SABC Winter Newsletter 2021
Thank you to American Lamprecht for being the prime sponsor of this newsletter!
Lamprecht and American Lamprecht - A winning combination for Swiss to US Supply Chain Solutions
 American Lamprecht specialty is providing freight forwarding and customs brokerage for products from Switzerland to the United States. What makes American Lamprecht special is their focus on cost savings, timeliness, and customer service.
When you call American Lamprecht, you will receive a quote with several options for price and timing for your shipment.
How American Lamprecht saves you money?
The key to supply chain efficiency starts with the shipping origination in Switzerland and Western Europe. Lamprecht, American Lamprecht's parent company in Switzerland, has extensive resources of people, warehouses, trucks, barges, and rail car facilities to accumulate, process, and ship goods to the United States. These resources and established shipping lanes provide for the most cost effective and timely transit times from Europe.
Once the mode of transport has been established, the goods are tracked and traced with precision.
With 9 locations in the United States, American Lamprecht has the necessary geographic touchpoints to service all endpoint destinations. Ocean, air, air consolidation, and ocean consolidation transport are all efficient options for moving goods to the final destination.
American Lamprecht also has warehousing options for additional supply chain support with trucking options available for the "final mile" of delivery.
For over 50 years, American Lamprecht has been partnering with Lamprecht to provide worldwide efficient operations for our Swiss clients and U.S. based Swiss operators.
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A Message From The President
 Hello SABC Members!
I’m writing this letter on one of the coldest days we have had in the Chicago area in more than 2 years! Despite the weather, I believe there is reason for hope for better days to come. Spring is around the corner and with lower infection rates and the ongoing vaccination rollout it appears that we are on the road to overcoming the pandemic as well.
I am pleased to present to you the SABC’s Winter Newsletter. I wish to thank American Lamprecht for being the newsletter’s prime sponsor and for their long-standing support of the SABC! Further, I am very happy to welcome two new corporate members to the SABC as well. They are Milkboy Swiss Chocolates and its founder Emanuel Schmerling and the business immigration law firm of J. Aponte & Associates, LLC and its Managing Director Julie Aponte.
On a separate note, unfortunately it has been more than a year since we have met in person. While we don’t know as of yet when it will be safe to resume in person meetings, the board of directors, in coordination with our Executive Vice President Sutha Heck, are already looking forward to and planning for such events. Due to the current conditions, our annual members’ meeting will be held virtually this year. We will be communicating further details about the event once finalized.
Finally, I would like to thank you all for your continued interest in and support of the SABC!
Sincerely,
Thomas W. Soseman
President
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New Corporate Members
 
We welcome Milkboy Swiss Chocolates and its founder, Emanuel Schmerling, as a new corporate member. Emanuel has been active in the Swiss chocolate and cheese industry for over 20 years. His newest venture, Milkboy Swiss Chocolates, launched in 2015. Its U.S. and international sales are managed from their Brooklyn, New York location. Milkboy Chocolates manages their own logistics and fulfillment in the U.S. ensuring a speedy and direct delivery from their New York warehouse to their customers. Their award-winning chocolates can be found in the U.S. at many specialty food stores, on Amazon and on their website at Milkboy.com.
 
We welcome Julie Aponte, Esq., Managing Director of J. Aponte & Associates, LLC, as a new corporate member. J. Aponte & Associates, LLC is dedicated to providing quality employment-based immigration services to secure work permits for employees of newly established or existing businesses in the U.S. With more than 25 years of experience in U.S. immigration law, Julie Aponte has successfully represented numerous corporations and their employees in obtaining temporary work permits as well as employment-sponsored permanent residence.
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 SABC Highligted in December 2020 the Distinguished Innovators in Response to COVID-19 – SABC Swiss Innovation 2020
For the past two years the Swiss American Business Council in Chicago has presented the SABC Swiss Innovation Award to small and medium sized businesses for demonstrated innovation in their respective industry. Due to the unusual circumstances the year 2020 has presented, we have decided to shift gears and highlight Swiss innovations to battle the COVID-19 pandemic. As the World Economic Forum recognized, Switzerland is a leader in innovation! During this pandemic, with typical Swiss flexibility, ingenuity, courage and drive, Swiss companies have taken on the challenge of battling COVID-19 around the world and in the US. It is our great pleasure to highlight some of these great Swiss innovations in combating COVID-19. We recognize Swiss-affiliated manufacturers and service providers in the US Midwest that have made special efforts to help fight the pandemic with products or services that meet an unmet need and provide direct benefits to society, including the US Midwest.
