Company history
Seven eventful decades
From start-up to global player: Endress+Hauser has experienced both rampant growth and turbulent times. However, sustainable success has been at its core throughout.
1953 The company L Hauser KG is founded in Lörrach, Germany, on 1 February 1953. It sells the Tektor and Telstor level meters made by the British company Fielden Electronics.
1955 Georg H Endress files his first patent at the Swiss Federal Office for Intellectual Property.
1956 Launch of Nivotester and Silometer. The devices are produced in a former joiner’s workshop in Lörrach.
1957 The young company takes the name Endress+Hauser. Sales exceed 1 million deutsche marks.
1960 First sales centers open abroad, in the Netherlands and Switzerland; France and Belgium follow soon after.
1960 Exhibition on wheels: a minibus takes the product portfolio to the customer.
1961 The company, with 120 employees, moves to new premises in Maulburg, Germany.
1968 The Group establishes a holding structure. Net sales exceed 13 million deutsche marks. Two years later the Group expands into the United States and into Japan.
1974 The oil crisis impacts Endress+Hauser’s finances heavily. 74 of 710 employees are temporarily laid off. In 1975 Ludwig Hauser dies at the age of 80. The Endress family becomes sole shareholder.
1976 Takeover of Wetzer (measurement registration) in Nesselwang. Endress+Hauser Flowtec (flow measurement engineering) is founded in Reinach. Acquisition of Conducta in Gerlingen (liquid analysis).
1982 Information technology finds its way into Endress+Hauser early on – in the commercial field, but also in production and R&D.
1984 Advanced know-how: Endress+Hauser acquires early expertise in calibration.
1989 Focus on Asia: after Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore, sales centers in Thailand, China, Korea and India follow.
1990 With 4,000 employees the company’s net sales cross the 500 million Swiss franc mark. With new subsidiaries in Canada and Spain the company now has a total of 20 sales centers.
1995 Generation change: Klaus Endress – here with his brothers Urs, Hans-Peter and George (from left) – takes over the operative management of the group of companies from his father.
1999 New production facilities in Aurangabad, India. Establishment of Endress+Hauser Process Solutions (automation solutions) in Reinach.
2006 The Endress family shareholders draw up their own charter.
2008 Company founder Dr Georg H Endress dies aged 84.
2009 Bundled production know-how: in Suzhou, China, Endress+Hauser manufactures pressure, level, flow and temperature measuring devices.
2012 A new production center opens in Itatiba, Brazil. Acquisition of the US company SpectraSensors (gas analysis).
2013 With the acquisition of Analytik Jena, Germany, and Kaiser Optical Systems, USA, Endress+Hauser is further developing its offering in the field of analytics.
2014 Matthias Altendorf takes over as CEO of the Group; Klaus Endress moves to the Supervisory Board as president. Endress+Hauser employs 12,000 people worldwide.
2017 The company bolsters its portfolio with the acquisition of SensAction AG, a German manufacturer of innovative systems for measuring the concentration of liquids.
2018 Endress+Hauser Netilion is introduced, a cloud-based IIoT ecosystem for Industry 4.0 applications.
2019 The Endress+Hauser Water Challenge is launched: employees around the world run fundraising events to give people access to clean water.
2020 Endress+Hauser maintains the ability to deliver during the coronavirus pandemic and continues to effectively support customers even from afar.
2022 Endress+Hauser launches a training initiative with five percent of all positions set aside for interns, apprentices, trainees and students: twice as many as before.
2022 Generation change on the Supervisory Board: Sandra Genge, a granddaughter of the company founder, replaces Hans-Peter Endress as the new family representative.
In 1953, two seemingly different men came together to set up a new company in a private apartment in Lörrach, Germany: One was the Swiss engineer Georg H Endress, just 29 years old, tall and strong; the other was 58-year-old German bank manager Ludwig Hauser, clearly older and slim in stature.
A strong team
However, these unlikely business partners proved to be a perfect match. Endress’ vision and Hauser’s caution proved to be the cornerstones of success. The young engineer clearly saw the opportunities that the new electronic level measurement technology had to offer. Until then, measured values had to be read and gauged by hand. The experienced banker took a careful approach to business and steered the company safely through the turbulent early years.
Small beginnings
The starting capital of L Hauser KG was 2,000 Deutschemarks. The first ‘operating facility’ was in a room in Hauser’s apartment in Lörrach. Incidentally, the firm’s name came from Ludwig Hauser’s wife Luise: the entry in the commercial register of 10 February 1953 lists her as shareholder. The company first traded under the name Endress+Hauser in 1957.
Find out how Endress+Hauser celebrated its 70th anniversary in 2023.
Dynamic growth
Georg H Endress led the company for four decades. He opened up new markets and fields of application, developing the company - specializing in level measurement and growing into a supplier of complete solutions for the processing industry. By 1995, when he handed the management of the company over to his second eldest son, Klaus, the backroom business had grown into a global company with 4,300 employees.
International structure
Klaus Endress (*1948) purposefully continued his father’s work and developed it, over time leaving his own managerial mark. He successfully met the challenges of a globalized world and internationalized sales and production, recognizing the significance of service and solutions businesses. Klaus Endress continued his commitment to a strong company culture and drove forward the work on a family charter, in which the shareholder family stated: Endress+Hauser is to remain a family-owned company.
Digitalization and analysis technology
In 2014, Matthias Altendorf (born 1967) took over as CEO of Endress+Hauser; Klaus Endress moved to the Supervisory Board as president. Laboratory analysis specialist Analytik Jena was already part of the Group at that time. Further acquisitions strengthened process analysis and the measurement of quality parameters. In addition, Matthias Altendorf drove forward the topic of digitalization in products, in customer interaction and in business processes.
Change at the top
In 2024, Klaus Endress has ended his active involvement in the family business and handed over his responsibilities as president of the Supervisory Board to Matthias Altendorf. The new CEO of the Group is Dr Peter Selders, previously managing director of the competence center for level and pressure measurement.
Sandra Genge and Steven Endress, two members of the third generation, will represent the family on the Supervisory Board. As a shareholder and chairman of the Family Council, which decides on important issues in the relationship between the family and the company, Klaus Endress will remain closely associated with the company.
Global footprint
Today, Endress+Hauser is a leading supplier of measurement and automation technology for process and laboratory. With almost 17,000 employees, the company generated sales of 3.7 billion euros in 2023. Its own sales centers provide support in over 50 countries, with representatives in a further 70 countries. Endress+Hauser production centers manufacture on four continents.