Mathias Manser
Mathias Manser is Head of Quality Management for Bühler's Die Casting business in Asia and has been with Bühler for nearly 20 years. Whether in Switzerland or China, Mathias has devoted his passion to die casting and his hobby baking. Across time and space, he has tasted the "flavors" of different stages of life.
Lei Lei, March 31, 2022
Back to 2002, Bühler, as the first stop in Mathias’ career, when he started as an apprentice at Bühler Switzerland. In 2008, he was part of a development project of the new die casting machine series ‘Ecoline’, which was initially developed for the Chinese market. Through this project, he got in contact with China for the first time and started to cooperate with our Chinese colleagues, and this work experience as a big team carried a foreshadowing of his future career in China.
I love my die casting, it’s something that really fascinates me until this day.
Mathias Manser,
Head of Quality Management Die Casting, Bühler China
Four years after the cooperation, his outstanding performance won him the opportunity to travel to China. With the increasing frequency and length of delegations, more business was transferred to China as well as knowledge and skills. It has been almost a decade since Mathias was first nominated to work in Wuxi.
When it comes to the most memorable moment in his career, Mathias gives the answer almost without hesitation. Working for Bühler and stepping into China is the greatest moment in his career path which he does not regret. Embracing the cultural differences between China and European countries makes him a more open-minded person who always keeps a positive attitude towards new things. It is a career that he loves, which he will stick with in the following years, and it is also what he encourages young people to experience in the future.
The beginning is always the most difficult part. To Mathias, real challenges lie in language barriers and cultural gaps. “I’m not used to asking help. if I want to achieve something, I will try my best as much as I can,” says Mathias. Therefore, he followed the belief of ‘JUST DO IT’, and then motivated himself to change his personality to better get accustomed to his new life. In this process, Mathias’s friends in and outside the company played an important part when he faced organizational and individual issues. Nowadays, Mathias can speak Chinese on a basic level to meet his daily needs and really finds his place in China with his family. China has no longer been a foreign country but more a second home to him.
China, as a vast country, something that really fascinates Mathias, is its diverse food culture. During these years, he had great opportunities to try different cuisine and experience the unique charm of Chinese food culture. Among all, northeastern food has become his favorite. “Jiaozi, dumplings, I’m trying to make them,” Mathias says. For him, it is not only about eating but more importantly, the values of the preparation process. He takes it as an interesting family event which he can have a sweet moment with his loved ones.
When it comes to how Mathias settled down in China, another story that must be mentioned is the dramatic encounter with his Chinese wife, Sharon. The story began in 2016 when Sharon was hanging out with her German friends in a bar, and a new friend, Mathias, got introduced to her. Afterwards, she tried to get in contact with him on Facebook, so she entered his name but mistook its double ‘t’ with a ‘th’. By coincidence, Sharon was in Shanghai at that moment, which is so close to Wuxi, and Mathias believes it must be the reason why his name was on top of the search results. “I got a quite good picture of myself on Facebook at that time,” Mathias says with a smile. Sharon sent the friend request, then they started to chat on Facebook and gradually switched to WeChat.
Sharon and Mathias kept in contact with each other on WeChat for quite a long time until she came to his city, Wuxi, where they had their first date. In 2017, they decided to live together in this city after dating for four months. It is a big step for Sharon because it means she had to leave behind everything she was familiar with, her family, friends and work environment.
Like the best stories, this one also has a happy ending. Two years later, they got married in China. It was an amazing experience for Mathias as they made it a traditional Chinese wedding ceremony that followed local customs. In 2021, the family welcomed their first child, baby boy Jonathan. After years, Mathias still calls it a lucky moment when Sharon found him on Facebook.
The interesting thing is that, when asked about the plan when Mathias just started his short-term delegation, he always said “I won’t stay too long in China”. However, his colleagues who also had such experience kept telling him: “Believe me, Mathias, you will stay much longer than you expect in China, and it will become a big part of your life”. Till then, Mathias never thought it would be the case for him. Although life cannot be predicted, it happens in his life that he finally has a great family in China.
This small family represents a good example of cultural fusion. Having been in China for years, Mathias is still deeply impressed by the way Chinese people live the culture and how families get together from all over the world to celebrate the biggest festival. Each year, Mathias and his family celebrate Chinese New Year in a traditional way, and he really enjoys the warm atmosphere brought by the reunion of a big family. According to Swiss culture, Mathias also introduced Christmas, one of the most important Holidays of the year, to his lovely son, in the hope that this young boy can grow up under different cultures with an open heart.
Even though my understanding of the Chinese language is limited, I am curious and like to experience the differences in culture and traditions.
Mathias Manser,
Head of Quality Management Die Casting, Bühler China
Different from Mathias’ working life at Bühler, another thing he is passionate about is his hobby of baking. His interest and love for Swiss bread can date back to his childhood when he spent much time in his uncle’s bakery store. After he came to China, it took a while for Mathias to really restart baking when he gradually adapted to his new life here. Especially after meeting his wife Sharon, the idea of bringing Swiss bread and its culture to China and introducing it to more friends became stronger.
Rather than calling it a business, he prefers to call it a real hobby, since everything originated and started from a fondue issue of not finding a proper bread. In two years, more and more people have tasted Mathias’ handmade Swiss bread and make their friends feel like home, and the orders have flown to Wuxi, Shanghai, Beijing and even Inner Mongolia.
It’s a great hobby outside of the work at Bühler, and it also helps to balance the work and life. The passion to create something handmade and to see people enjoying and cherish it gives me the most grateful feeling which keeps us moving forward also towards innovating new products.
Mathias Manser,
Head of Quality Management Die Casting, Bühler China
“Baking is not only a great job on balancing between my life and work, but also much more than that,” says Mathias. He is a family-oriented person who is fully committed to his role as a father and husband. Therefore, he is never to sacrifice precious time with his family for his personal hobby of baking.
Life was like a box of chocolate; you never know what you are going to get. But for Mathias, he always knows for sure where his love and passion lie. And he also knows that it is in the most ordinary moments where the wisdom of life can be discovered.
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