Together with our promotional partners, we cordially congratulate this year's innovators and thank them for their innovative spirit to tackle this pandemic.
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Milkboy Swiss Chocolates
Emanuel Schmerling, the founder of Milkboy Swiss Chocolates grew up in Zurich, Switzerland. He spent several years studying in New York in the 90’s where he met his wife. Shortly after their marriage, they moved back to Zurich, where he managed a family-owned business that exported Swiss chocolate and cheese.
During his frequent visits back to the States he noticed how difficult it was to attain authentic, high-quality, Swiss-manufactured chocolates.
He knew of a dairy, back in Switzerland, in the Emme-Valley (Emmental) that had produced quality Swiss cheeses for over a hundred years, under the “Milkboy” brand. At the turn of the century, they converted the dairy into a micro-brewery instead. After acquiring the brand, he saw an opportunity to rebrand Milkboy to create and market a unique chocolate product, inspired by the Milkboy story of the “Alp-Aufzug”, using traditional and iconic Swiss chocolate manufacturing processes to produce authentic Swiss chocolate without compromising quality.
“Milkboy Swiss Chocolates” was launched in 2015, focusing primarily on the US specialty food market. This coincided with his decision to move with his wife and their four Swiss born children to New York.
Milkboy Swiss Chocolates has grown in popularity and acclaim, winning several prestigious awards for their extraordinary tasting chocolates: Four Sofi Awards – the equivalent of the Oscar in the US gourmet food industry and five Great Taste Awards.
Today, Milkboy Swiss Chocolates can be found in specialty stores, on Amazon.com and directly on Milkboy.com.
Special offer for SABC members:
Milkboy Swiss Chocolates is offering an exclusive 15% discount code for members of the SABC on www.milkboy.com , valid until the end of March 2021. Code: SABC
or with this direct link: https://milkboy.com/discount/SABC
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BIG KAISER Announces New President, COO
BIG KAISER Precision Tooling announces the promotion of Jack Burley to President/Chief Operating Officer as of January 1, 2021. Chris Kaiser, BIG KAISER President and CEO of 30 years, will take on the role of Executive Advisor.
“Jack has been my right hand in this company from the very beginning,” said Kaiser. “He’s shown his leadership in managing the sales and engineering teams and has made many significant contributions to BIG KAISER including new product designs and development. He’s more than ready and deserving of this promotion.”
Burley began his career with BIG KAISER more than 30 years ago and is currently Vice President, Sales and Engineering. Burley is a U.S. Marine veteran and earned his degree in mechanical engineering from State University of New York at Alfred. As President/COO of the North American operations for BIG KAISER, Burley will continue to hold his seat on the board of directors for BIG KAISER.
“I am very honored and excited about my new position with BIG KAISER, and truly grateful to the executive management at BIG Daishowa and to Chris for placing their trust and confidence in me to lead the company,” said Burley.
BIG KAISER is a worldwide leader in high-precision tooling systems and solutions for the metalcutting industry that guarantee extreme accuracy and repeatability. Our products are of the utmost quality — manufactured with materials and craftsmanship that enable superior performance. As a member of the BIG DAISHOWA Group (Osaka, Japan), BIG KAISER has grown into a well-recognized global tooling provider, with manufacturing facilities in North America, Switzerland and Japan. In addition, BIG KAISER is the North American representative of Speroni tool measuring machines, Sphinx high performance drills, mptec measuring stands, Tekusa spindle cleaners and the UNILOCK zero point workholding system by Innotool.
For more information, contact BIG KAISER, Hoffman Estates, IL at 224-770-2999, e-mail bigkaiser@us.bigkaiser.com or visit www.us.bigkaiser.com.
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 Tornos, a pioneer in the production of Swiss-type automatic lathes and multi-spindle machines, started in 1880 and marked the beginning of Swiss-type lathe technology. Backed by a 100-year legacy of expertise, attentiveness to detail, innovation, and reliability, Tornos offers unique solutions to customer challenges and applications in a wide range of market segments, such as, Automotive, Medical, Micromechanics, and Electronics. Tornos has a global presence including two strategic locations in the US - TTUS headquarters in Des Plaines, Illinois, and the Northeast US facility in Brookfield, Connecticut. Tornos Technologies US offers technical expertise, training, maintenance and more to ensure continuous machining and peak productivity on our world-class equipment.
