Fire and rebuild

Baffled, I ran to the car and drove back to Niederhasli. The fire brigade had already sealed off everything. But they let me through and I was able to get to the scene: the whole workshop had burnt down! The building was still standing and, amazingly, exactly the 1:1 model of Solar-Eis was still undamaged. Everything else, all the tools, all the equipment, the infrastructure was gone. Luckly, none of my senior vehicles were in Niederhasli. The transport had actually been planned for the next few days.
We had a customer who wanted two solar ice vehicles, a construction and 15 finished senior citizens' vehicles in Andelfingen. However, we no longer had a workshop! Another setback!
To make matters worse, I had caught an epoxy allergy during the production of the plastic parts for the first senior citizens' vehicles! I had worked far too much with epoxy resin without protecting myself properly. I didn't wear gloves and I didn't provide adequate ventilation. The allergy manifested itself as follows: if I even entered a room where epoxy resin was being used, my hands and face immediately swelled up. I could no longer work with the material I had actually relied on! All the knowledge I had acquired in fibre composite processing I could no longer use!
I had to rethink: my future constructions since then had always been built in steel, now and then aluminium and thermoplastic.
What to do? Rebuilding the workshop would take some time. It was unclear whether the insurance would pay for the damage and we needed money to take our projects further!

André's father worked for a company called Mabi AG, which built machines for sheet metal production. Some electrical components had just failed and they needed some switchboards. We introduced ourselves, and got the job of building some switchboards for the company. We quickly learnt the missing knowledge and in a short time our workshop, where actually two solar ice-creams were to be built, was full of switch cabinets. We gave everything to be able to do the job well and were very satisfied when we handed it in. We were somewhat less satisfied when we realised that the company Mabi AG did not pay our invoices! A debt collection statement provided clarity: the company was deep in debt and that was also the reason why the last switch cabinet manufacturers no longer wanted to deliver. André's father wanted to sell the machines and he could only do that if he hired us as panel builders! I tried to negotiate with the owner - without success. The only way left for me was to sue the company. After a long struggle, we got our money. But André's father lost his job as a result.
My 15 built senior vehicles were still standing around and so we decided to hire Markus Frey as a salesman. Meanwhile, it was spring 1995 and we registered for a trade fair for senior citizens. We set a sales price of CHF 9'900 for our senior citizens' vehicle. I set up the stand. Again, I had to use the stand that I had already borrowed from my former neighbour at the Geneva Motor Show. I didn't want to go to the fair myself. I didn't consider myself a salesman and there was a lot to do at Solar Eis.

Markus was really a good salesman. On the first day, he sold 3 vehicles to a medical supply store in Basel. Spurred on by the sales success, he independently raised the price of the vehicles: a little more every day and after the 3-day trade fair, the senior citizens' vehicles no longer cost CHF 9,900, as we had agreed, but CHF 12,800. I was foaming at the mouth and wanted to confront Markus, but he presented me with over 10 signed sales contracts! Only the first 3 cars had been sold for the CHF 9900, all the others more expensive! Markus had done his job brilliantly. He was our first real salesman! Success seemed to follow.

André's household insurance fortunately paid for most of the fire damage after some discussions and we had no more money worries for the time being.
The workshop was rebuilt, but we had lost 2 months of precious time.
We were under pressure with the construction of solar ice and urgently needed more helpers.
André lived together with Hans Ryser and Adriano Janelli in a shared flat just next to the workshop. They both followed what we were doing and wanted to help out. Hans quit his job as a teacher, Adriano his job as an electrician. I hired Stefan Rittler, who brought another fellow student to join us: Johannes Agostieni. Tina quit her job as a nurse and supported us at first by cooking for all of us. Later she took over more and more of the administrative work. The core team of Ing. Büro Kyburz AG was complete.

I learned in the process:

• A good team is the basis of success
• Persistence and patience bring a project forward
• Where there is ice, there is fire