Automation Engineering Switzerland
PLC engineering from Luxembourg – fast availability for Basel, Zurich and Lucerne
Swiss machine builders and end customers regularly need experienced PLC engineering capacity on short notice – especially for retrofit, commissioning and recovery of lost PLC programs, when local engineering offices are booked out for months. Focus areas: TIA Portal, reverse engineering of online projects without symbols (AI-supported reconstruction from E-plan and online dump) and AI-accelerated engineering and documentation workflows.
PLC programming (TIA Portal, STEP 7 Classic), HMI retrofit to WinCC Unified, commissioning of new plants, program recovery from online dumps without symbols and AI-accelerated engineering and documentation workflows for Swiss industrial customers. Cross-border setup with EU/EFTA notification procedure and A1 certificate is in place – details further down.
Three regional clusters
Pick the location that matches your project.
Basel
Pharma · specialty chemicals · plant engineering
- Roche · Lonza · Novartis
- SKAN · Bachem
- Syngenta · Clariant
Zurich
Machinery & plant engineering · OEM
- Bühler · Schindler
- Sulzer · Rieter
- ABB · Siemens CH
Lucerne
Mid-market · packaging · metal processing
- Schurter · Trisa
- Bossard · Pilatus
- Komax · maxon
Automation Engineering in Switzerland
German-speaking Switzerland is one of Europe's densest machinery and plant engineering markets – with pharma players like Roche, Lonza and Novartis around Basel, OEMs like Bühler, Schindler and Sulzer in greater Zurich, and a strong mid-market between Lucerne and Zug. Swiss engineering offices are typically at full capacity; external PLC engineering capacity with a retrofit and reverse-engineering focus is in regular demand. As a Luxembourg sole proprietorship with an operations base in Mettlach, I serve Swiss customers as a flexibly deployable engineering partner – without setting up a Swiss subsidiary, with clear travel times from 4:30 h to Basel up to 5:45 h to Lucerne. Focus areas: retrofit of S5 and S7-Classic controllers to S7-1500 with TIA Portal, HMI retrofit to WinCC Unified, commissioning of new plants and AI-supported re-documentation for plants without symbols (typical for 20+ year-old controllers). The legal cross-border framework (notification procedure, A1, reverse charge) is in place and documented in writing before each assignment.
Service Area
More background
This Switzerland page is meant as an entry point – services, references and profile are fully documented on the main pages.
Services
PLC programming, commissioning, retrofit, reverse engineering, AI workflows – the complete service portfolio.
References
30+ international commissionings. Project examples from pharma, machinery and packaging.
About me
David Prybisch – Luxembourg-based automation engineer. Background, working style, tools.
Frequently Asked Questions
Legal framework: all prepared
So your purchasing team can sign off – five fixed points, confirmed in writing before each assignment.
- 01.
Notification procedure · 8-day lead
90 days / calendar yearEU/EFTA self-employed workers register assignments online with SEM. Notification 8 days before work starts, no permit required.
SEM · Art. 6 EntsG - 02.
A1 certificate
Social insurance in LUThe Centre commun de la sécurité sociale (CCSS) issues the A1 for EU/EEA/CH/UK – no double insurance in Switzerland.
EU Reg. 883/2004 · CCSS LU - 03.
Reverse charge · 8.1%
Place-of-recipient principleEngineering services are taxed at the CH customer. Invoice with LU VAT number without VAT – the CH recipient declares the acquisition tax themselves.
Art. 45 MWSTG - 04.
EUR invoicing
CHF on requestDefault currency Euro. On request CHF at the official FTA daily rate on the invoice date.
ISO 4217 · FTA rate - 05.
ATA Carnet
12 months · 1 documentNotebook and programming device travel duty-free with an ATA Carnet via the House of Entrepreneurship at Chambre de Commerce Luxembourg.
WCO convention · CC LU
Standard process: before each assignment period your purchasing team receives the current status of all five points as a PDF.
Project in Switzerland?
Let's discuss your cross-border automation project – including a clear compliance setup before the assignment starts.