This year, Tornos US is excited to release and introduce an affordable, high-performance Swiss-type lathe designed especially for America. This machine is going to help us re-educate the market about “Swiss-type” machining. Not only that but with this product, our goal is to support bringing manufacturing back to America. As part of our strategy, we want to extend this lathe to academies, training schools, and colleges that help educate and build new talents for the manufacturing industry. The future generation needs to be made aware of the importance of manufacturing, and it’s our responsibility being in the industry to open the young minds up to the career opportunities manufacturing has to offer. As members of the SABC, we’re announcing this exciting news to you all as an exclusive peak at what is to come. We are proud of our Swiss heritage, and we hope sharing this technology with you will encourage more manufacturing in house. Stay tuned for more updates and spread the word with your colleagues about the newest arrival to our product range, coming soon.
Contact & Follow Us:
Tornos Technologies US Corp.
200 E Howard Ave, Ste. 220
Des Plaines, IL 60018 USA
P: 630.812.2040. | F: 630.812.2039
E: info-us@tornos.com | W: www.tornos.com/us
    
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 WANDFLUH announces President and CEO change for North America
Wandfluh Holding AG is pleased to announce that effective October 1st, Gary Gotting will assume the position of President and CEO of Wandfluh of America, Inc.
Gary joined Wandfluh US in January 2020 as VP of Product Management, and succeeds Mike Lindamood, who has led the company since 2016. Mike will continue to support the company in a sales capacity for the near future. The entire Wandfluh management team would like to thank Mike for his tireless efforts during his time as President.
Prior to joining Wandfluh in January 2020, Gary’s fluid power career, spanning 37 years, has seen him undertake ever-increasing roles of global responsibility within major manufacturers including Denison Hydraulics, Parker Hannifin, Eaton Hydraulics, and Sun hydraulics, where his electro-hydraulic, applications and systems experience have seen him accomplish successful roles in the key Product Development, Product Management, Sales, Marketing and Business Development arenas. Gary is a graduate of Brighton College of Technology in England, UK and holds higher education certificates in electronics and communications engineering.
Please join us in welcoming Gary to his new leadership role and offering your support to him and the Wandfluh of America team for their continued success.
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 Wandfluh of America Announces New National Sales Manager for North America
Wandfluh of America is pleased to announce that Kirk Fennell assumed the position and responsibilities of National Sales Manager for North America.
Prior to joining Wandfluh, Kirk served the last 4.5 years as Director of Fluid Power Sales at Hydrotech Inc., a leading fluid power distributor in the Ohio/Kentucky market. At Hydrotech, Kirk was responsible for managing Hydrotech’s fluid power sales team and strategy. Before his stint at Hydrotech, Kirk spent 16 years in various sales and sales management roles at Hydac Technology Corporation, ultimately holding the position of Regional Vice President - East. In his role as Regional VP, Kirk managed Hydac’s business east of the Mississippi, including all field sales and application personnel in the region. Kirk holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Grove City College (Pennsylvania) and is he a Certified Fluid Power Specialist.
Please join us in welcoming Kirk to his new leadership role and offering your support to him and the Wandfluh of America team for their continued success.
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 Wandfluh of America Announces New VP of Operations for North America
Wandfluh of America is pleased to announce that effective today, Craig Hanks will assume the position and responsibilities of Vice President of Operations.
Prior to joining Wandfluh in January 2020, Craig most recently was the New Product Introduction Manager for Linde Hydraulics and has worked in various leadership roles in the fluid power industry for over (28) twenty-eight years. On the distribution side, Craig served as Technical Services Manager for Carolina Fluid Components (AIT) and as General Manager for Hydradyne Hydraulics, and on the manufacturing side having Senior Technical, Applications, Engineering, and Project Management roles working with Hawe Hydraulics, and Parker Hannifin (Denison) Hydraulics.
Craig holds an Executive Master of Business Administration from Queens University’s McColl Graduate School of Business in Charlotte NC, and a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering Technology from University of North Carolina at Charlotte NC. Craig is also a certified fluid power specialist and is an active member both of NFPA and IFPA. Please join us in welcoming Craig to his new leadership role and offering your support to him and the Wandfluh of America team for their continued success.
