From customer to employee
William Ritchie – or Bill – as he is called, is known as a passionate Service Sales Manager and inspiring speaker by many Bühler colleagues around the world. But did you know that he once was a customer? Or that he only got to attend the Swiss Milling School in the 1980’s because another student dropped out? Or that he was shy and discovered his talent for public speaking later? In this Mosaic portrait we shine a light on his remarkable story and personality.
Bianca Richle, September 2025
They say you always meet twice in real life. But for Bill and Bühler, it’s been more already. The first time Bill encountered Bühler was in 1979. Bill’s brother David, who was working for Bühler at the time, ran into Mr. Bremer, a professor for electrical from the Swiss Milling School (SMS). In the conversation Mr. Bremer mentioned that a student dropped out and went home after a month of school.
Bill’s brother, seeing the opportunity, said to Mr. Bremer: “Save that spot. My brother can be here and take that opening by next Monday.” And so, it came that Bill – who was studying engineering in North Dakota – took his chance, left everything behind and flew to Switzerland with no visa, no command of German, no place to stay, but a napkin with the number of his brother’s Swiss bank account.
Bill is still grateful to this day for his brother who made this experience and the education possible: “David could as well have bought a car or a house with this money”, Bill says. When Bill arrived, he had no place to live. The director of the school at that time was at a birthday party and the person who hosted the party asked him why they didn’t get a student that year, as they usually had one.
The director replied that they have a nice guy from the US looking for a place to stay, and that’s how Bill got to know Mina, his “Swiss mom” as he now calls her. He stayed with her for nine months – the whole duration of the school – and now 40 years later he is still in contact with her. “We have a very special bond”, Bill says. “I’m the child she never had.”
After finishing the Swiss Milling School, Bill worked in different jobs in a specialty mill, a flour mill, and a feed mill. He fixed things on the installation, did plant management, and later worked as regional manager. And he also gathered first experiences in sales when working for a company where his job was to sell sunflower kernels into the Netherlands, and then mustard in Southeast Asia, and buckwheat into Russia and Japan.
In 2012 when he worked for a small specialty milling customer, he encountered Bühler for the second time. He was visiting Bühler’s headquarters in Uzwil and was extremely impressed by Urs Bühler, who took the time to meet him in person. Urs Bühler was the Chair of the Bühler Group back then, and the meeting was planned for 15 minutes. “We were a really small customer, but Urs Bühler stayed for an hour,” Bill recalls.
Urs Bühler then also sent a car, a Cadillac, so he could go visit the Swiss Mill with Stefan Nissen.
When the driver picked Bill up in the little town outside of Rorschach where his Swiss mom lived at that time, and where Bill was staying to meet with her – Mina couldn’t trust her eyes and the rumors in town about who this person might be, getting picked up by a Cadillac, started circulating. “Don’t worry about the car, just enjoy your day”, Urs Bühler said according to Bill.
Bill always was a fan of Bühler technology, but this gesture and the modesty of Urs Bühler left a lasting impression on him to this day. And it certainly also helped that only about a year later, in 2013, Bill and Bühler had another encounter, the third one, and this time Bill officially became part of the Bühler Group. He was offered a job as a Customer Service Sales Manager in the CS Grand Slam project.
Being part of the CS Grand Slam, which aimed to strengthen and grow Bühler’s customer service, Bill visited about 200 customers in his first year, mostly throughout the US, and has been doing so ever since. “I’m very competitive. I have a desire to win”, Bill says. “Being a salesperson that also knows how to fix things helps a lot to gain trust from customers.”
But this is not enough for Bill. He always tries to see the bigger picture to be able to support customers. “I saw that the pool of products we offered was a bit small, so I was figuring out a way to see the status of the roll to find the best timing for reconditioning”, Bill says. His former boss Nick Trounce said that there is this service called “rollDetect”, and that he should try this. Bill did and has been closely working with Roman Tribelhorn, who developed the rollDetect since 2014.
“To make the roll reconditioning business take off in the US was really tough, as it was such a competitive market,” Bill says. But the hard work paid off. “Now I receive purchase orders on a weekly basis. The seeds I planted are now blossoming. This is also thanks to the great team members we have in the US! These guys really know how to work. It makes it easy. And it makes it fun.”
Bill is the primary user of rollDetect and knows how to make the most out of it. Therefore, he was invited to Uzwil to participate in the superuser training, share his experiences, and the concrete benefits he sees, thus strengthening the use of the service and supporting its further development.
We had the chance to meet Bill in person during the workshop in Uzwil. Everywhere we went, he recognized and greeted people warmly and sincerely, and he always found something kind to say about them.
Most people assume Bill was born with his gift for public speaking and inspiration. In fact, he discovered it later in life. “I was always the shy one – my brother was the outgoing one,” Bill says and laughs.
When asked about the future, Bill gets a little pensive. “I’m turning 63 this year, and I worry if I will retire. What am I going to do?.” he says. “My brother David retired this year at seventy because he loved his job. And I love my job too. I like the chaos that comes with it and the many friendships across the country and around the world. It is one of the amazing things about Bühler – somehow, we connect to help customers. There are few companies with such an international flair.”
But being the creative and visionary guy he is, Bill will for sure never get bored should he ever retire. In his free time, on Saturdays, Bill fixes the cars of people that don’t have money. He does body work for rusty cars, like fiberglass fixing and removing rust on wheel wells. “Maybe I could start a business making cars shiny. Or maybe I could start a business to fix roller mill covers, make them look new.” he says. But for now, he does what he does best: “change the world two rolls at a time.”
Gupfenstrasse 5
Uzwil
9240
Switzerland
