Fifty years ago, on February 1, 1953 the Swiss engineer Georg H. Endress and the German banker Ludwig Hauser founded the L. Hauser KG in Lörrach. A few years later it was renamed Endress+Hauser GmbH. The company started its activities with the sale of an innovative electronic (capacitive) level sensor imported from England. Today it would probably be called a "garage business" even though the first company premises was a converted bedroom.
The level sensor soon became a success, and the founders quickly began building up their own production facilities. From then on the sails were set for continuous growth.
Sales, which concentrated on South Germany in the early years, were extended to the whole of Germany and then to neighboring countries. Level sensors with different measurement principles were added to the capacitive meters. Later, sensors and devices for other physical variables such as pressure, flow, analytics and temperature as well as technical components, were also developed, produced and sold. Sales and services expanded over the whole of Western Europe. The first overseas branch offices started in Japan and in the USA in the 1970s.
In the 1980s the company started a campaign to meet the "challenge of microelectronics" and to take over the technological lead. The transition from signal-oriented to information-oriented process automation forced E+H to seek active participation in various Fieldbus initiatives; today the company ranks as global market leader.
In 1995 Dr. h.c. Georg H. Endress, born 1924, passed the leadership of the company to his second eldest son, Klaus Endress who had previously acted as the group's Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
During the past ten years the Swiss Group evolved continuously from being a manufacturer of sensors for the process automation industry to becoming an international provider of automation solutions mainly for the process industries, offering a multitude of sensors suited for industrial processes. Today Endress+Hauser offers a broad range of services along with the most comprehensive array of industrial sensors on the market. Endress+Hauser owns subsidiaries on all five continents and, 50 years after its foundation, employs a workforce of over 6000 employees in production, sales and services worldwide. |