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 We are proud to be part of the DACH community supporting the German International School Chicago (GISC)! This year, due to the pandemic, GISC is hosting a Virtual Gala, Around the World with GISC, on Saturday, April 10, 2021, at 8:00 pm CDT.
GISC’s 2021 Virtual Gala is an opportunity to raise critical funds needed to continue providing their students with a rigorous world-class German/English dual-language education in a supportive and individualized learning environment. Around the World with GISC will feature a fun program and a silent auction with exciting experiences and items up for bidding. Sponsorships are also still available to support this one-of-a-kind evening benefiting GISC.
We invite you to join us on April 10 for a celebration of what makes the German International School Chicago such a special place! To learn more, visit https://GISC21.givesmart.com.
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Sales & Use Tax Talk Webinar
Businesses worldwide have been overwhelmed with U.S. sales tax exposure after the Wayfair U.S. Supreme Court case in 2018. The purpose of this quarterly webinar series is to sift through all the overwhelming noise coming from 45 states with sales tax and provide an update on the most important and pressing matters for businesses to focus in the current quarter. Rödl & Partner’s second webinar on Tuesday, March 16th will summarize the important changes from 2020 impacting 2021 sales tax obligations for most businesses. Sales tax experts will provide “Tales from the Field” – real life stories of how states are reacting to budget shortfalls resulting from the COVID pandemic and will recommend ways you can prepare to minimize your tax burdens. Please visit this link to register for the webinar.
COVID-19 UPDATES: Be always up to date on tax impacts of COVID-19 and related new legislation and relief for tax payers! Please visit https://www.roedl.us/trending/tax_matters/covid-19-tax-recources or follow us on LinkedIn to find useful articles and information, updated daily.
As an integrated professional services firm, Rödl & Partner is active at 109 wholly owned locations in 49 countries. Rödl & Partner USA has specifically tailored our accounting, auditing, tax and business consulting services to the unique needs of your foreign owned business in the United States of America. For more than 40 years our core practice has been serving the accounting and tax needs of primarily German speaking and other foreign owned “Mittelstand” companies operating in the U.S.
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Immigration Initiatives Are Undertaken Swiftly by Biden-Harris Administration
The Biden-Harris administration has moved decisively on immigration reform measures, issuing immediately effective executive orders that reverse restrictive Trump-era immigration policies, and announcing an initiative for broadscale legislative immigration reform. These significant steps stand to impact all facets of US immigration law and policy.
This Client Alert from Steptoe & Johnson LLP describes both immediate changes and long-term proposals. Information is also available from Steptoe on COVID-related travel restrictions. Steptoe guides US and global businesses on workforce and growth strategies in compliance with US immigration laws.
In more than 100 years of practice, Steptoe has earned an international reputation for vigorous representation of clients before governmental agencies, successful advocacy in litigation and arbitration, and creative and practical advice in structuring business transactions. Steptoe’s immigration lawyers are ready to help employers and individuals navigate the changing US immigration laws and policies under the Biden-Harris administration and to leverage opportunities created through these changes. Steptoe represents clients before the Department of Homeland Security, Department of State, and Department of Labor, to help obtain visas, work authorization, permanent and temporary immigration status, investor visas and related immigration benefits for international employees at all levels.
If you have questions about immigration, contact SABC board member Will Turner. Will has more than 25 years’ experience advising domestic and international companies in a wide range of industries on U.S. commercial and transactional matters.
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Speaking out on your future
How can you start the conversation about finances with your significant other?
Provided by Allen Carter
 Having a meaningful conversation about money with your significant other can be difficult, especially if you’re not entirely sure what the conversation needs to accomplish.
According to UBS’s “Own your worth” report, avoiding these financial conversations can have detrimental effects for women, especially considering that eight out of 10 women will be solely responsible for their financial well-being at some point in their lives, whether through divorce or widowhood.* The advice from women who are on their own is clear: Educate yourself now about investment decisions and be a full participant in your financial future.
No matter what age you are, or whether you’ve been married for two months or for 50 years, it’s the right time to have a conversation about your financial future.
