered tractor production in the 1950s and delivered approximately 5,000 Bucher tractors before production ended in 1964. In 1946 it acquired a 50 percent interest in French agricultural-machinery maker Kuhn, creating an important foundation for the group’s later agricultural division. The company became a public limited company in 1951. In 1984 the group was reorganized as Bucher Holding AG, and it went public in 1986. At the time of the listing, the group had sales of CHF 430 million and 2,730 employees, according to the supplied reference material. The public-company structure enabled a period of international expansion. Kuhn added businesses such as Huard, Nodet, Knight Manufacturing, Metasa, Blanchard, Kverneland’s press division, Montana, and Artec. Bucher also built municipal-vehicle capabilities through street-sweeper and special-machinery acquisitions, and expanded hydraulics through companies including Beringer Hydraulik, Hydrotechnik, Sterling Fluid Technologies, Monarch Hydraulics, and Command Controls. A major diversification step came in 1998 with the acquisition of Emhart Glass, giving the group a position in machinery for glass-container manufacturing. In 1996 the core activities had been organized into five divisions: agricultural equipment, vehicles, food technology, hydraulic components, and machinery. Bucher Holding AG adopted the name Bucher Industries AG in 2000. Philip Mosimann became chief executive in 2002, while Rudolf Hauser became chairman. During the 2000s and early 2010s, the group continued to grow through acquisitions, new production facilities, joint ventures, and majority investments in agricultural, hydraulic, municipal, automation, and glass technologies. Since 2014, the operating structure has centered on Kuhn Group, Bucher Municipal, Bucher Hydraulics, Bucher Emhart Glass, and Bucher Specials. Recent developments have included the acquisition of Danish sewer-cleaning specialist J. Hvidtved Larsen, entry into Chinese sewer-cleaning vehicles through Zynkon, investment in Chinese hydraulic technology, and the purchase of Lenze Mobile Drives’ mobile electric-drive activities. Bucher Emhart Glass completed its acquisition of Sanjin Glass Machinery in 2018. In 2023, Jetter and Futronic were merged into Bucher Automation, strengthening the group’s automation identity. The modern group combines long-established mechanical engineering with electrification, electronic controls, energy-efficient hydraulics, automation, and environmental-service equipment. Bucher Municipal introduced an early fully electric compact sweeper in 2016 and later presented the CityCat V20e. Bucher Hydraulics introduced Helax technology in 2020, combining a hydraulic cylinder with an electrically controlled decentralized drive. These developments illustrate the group’s effort to adapt traditional machinery businesses to lower-emission and digitally controlled operating environments while retaining a portfolio of specialized industrial niches.
- 2023
Bucher Automation created
[1]Jetter AG and Futronic GmbH were merged and renamed Bucher Automation.
- 2020
Helax hydraulic-electric drive technology launched
[1]Bucher Hydraulics introduced Helax, a decentralized linear-drive concept combining hydraulic and electric technologies.
- 2016
First fully electric compact sweeper introduced
[1]Bucher Municipal introduced an electric compact sweeper in the two-cubic-meter class.
- 2014
Five-division structure established
[1]The group organized operations into Kuhn Group, Bucher Municipal, Bucher Hydraulics, Bucher Emhart Glass, and Bucher Specials.
- 2000
Bucher Holding renamed Bucher Industries
[1]The group adopted its current corporate name.
- 1998
Emhart Glass acquired
[1]The acquisition established Bucher’s position in glass-container manufacturing equipment.
- 1996
Core businesses divided into five divisions
[1]The group organized its activities around agricultural equipment, vehicles, food technology, hydraulic components, and machinery.
- 1986
Listed on the Swiss stock exchange
[1]Bucher went public and began a more acquisition-led phase of international expansion.
- 1984
Reorganized as Bucher Holding AG
[1]The group was reorganized under the Bucher Holding AG structure before its stock-market listing.
- 1951
Converted into a public limited company
[1]The business adopted a public limited-company structure.
Products and positioning
Diversified, engineering-led industrial group focused on specialized machinery, vehicle systems, hydraulics, automation, and process technologies for professional and infrastructure-intensive markets.
