Interview with Regisol's Management Team

First of all, our warmest congratulations on the company’s anniversary!

Alain Jost, you were one of the former owners and played an active part in Regisol since the company's earliest days. Roberto Gianola, you have joined Regisol AG nine years ago and act as Managing Director since three years. You have both contributed to Regisol’s success. What is your formula to success and where do you see further potential?

Alain Jost: Ever since the start, we have always been very customer-oriented. Our goal was to bring the products to customers' construction sites promptly, at any time. We also believed it was important for us to deal in high quality products only. Another critical factor in our success was the team. We started with a small but highly motivated team. We have always taken a people approach towards our employees. That enabled us to build up close relationships with our customers. We still take this approach today and our proud to say we have a highly motivated team of great people!

Roberto Gianola: A number of different factors contribute to our success. I agree with Alain that most important in our company is collaboration in a reliable team. On top of that, there's strong cooperation with our main partners over many years, our extensive in-depth expertise, and the broad network of relationships that is available to us at Regisol.

One of the major next steps is digitalisation: invest in a new ERP and homepage, the Regisol database and e-commerce. The focus is on ensuring added value for our customers and optimising our resources. As a specialist in insulation materials, we plan to continue expanding our range by adding innovative products. Our reliable partners support us in this endeavour by contributing not only their high-quality products, but also specialist knowledge which they share with our customers in response to technical enquiries or through training courses. The key to it is our philosophy: "Getting to the heart of insulation".

Regisol has entered the IPCOM Group in 2016. How do you look at this transition?

Alain Jost: Each member of the IPCOM Group has strengths in specific sectors combined with a profound knowledge of their specialities. Opening the door to their contacts and high-quality products gives our customers some major advantages. It means that Regisol is always at the forefront of the latest developments, and it puts us on a very sound foundation.

What do you see as the current challenges for the insulation materials industry? How will Regisol deal with these challenges?

Roberto Gianola: COVID will leave its mark and will push some companies to their limits. Next, there are more and more requirements when it comes to quality on the construction site, safety and sustainability. Regulation, legal requirements and inspections are becoming stricter and stricter. That is why we aim to be perceived first and foremost as a partner, based on our extensive know-how – not "merely" as a trader. For some of these requirements we can rely on our suppliers, for example to get suitable EPDs (Environmental Product Declarations communicating the environmental performance or impact of any product or material over its lifetime). But we also invest a lot ourselves in our customer-oriented approach. For example we are committed to assist our customers and participate in consultations on tenders to ensure compliance with the required specifications in the energy sector; we offer advice and training on fire protection, etc. Recently, customers' general requirements for the trade have increased massively, and compliance with all of them translates into higher costs. It's an enormous challenge to reconcile all these different factors.

You mention customer-orientation as a key to success. How do you maintain your customers' loyalty over the long term?

Roberto Gianola: We generally seek to collaborate and get along with them in the spirit of partnership. Our motto – "Getting into action for you" – underlines our focus on service to our customers, with our solution-oriented sales team, our employees' flexibility, and our own fleet of trucks. On top of that, we offer a range of training courses – available in online formats or face-to-face on site, individually tailored to customers' requirements as far as possible. Our customers benefit from all these features.

Christof Kälberer, you joined Regisol a few months ago. Being responsible for finance, HR and the entire operations, you will play a main role in guiding the company through the digitalization path. How do you look at that?

Christof Kälberer: In my view, differentiation based on good service is the key factor for the future. Customers recognise and appreciate reliable, customer-focused service. To be able to offer such services, it's very important to have fast, efficient and digitalised processes of high quality. I am happy to be part of this digitalisation process. After working in a major enterprise for many years, I felt a growing desire to get closer to the action – to be able to influence events faster and more directly. I also wanted to tackle a new challenge and quite deliberately move out of my comfort zone.

Finally, how would you like to see Regisol develop?

Christof Kälberer: I would like to continue having a highly motivated team that reliably and eagerly tackles future challenges together, so we can continue to offer our customers good service in the future.

Alain Jost: I would like to see Regisol continuing to have motivated employees in the future – people who like to get up in the morning and enjoy their work. While the environment is increasingly demanding and pressure to survive in the market is growing each year. But if we can manage to achieve that balance, Regisol will carry on being successful in the future. A good team and their wellbeing are the most important assets.

Roberto Gianola: I want to see Regisol and its entire, highly motivated team continuing our journey and having a major impact on the Swiss market, just as we have done in previous years. I'm convinced that the steps we have initiated will move Regisol up to the next level. These investments in the future will generate plenty of added value for our customers. And finally – there's a close link between fun and success. Those are my most heartfelt ambitions for Regisol.