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LOGISTICS SERVICES BY RÖHLIG – Awarded with the 2020 USA President’s “E” Award
The President's "E" Award is the highest recognition any U.S. entity can receive for making a significant contribution to the expansion of U.S. exports. The U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross presented Rӧhlig Logistics with the 2020 President's "E" Award for Export Service from his office in Washington, D.C.
A global leader in air and sea freight forwarding, Rӧhlig USA provides individually customized freight services focused on quick transit considerations, cost-cutting opportunities and continuous communication. All our solutions from door-to-door consolidation to heavy-lift air freight charters and our diverse insurance services have one thing in common: reliable schedules you can trust. Moreover, we offer a full array of global maritime services including ocean forwarding, weekly LCL consolidation, FCL container management as well as out-of-gauge shipment services.
With 10 offices in key US cities, our expert team and your single point of contact is here to guide you through the complexities of global shipping to and from any point in the world. We believe that only a unique solution can do justice to all your unique requirements. From basic logistics services all the way through further added-value services, including customs clearance, purchase order, vendor and warehouse management, to innovative and highly efficient IT solutions.
LET US WORK TOGETHER TO OPTIMIZE YOUR TRADE
Thomas Lakemeyer
Vice President of Sales
Rohlig USA, LLC
1601 Estes Ave
Elk Grove Village, IL 60007
773.230.8527
thomas.lakemeyer@rohlig.com
www.rohlig.com
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As a commitment to the cutting tool industry and our community of customers, vendors, employees, and their families, Rollomatic Inc. has partnered with the SME Education Foundation to create a new Scholarship Fund dedicated to advancing the manufacturing industry with workforce talent for the future. To further our values around embracing diversity and inclusion, Rollomatic is building out this new Scholarship Fund with a dedication to promoting manufacturing & STEM-related education to underrepresented young people.
As part of the philanthropic arm of SME (Society of Manufacturing Engineers), an internationally recognized nonprofit organization serving the manufacturing industry, the SME Education Foundation has had significant impact on hundreds of thousands of people since its inception in 1979. The Foundation annually awards scholarships to high school seniors, undergraduates, and post-graduate students pursuing careers in manufacturing or engineering.
Based on the following criteria, the SME Education Foundation Scholarship Review Committee will award two onetime Rollomatic scholarships for 2021/2022 academic year:
- Underrepresented minority or female
- Major: Manufacturing, industrial, mechanical engineering or technologies or other closely related engineering disciplines.
- Pursuing Associate or Bachelor degree
- Attending a 2 year or 4 year accredited public or private college/university
- GPA: 2.5/4.0
- Graduating high school senior, or undergraduate student
- Part or full-time student
- Residency at time of application: U.S. or Canada
- Citizenship: U.S. or Canadian resident, student visa or green card
- Attending post-secondary school in U.S. or Canada
- Scholarship may be used toward tuition, books, course/lab fees and on campus housing expenses.
- Students may reapply in subsequent years.
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Bon appétit! Winter is the perfect time for enjoying cheese Raclette
These specialties are particularly popular among us Swiss during the colder months of the year. But if a classic fondue is too heavy on the stomach, you might prefer to order raclette. Traditionally, half wheels of cheese are warmed over the fire, pared and served on a plate. If you're looking for more inspiration, you find many more recipes for specialties such as Capuns or Polenta here.
 
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EROWA Technology, based in Arlington Heights, IL., is a full service supplier of palletization and automation systems for the North American manufacturing market. Our goal is to provide complete turnkey solutions for precision parts handling through most any group of manufacturing processes (from one type of machine to the next). We are capable of providing a simple manual palletization system or a fully integrated, custom designed workholding and automation system to meet the current needs and expectations of our customers.
In the market segments of precision mechanics, tool- and mold-making, as well as chip-cutting production, we offer concepts and products that provide customers with considerable optimization possibilities throughout the whole range of machining processes. Primarily, we achieve this through comprehensive knowledge of the application of our products, through individual and customized consultation, and through the use of our Flexible Manufacturing Concept (FMC), which cover the following four areas:
- Standardization (tooling system, tooling technology)
- Organization (setting-up, presetting and measuring technologies)
- Automation (loading/unloading technologies)
- Integration (process sequence, process control and planning technologies)
EROWA Technology, Inc.
2535 S. Clearbrook Dr.
Arlington Heights, IL 60005
www.erowa.com
info.usa@erowa.com
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