Success in the third generation
Endress+Hauser looks back on seven eventful decades
It was an unlikely pair that came together in 1953 to create a company: on one side, the Swiss engineer Georg 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.
It was an unlikely pair that came together in 1953 to create a company: on one side, the Swiss engineer Georg 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. The company was named after Ludwig Hauser’s wife, Luise, who is listed in the commercial register as the shareholder.
The young company 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 with what is now known as the Swiss Federal Institute for Intellectual Property. Production took place in rented spaces, with the employees distributed throughout several buildings that they teasingly, but affectionately, referred to as the ‘United Hut Works’.
Opening new markets step by step
In 1957 the company began trading under the name Endress+Hauser – and experienced strong growth. The company continued to carve out new niches. Georg H Endress compared his approach to ‘rolling out the dough’. He continuously expanded the portfolio by adding new measurement principles and pursued business opportunities in other countries. The first foreign subsidiary was created in 1960 in the Netherlands. Other sales centers followed virtually every year.
The company expanded its offerings through acquisitions and start-ups. Measurement value recording, liquid analysis and flow measurement engineering were added as new fields of activity to the mix, followed later by pressure and temperature measurement technologies. Endress+Hauser evolved into a full-range provider for the process industries. By this time, the Hauser era was already history. The Endress family became the sole shareholder in 1975.
