by Veronika Altenbach
On September 15, 2026, the Terrific Tuesday 2026 took place at Schaffner AG in Müllheim – an afternoon consisting of three parts: a tour of the production, expert lectures on system integration and content discoverability, and space for direct exchange between the guests. From our perspective, the small group proved successful: there was plenty of room for direct questions and answers as well as discussions that would not have occurred in a larger group.
Schaffner AG has been producing garden furniture made of metal and fiberglass for over 70 years – from the famous spaghetti chairs to the garden tables, which many primarily know from the catering sector. Founded in 1954 in Fruthwilen, the company moved to its current location in Müllheim in 1963 and remained family-owned by the Schaffner family for several generations. Since September 2024, Urs Hänggi has been leading the company: As managing director and owner, Schaffner remains true to its existing values while simultaneously evolving step by step.
This continuity was also noticeable during our visit: Schaffner AG practically knows no fluctuation, many employees have been with the company for over ten years. We and our guests were welcomed in a familial manner.
With this familial character in mind, we were allowed to get to know the entire production chain. The main part of the production is made to order – accordingly, the warehouse consists of many semi-finished products, almost like a kit, which only becomes a finished chair or table with the customer's order. The tour was marked by palpable passion and provided a rare insight into a production process that makes craftsmanship and precision visible at every stage of production.
Strategically, Schaffner AG is also on the move: In the past two years, the company has been able to record further growth – achieved through optimized processes. Fresh momentum is just as much a part of the strategy as a clear goal: to specifically strengthen the retailers who sell the garden furniture – Schaffner AG deliberately does not offer direct sales. Schaffner also remains true to its values «Handmade in Switzerland»: a quality seal for long-lasting classics made with passion in Switzerland.
This path is not new to Schaffner: what targeted digitization can look like is demonstrated by the collaboration with brix. Together with Bynder, we have built a central dealer portal for digital assets for Schaffner – conceived, implemented, and launched in just one month. How this was achieved can be read in our success story with Schaffner AG.
Exactly this common thread – bringing content and data to where they are needed – also ran through the afternoon's presentations, whether in retail, production, or in one's own system landscape.
The presentation on Xactuell at Ullrich – Passion for Liquids was given by Melanie Gschwind, Publishing Consultant at brix, as Nathalie Heuser (Tech Lead E-Commerce & Process Management IT) was unavailable. She demonstrated how the company has automated the publishing process for the bi-monthly Liquid Magazine using Xactuell: Product data now flows directly from SAP Business One into the InDesign layout – in six language and target group versions for around 36,500 recipients. You can read about how this was achieved in our success story with Ullrich – Passion for Liquids.
Florian Kuhn (Senior Sales Manager, ATAMYA GmbH) focused on a classic with unnecessarily high effort: the product data sheet. Instead of manually adjusting layouts, copying data, and exporting PDFs individually, he showed how structured product data can be processed directly from the PIM into print-ready data sheets using templates and right-click – made possible by our developed PrintGrid service, which is already integrated into ATAMYA. You can read more about the PrintGrid service in our article on it.
Two topics from the presentations also touch on what we are working on at brix to make content delivery even more efficient for our customers in the future: the system integration platform as a foundation, so that content is not trapped in individual tools but is available where it is needed – and enterprise search as one of the services on it, which allows content to be found across system boundaries. Additional components such as the toolbox – which exports and imports structures, metadata, and permissions across DAMs – as well as additional connectors will follow.
This interplay of platform and services addresses the cross-system use of content, which was mentioned several times this afternoon – and is likely to gain further importance with growing system diversity.
The conclusion of the afternoon was what stood at the center for us beyond the specialist lectures: strengthening the network. Between production tours and presentations, there was enough space to exchange ideas with other guests, ask questions directly, and share experiences – conversations that would hardly have arisen in a larger group.
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