Agricultural equipment
Kuhn agricultural machinery
Kuhn develops and manufactures machinery for tillage, planting and seeding, nutrient management, crop protection, hay and forage harvesting, livestock bedding and feeding, and landscape maintenance. The business is Bucher Industries’ largest division by sales and operates manufacturing sites in France, the Netherlands, the United States, and Brazil. Its products are sold through international agricultural-equipment markets to farmers, contractors, and distributors.
Municipal vehicles
Bucher Municipal sweepers
Bucher Municipal supplies compact and truck-mounted sweepers for roads, pedestrian areas, and other traffic surfaces. The division also provides sewer-cleaning, winter-maintenance, and refuse-collection vehicles and equipment. Its portfolio serves municipalities, contractors, and infrastructure operators, with production and commercial activity spanning Europe, North America, Australia, and Asia.
Hydraulic and electronic components
Bucher Hydraulics systems
Bucher Hydraulics makes pumps, motors, valves, manifold blocks, cylinders, power units, and power-electronics solutions. It serves mobile and industrial machinery manufacturers with components and integrated systems. The division also develops electro-hydraulic and electric-drive technologies intended to improve controllability, efficiency, and machine performance.
Glass-container manufacturing machinery · 1998
Bucher Emhart Glass equipment
Bucher Emhart Glass provides forming and inspection machinery, spare parts, consulting, and service for the hollow-glass industry. Its technologies support manufacturers of glass containers and combine mechanical equipment with process expertise and inspection capabilities. Production facilities are located in Sweden, the United States, and Malaysia, with research and development activity in the United States.
Wine-processing machinery
Bucher Vaslin wine-processing equipment
Bucher Vaslin is part of Bucher Specials and supplies machinery and equipment for wine production. Its activities extend Bucher’s historical connection with fruit and grape processing into modern winery operations and specialized process equipment.
Electric compact sweeper · 2021
CityCat V20e
The CityCat V20e is an electric compact sweeper developed by Bucher Municipal for urban and public-area cleaning. It was presented as a lower-emission alternative to diesel-powered sweepers and was associated in the supplied reference material with substantial potential annual carbon-dioxide savings compared with a diesel equivalent.
Electro-hydraulic drive technology · 2020
Helax
Helax is a Bucher Hydraulics decentralized linear-drive technology introduced in 2020. It combines a hydraulic cylinder with electric-motor control, allowing the drive system to be integrated close to the actuator and designed for reduced energy use in suitable applications.
Marketing campaigns
- 2021CityCat V20e electric sweeper
International municipal-equipment markets
Bucher Municipal presented the CityCat V20e as an electric urban sweeper designed to reduce operating emissions relative to diesel equipment.
Outcome. The model reinforced Bucher Municipal’s electrification and sustainability positioning.
- 2016Electric compact sweeper introduction
International municipal-equipment markets
Bucher Municipal introduced a fully electric compact sweeper in the two-cubic-meter class, promoting electrification for urban cleaning and municipal fleets.
Outcome. The launch established an early electric product position for the municipal division and preceded later CityCat electric models.
Brand decisions
2023
Merge Jetter and Futronic into Bucher AutomationM&ABackground
Bucher sought to consolidate control technology and automation capabilities within its specialized businesses.
Action taken
Jetter AG and its subsidiary Futronic GmbH were merged and renamed Bucher Automation.
Aftermath
Automation became a more clearly identified business within Bucher Specials.
2014
Adopt the five-division operating structureStrategyBackground
Bucher had accumulated businesses across several specialized industrial markets and needed a clearer group structure.
Action taken
The group organized operations into Kuhn Group, Bucher Municipal, Bucher Hydraulics, Bucher Emhart Glass, and Bucher Specials.
Aftermath
The structure remains the framework used to describe the group’s principal activities.
1998
Acquire Emhart GlassM&ABackground
Bucher sought to broaden its industrial portfolio beyond agricultural and municipal machinery.
Action taken
The group acquired Emhart Glass and entered the machinery and technology market for glass-container production.
Aftermath
Emhart Glass became a long-term Bucher division and later operated as Bucher Emhart Glass.
1986
Pursue public listing and acquisition-led expansionStrategyBackground
Following the reorganization as Bucher Holding AG, the group sought capital and organizational scale for international growth.
Action taken
Bucher listed on the Swiss stock exchange and subsequently expanded through acquisitions across agriculture, municipal vehicles, hydraulics, glass, and automation.
Aftermath
The listing preceded the development of the diversified five-division industrial group.
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