Endress+Hauser, a global provider of process and laboratory equipment and automation based in Switzerland, achieved net sales of nearly €2.9 billion in 2021 with a workforce of over 15,000.
The group consists of 134 companies in 48 countries. The parent company of the Endress+Hauser Group is Endress+Hauser AG in Reinach, Switzerland: a joint-stock company under Swiss law, with its shares not listed on the stock exchange. The shareholders of the family are the eight children of the company founder Georg H. Endress, each holding 12 percent. An additional 4 percent is held by the Georg H Endress non-profit foundation.
Today, Endress+Hauser provides sales and support in 125 countries and manufactures in major economic regions. The company has production facilities in Brazil, Germany, the United States, China, France, India, the Czech Republic, Italy, Japan, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland.
Endress Products, Services, and Customers
Endress+Hauser produces electronic instruments for process automation including level, flow, pressure, and temperature measurement. Instruments for liquid, solid, and gas analysis, data collection, and system integration are also offered. Under the Analytik Jena brand, the group markets analytical instruments and bioanalytical systems for laboratories.
Commercial customers mainly operate in the food and beverage, chemical, life sciences, oil and gas, water and wastewater, power and energy, and primary and metals industries. In the laboratory business, the group also serves customers from healthcare and academic institutions.
The company was founded as L Hauser KG on February 1, 1953, by Swiss engineer Georg H. Endress (1924-2008) and German banker Ludwig Hauser (1895-1975). The initial capital was 2,000 German Marks. The first "operational equipment" room was in Hauser's apartment in Lörrach, Germany. The business has traded under the name Endress+Hauser since 1957.
Initially, the company sold innovative level instruments produced by the British company Fielden Electronics. Shortly thereafter, Georg H. Endress began developing his own devices. In 1955, he registered his first patent and set up a production center.
An electromagnetic flow meter from Endress+Hauser at the Tetley Brewery in Leeds, West Yorkshire.
The company expanded its portfolio by adding new measurement principles and pursued business opportunities in other countries. The first foreign subsidiary was established in the Netherlands in 1960. In 1968, a holding company was registered in Switzerland. By 1970, Endress+Hauser entered the markets of the United States and Japan.
In 1975, one of the founders, Ludwig Hauser, passed away. The Endress family became the sole shareholder. In the following years, the company expanded its supply through acquisitions and startups. Measurement technology, liquid analysis, and flow measurement engineering were added as new fields of activity, followed later by pressure and temperature measurement technologies.
Klaus Endress, the second eldest son of the company founder, was appointed CEO of the group in 1995. At that time, Endress+Hauser had become a global company with 4,339 employees and net sales of CHF 679.6 million.
In 2005, Endress+Hauser acquired Endress+Hauser Innovative Sensor Technology IST AG, a provider of physical, chemical, and biological sensors based in Switzerland with operations in Ebnat-Kappel, Switzerland, and Rosnov, the Czech Republic.
In 2008, Georg H. Endress passed away. The family shareholders had established a family charter while the company founder was still alive. This statement read:
“Endress+Hauser must remain a family company focused on sustainable success.”
In 2013, Endress+Hauser entered the laboratory instrumentation business by acquiring the German company Analytik Jena AG. The additional acquisition strengthened the analysis process and measurement of quality parameters. In addition to this strategic focus, the topic of digitalization was another influencing factor in the company's development.
On January 1, 2014, Matthias Altendorf was appointed as the CEO of the Endress+Hauser Group, succeeding Klaus Endress, who became the chairman of the supervisory board. At that time, the company had achieved net sales of €1.814 billion and employed 11,919 personnel worldwide.
Although the new CEO is not a family member, he has been with the company for over 25 years. He promotes digitalization and applications for the industrial internet of things, aiming to develop this offering in the laboratory and process analysis fields.
