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From small sensor manufacturer to hidden champion with a particularly extensive portfolio. It is the journey that ifm electronic has taken over the past 50 years. A journey that continues even after the anniversary. In the coming years, the company will continue to focus on digitalisation and show customers how intelligent sensors and software bring the right information to the right person at the right time.
The story of ifm electronic begins in a small flat. Robert Buck, inventor at heart, designs an inductive proximity switch there. His good friend Gerd Marhofer is convinced he will find the right market for it. The design leaves the path of pure mechanical signal processing and resolutely draws the card of electronics. “A choice for reliability,” recalls Martin Buck, son of and current CEO of ifm electronic. “Sensors must guarantee reliable operation of machines. After all, they are at the heart of it. Electronic signals mean more robustness and less wear and tear.” It is the beginning of a success story that keeps building on the same pillars while exploring new areas. “From there, we have always followed the same common thread. First expand the product portfolio for more applications. Then explore new markets and then meet customers” needs with our own new technological developments. We have always aimed at the top to add value for our customers," Buck summarises.
The two families still hold all the shares. Today, the second generation is at the helm.
On the eve of its golden jubilee, ifm electronic is facing perhaps the biggest transformation in its history. “We are proud that in all likelihood we will round the €1bn turnover mark this year,” says the other CEO, and also son of one of the founders, Michael Marhofer. The two families still hold all shares. “Currently, only 2.4% of turnover comes from our software solutions. Nevertheless, this will be the future. We will of course remain sensor specialists at heart. But our know-how will enable us to convert the data that sensors capture anywhere in the production process into information. If you know that a flow sensor produces 2 TB of information every year, it is impossible and unworkable to start processing all that data. We can help our customers extract the right information from their machines or production lines to deliver to the right person at the right time.”
In this respect, ifm electronic is firmly committed to standardisation and open platforms. The fact that all sensors have IO-Link on board means that signals can be processed fully digitally and in real-time in a uniform way. “The classic automation pyramid is disappearing. Hierarchy has been traded in for two-way traffic without interruption from the shop floor all the way to the top floor and even to the cloud. That is the promise that IO-Link delivers,” summarises Peter Wienzek, manager business development systems at ifm electronic. “By the way, IO-Link grew partly from our own standard to calibrate sensors. Today it is embraced by more than 250 companies and there are more than 12 million needs. IO-Link is without doubt the future of automation interface. It owes this status to the fact that up to 200 bytes of information can be captured and transmitted. So additional information can reveal hidden sensor information and enable new features. And all this is plug-and-play. The customer no longer needs to address or configure. It takes him less than five minutes to integrate a new sensor into an existing factory environment.”
The classic automation pyramid is disappearing. Hierarchy is traded in for two-way, uninterrupted traffic from the shopfloor all the way to the topfloor.
Mind you, this is not a distant future. Industry 4.0 is already up for grabs today at ifm electronic. In its own production, its own components and software solutions are being used to take productivity to the next level. A great example is MiR's AGVs. They got a patented system of racks from ifm on top, which identifies the trays with components or products, checks them for quality and flawlessly leaves for the next step in production. They have thus changed from AGVs to automation vehicles. In addition, ifm is currently integrating Pick Control. A vision solution that, based on object identification, can check whether all steps in an assembly process have gone correctly (movement, speed ...). In the future, every workplace will be equipped with it so that the error rate can be reduced even further.
So resting on its laurels is clearly not on the cards just yet. On its birthday, the company is already looking ahead to what is to come. Marhofer: “We are setting the bar high for ourselves. By 2030, we want to reach sales of 2.5 billion, half of which we generate from our digital platforms. Our employees, who will be digital natives by 2030, will then hopefully say that we made the right decisions today. That is not to say there are no challenges. Turning large volumes of data into information of golden value for our customers will be one of them. But the biggest will undoubtedly be ensuring cyber security. We also want to focus even more on sustainability: avoiding plastic waste, higher recycling quotas, using energy and water sparingly ... Efforts that should result in us being climate neutral by 2030.” .
