Syngenta makes crop protection products at Monthey in the Chablais and at Kaisten in Aargau, and both are chemical production sites in the full sense. This page is for the EHS, engineering and maintenance staff who need an explosion proof mobile phone in Switzerland for solvent and powder areas. The IS-04Z1 is pre-launch and in certification, and Syngenta has no relationship with SAMS. The IS-04Z1 is designed around intrinsic safety rather than a flameproof enclosure.
Launching Q4 2026 · certification programme in progress
Syngenta describes Monthey as its largest production site in Switzerland, with more than 850 employees, making products from basic active ingredients through to final formulations. That range is the point: synthesis uses solvents and reactive intermediates, and formulation brings powders, granules and liquids. Monthey is also a shared chemical platform in the Chablais, where several producers sit within one fence and share site services, so contractors and staff from different companies cross each other's areas daily. Kaisten is a different animal. Syngenta calls it a fully automated site that supplies global demand for one key ingredient, S-Metolachlor, which it has invested in expanding. A highly automated plant has few operators, so those who do walk it are mostly doing inspection, sampling and maintenance. The hazards are solvent vapour in synthesis and storage, powder in formulation and packing, and flammable-liquid movement between tanks, all with a classification set by the site.
Chemical production in a valley or a highly automated plant creates specific demands. These are the ones that decide whether a handset is carried or left at the gate.
On a highly automated site the operator on a round may be alone. A managed handset with a camera, location and a call to the control room, in a design aimed at Zone 1, is what makes a lone round workable. Lone-working policy remains the site's decision.
At a multi-company site, equipment rules can differ by plot. The Ex marking target of II 2 G Ex ib IIC T4 is designed for the common gas groups, but each operator's own approval requirements still apply.
Pipe racks, tank farms and loading areas are outside, in Alpine winters and wet summers. IP68 sealing is aimed at rain and washdown rather than only at dry dust.
Four-constellation GNSS and 4G LTE are designed to hold a position and a connection in valley terrain, though coverage on a particular site should be checked during an evaluation.
An operator checking levels, valves and bunds on a tank farm records findings with a photograph and a position, rather than writing on a clipboard.
In a shutdown, maintenance contractors need permits, isolation lists and a way to record completed work inside classified plant.
A response team uses one handset for contact with the control room, area drawings and photographs, without leaving a personal phone at the gate.
Monthey, because it has a larger workforce and a broader range of solvent and powder work. Kaisten has fewer people, but the ones present are doing the inspection and maintenance rounds where a handset helps.
We have not been through a Syngenta supplier process and will not describe one. Ask the site's procurement and EHS teams for their equipment approval requirements and area classification documents, and for the rules of any shared-site operator, such as CIMO at Monthey.
The questions are the same, but the numbers differ. Kaisten runs with a small team on a highly automated plant, so the case rests on lone working, remote photographs and reliable communication rather than on fleet size.
It supports the managed applications and location services that a lone-working scheme could use, but SAMS does not supply a lone-worker alarm service. The scheme itself belongs to the site.
Tell us the site, the zone and gas group, and roughly how many handsets. The SAMS team replies by email with the datasheet and the certification schedule for Switzerland. The IS-04Z1 is pre-launch and certification is in progress, so there is no list price yet; indicative pricing is issued in writing against a stated quantity and site.
Tell us the zone, gas group and operator. We will send the datasheet and the certification schedule for your market.
