Gritec
A new Gyro Gearloose
Christine Brütsch is not someone who seeks the limelight. Sitting in front of a blinking recorder and talking about her career does not come naturally to her. She seems happiest when completely absorbed in her work, searching for solutions to problems and finding them.
That’s when I feel I’m doing something meaningful.
Christine Brütsch
Her baby comes to life
The challenge currently facing the young mechanical engineer is a complex assembly and testing system. Something for the medical sector, something previously done by hand. We are not allowed to know much more: the machines built here at Gritec in Grüsch are one-off designs subject to strict confidentiality.
In any case, it is Christine Brütsch’s first project at Gritec. It has been with her since last November, when she started here and first switched on the computer with its two large monitors and technical drawing software. Now, in just a few days, the machine she has conceived, planned and designed will actually be assembled. Understandably, that makes her a little nervous. Yet it is precisely what brought her here, to the peaceful Prättigau, where cows graze beside the modern industrial building and the windows overlook a small ski area: the chance to see a project through from start to finish.
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From holiday destination to home
The 29-year-old from southern Germany originally trained as a technical product designer. But after a three-year apprenticeship and six months in the job, she found herself saying something familiar among engineers in the Alpine Rhine Valley: “I’d quite like to do a little more.” By that, she meant developing things herself, “because that’s where most of the creativity lies”.
And so, after four years studying mechanical engineering in Konstanz, she is now here in Graubünden, building machines. “I’ve had a connection with Switzerland for quite a while, including this canton and its landscape. We used to come here for skiing trips.” She is delighted that her job has given her the chance to renew that connection. She appreciates the structure, focus and efficiency of the working environment. And, of course, the view: green for now, white again before long.
She could easily have ended up elsewhere. She spent her practical semester in Belgium and completed an internship with a major packaging manufacturer in the United States. Her decision to join Gritec, and move to Grüsch, owed much to the variety her role offers. Every project here is different. Once this machine is finished, something entirely new will probably follow: a new client, a new problem. Given the choice, she would happily take on another project in the broad fields of medical technology or pharmaceuticals. “That’s when I feel I’m doing something meaningful.”
Her free time gives her a chance to clear her head. She regularly goes to Zumba or modern dance classes, and at weekends she and her partner gradually explore the mountains around them. “We take it easy: catch a gondola up somewhere, walk around a little, enjoy the view and then get something to eat.”
In the assembly hall directly beneath the open-plan office shared by Gritec’s engineers and administrative staff, various components of Brütsch’s automation system are already laid out. She picks up a gripper arm, checks the workmanship and puts it back, satisfied. It seems her plans are coming together.
