Page 8 - Issue 3 2023

INFRASTRUCTURE

that they want and need. Banks a clear advantage. Their many years of serving customers means they have decades
should not necessarily need to focus worth of data that they can leverage when designing targeted products and services.
so much of their time on the heavy Many traditional banks have battled to unlock the power of this clear differentiator
lifting that happens in the background, to make the most of their advantage. Rather than trying to be all things to all people,
like processing, clearing, industry banks could be looking at delivering their stock-in-trade services, but designing
compliance and regulation. They niched additive products based on data. Traditional banks have the benefit of market
no longer have to own and control dominance, so when they have a great product, they have a captive audience to sell
everything anymore. it to. The new outfits have to start from scratch, with no brand resonance, reputation
While not always able to be as agile or reach. This should be the most compelling reason to make the shift from keeping
as neo banks and fintechs because of legacy architecture, and to applying the available resources to delivering revenue
this legacy, established banks do have generating and competitive new services.

Endress+Hauser looks back on

seven eventful decades

t was an unlikely pair that came together in 1953 to
create a company: on one side, the Swiss engineer
IGeorg H Endress, just 29, and on the other, the German
Ludwig Hauser, 58, head of a cooperative bank. But the two
complemented each other perfectly. The vision and drive
of one was as important for success as the prudence and
experience of the other.

From the back room into the world
L Hauser KG opened for business on 1 February. The young
company was headquartered in Hauser’s apartment in
Lörrach in Germany, financed with modest start-up capital of
2 000 deutsche marks and started with the sale of innovative
electronic level sensors that filled a market niche. It wasn’t
long before Endress began to develop instruments on his
own. In 1955 he registered his first patent. Production took evolved into a full-range provider for the process industries.
place in rented spaces, with the employees distributed By this time, the Hauser era was already history. The Endress
throughout several buildings that they teasingly, but family became the sole shareholder in 1975.
affectionately, referred to as the ‘United Hut Works’. Klaus Endress took over the reins of the Group from his
In 1957 the company began trading under the name father in 1995. Over the following years he expanded the
Endress+Hauser – and experienced strong growth. The business beyond process instrumentation into services and
company continued to carve out new niches. Georg H automation solutions. He also tackled the challenges of doing
Endress compared his approach to ‘rolling out the dough’. business in a globalised world. After establishing sales centres
He continuously expanded the portfolio by adding new around the world, production also went global; modern IT
measurement principles and pursued business opportunities ensured interconnection.
in other countries. The first foreign subsidiary was created In 2014, Matthias Altendorf took over as CEO. He is not a
in 1960 in the Netherlands. Other sales centres followed member of the Endress family but has been working at the
virtually every year. company for over 25 years. Laboratory analysis specialist
The company expanded its offerings through acquisitions Analytik Jena was already part of the Group at this point.
and start-ups. Measurement value recording, liquid analysis Further acquisitions strengthened process analysis and the
and flow measurement engineering were added as new measurement of quality parameters. In addition, Matthias
fields of activity to the mix, followed later by pressure and Altendorf was pushing the topic of digitalisation in products, in
temperature measurement technologies. Endress+Hauser customer interaction and in business processes.

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