Zump, zump, zump goes the machine, at about the same pace as you would speak it. Zump, zump, zump, the meter-long steel monster punches small components, a good one square centimeter in size, out of an endless metal band. Combined with some plastic, they become something most of us use every day: a key on a computer keyboard. A good 35 years ago, at Cherry, they had the idea of manufacturing mechanical switches for computer keyboards and invented this category, called MX. If you ask professional computer gamers today – be it in Asia, the USA or anywhere else in the world – which keyboard they play with, the answer will not necessarily be “cherry”. But there is a good chance that the keyboard has switches from Cherry. And also that the players have chosen them very consciously.
In this country, however, the manufacturer, with its headquarters on the outskirts of the tranquil town of Auerbach in the Upper Palatinate, is doubly important hidden champion, a world market leader that almost only experts know about. On the one hand, because Auerbach is close to the large Grafenwöhr military training area in the Upper Palatinate, away from the big cities. On the other hand, because it leads the competition in its segment – high-quality switches for keyboards.
Rolf Unterberger, the managing director of Cherry, says proudly that he can now feel the difference to imitation products. The Austrian has been head of Cherry for four years now, and he has big plans. So far, Cherry has mainly supplied business customers, but not least the pandemic has changed that too. “Before the pandemic, we had around 80 percent business customers for keyboards, mice and headsets for office use,” says Unterberger, “in three to five years the ratio of business and private customers will be 50 to 50.”
Cherry inside
In the past, computer accessories were usually procured centrally, but today in times of home office and mobile working there is often a budget for it that employees can spend themselves. Unterberger therefore wants to set up its own team of 20 to 30 employees, which should strengthen online business and make the brand better known. In Asia, where computer gaming is very common, this is not necessary. The switches made in Germany have long been valued there – because they work reliably and last a long time. Cherry is also the only manufacturer of switches that is named on the packaging of keyboards from other manufacturers – as a sign of quality.
“We just have decades of experience,” says Cherry boss Unterberger. For example, this led to an additional function being installed on the punching machines of a Swiss manufacturer. It doesn’t just punch components out of the endless strip, which consists of a metal alloy. Before that happens, she also welds tiny gold spots quickly and with high precision. It is they who make the contact in the finished switch – free of corrosion and very durable. Cherry guarantees 100 million switching operations for most of its switches, so you can type for a long time. Membrane keyboards without mechanical switches do not last nearly as long.
The switch makes the sound
At Cherry in Auerbach, the cleaned metal elements are assembled with the associated plastic parts into switches on largely fully automatic production machines. Here, too, it is a question of precision, the plastic parts must not deviate from the norm by more than three hundredths of a millimeter – this also requires a great deal of experience in processing and strict quality control. Once the switches are ready, they are shipped to Hong Kong – sometimes even flown if it’s urgent – to the warehouse there. From there they are delivered to the keyboard manufacturers, almost all of whom are based in China. Cherry itself also has a plant in Zhuhai, southern China.
By the way, a switch is not yet a button – the cap that is placed on the switch is missing. The switch, which has yet to be soldered to the circuit board in the keyboard case, but determines how a keyboard feels and sounds too. This sound is also a quality feature: “It shouldn’t sound like click, click, clack,” says Unterberger, “everyone has to feel and sound the same.”
The tastes, but also the requirements, are different. Gamers usually swear by switches with a plunger made of red plastic, prolific writers often appreciate the clicking of the blue switches with their acoustically defined pressure point, the brown ones are a kind of compromise between the two. The colors, by the way, were also introduced by Cherry. Today they are used analogously by most manufacturers around the world to symbolize the characteristics of the various switches – there are a few other colors as well.
The demand is great
Cherry produces 500 to 600 million switches a year and can hardly keep up with demand. But it is also important not to stand still. With their own invention alone, the mechanical switch called MX, more than 100 innovations have been introduced over time. But Cherry has also diversified its business. The Auerbach-based company is one of only two companies in Germany that have certification for a chip card reader used in medical practices and clinics. Cherry has already brought a good 64,000 of the terminals onto the market. Cherry expects a large growth market here.
Where it makes sense, Cherry also wants to grow with acquisitions. So they recently bought the company Active Key. Their boss used to be head of development at Cherry. Active Key builds keyboards that you can put in the dishwasher to clean. Incidentally, normal keyboards are usually not protected against liquids. If you throw a cup of coffee or a glass of cola over it, you have to expect that the keyboard will break. Because under the keys is the sensitive circuit board.
In its factory in China, Cherry also produces keyboards under its own name, as well as matching mice and headsets. The online sales team should also help with this and make the brand better known.
supply chain issues
The supply chain problems that are currently plaguing many companies do not go unnoticed by Cherry either. By expanding the warehouse in Hong Kong, attempts are currently being made to provide a larger buffer with 120 million switches, but: “It’s a daily struggle,” says Rolf Unterberger. He knows the business in China well, he’s been there since 1995, among other things he worked on a subway project in Shanghai.
However, the switches should continue to be produced in Germany. Just over two years ago, after investors bought it from the automotive supplier ZF and listed it on the stock exchange, Cherry moved to a newly built, spacious company complex. In the air-conditioned 3,300 square meter workshop, the components are transported from the automated high-rise warehouse to production by a system of autonomous trolleys.
New round production plants are currently still running alongside some older machines. The latter are to be phased out soon to make room for significantly more output. Because the Cherry switches are in demand. Instead of 80 switches like the current systems, they should spit out 400 per minute. But it’s not just about more of the same either. For example, Cherry has also developed particularly flat switches like those found in notebooks. “We don’t want to be perceived just as a company steeped in tradition,” says company boss Unterberger, “but also as a driver of innovation and a quality manufacturer.”