News and Markets Endress+Hauser relies on innovation: one in 16 associates works in research The patent department at the Endress+Hauser Group can’t complain about a lack of work: never before have researchers and developers of the Group filed as many inventions as last year. In 2014, a total of 337 submissions came from teams from different sites and locations, with 259 of these scrutinized and eventually filed for patents by Endress+Hauser. The number of active industrial property rights has now topped 6,000 – yet another indication of the power of innovation of the globally operating group of companies. An important role in the innovation process is played by what is known as the customer parliaments. “Our experts meet customers from the various industrial sectors to find about their needs and requirements”, says Michael Ziesemer, deputy CEO of the Endress+Hauser Group. The corporate culture which cultivates and promotes a spirit of research also involves honoring the inventors and innovators during the annual Innovators’ Meeting. All 344 people who were involved in patent applications in 2014 are invited. Valuable prizes and awards go to particularly economically-significant patents. Basler reaches new record values In 2014, Basler AG achieved the best results in the 25 years of the company‘s history. The group‘s sales increased in the fiscal year 2014 by 22 % to € 79.2 million from € 65.1 million in 2013. The gross profit margin increased to 51.8 % after 49.9 % in the previous year. The earnings before taxes (EBT) rose by 42 % to € 11.1 million (previous year: € 7.8 million).The cash flow from operational activity amounted to € 16.0 million up by 32 % (previous year: € 12.1 million). The free cash flow, calculated as the sum of cash flows from operational activity and investment, reached a value of € 7.4 million (previous year: € 5.6 million, +32 %). With this background, Basler AG will propose to this year‘s shareholders’ meeting the distribution of a dividend of 70 cents per share. For the fiscal year 2015, Basler expects an increase of sales to € 81 to 84 million. www.baslerweb.com www.endress.com 35 years of measurement technology from Delphin Technology Delphin Technology AG is celebrating its 35th anniversary. Founded in 1980, it specializes in highquality data acquisition hardware and software for the measurement and test engineering sector. In 1999, Delphin was one of the first to supply data loggers with Ethernet interfaces. 2014 it launched the Expert Vibro, a state-of-the-art, ultra-compact device for vibration measurement. Meanwhile, hundreds of test stand systems have been created using the Klicks programming language developed by Delphin. Currently it is developing a new generation of data loggers. Major factors contributing to it‘s success include the continuous development of devices and software for universal measurement data acquisition as well as the long-term collaboration with customers. Delphin cooperates with more than 20 distribution partners worldwide. www.delphin.de AUTOMATION TECHNOLOGIES 3/2015
IBM connects “Internet of Things” to the Enterprise IBM today announced that it will invest $ 3 billion over the next four years to establish a new Internet of Things (IoT) unit. With new industry-specific cloud data services and developer tools, IBM will build on its expertise to help clients and partners integrate data from an unprecedented number of IoT and traditional sources. These resources will be made available on an open platform to provide manufacturers with the ability to design a new generation of connected devices that are better optimized for the IoT, and more importantly to help business leaders to create systems that better fuse the enterprise and IoT data to achieve further informed decision-making. For instance, IBM’s global strategic alliance with The Weather Company through WSI, its global B2B division. WSI’s forecasting system processes data from thousands of sources, resulting in approximately 2.2 billion unique forecast points worldwide, and averages more than 10 billion forecasts a day on active weather days. The IoT and cloud computing allow for collection of data from more than 100,000 weather sensors and aircraft, millions of smartphones, buildings and even moving vehicles. The two companies will help industries utilize their understanding of weather on business outcomes and take an informed decision systemically to optimize those parts of their businesses. www.ibm.com/IoT At € 1 billion, German Laser sector companies reach a new high The global market in 2014 for laser systems has grown by 8 % achieving € 8.7 billion. According to the VDMA, this sector produced goods worth € 852 million, growth of 11 %. Considering the global consolidation, the total figure recorded was an outstanding € 1.01 billion. The rise in volume of the incoming order was 4 % in 2013, which soared to 20 % in 2014, mainly driven by foreign demand. This naturally improved the exports by a healthy 16 %. This underlines the fact that German high quality laser systems are in great demand all over the world. Against the 2013 data in terms of the market share, remarkable growth was recorded by Germany, with other consistent contributions from China and Japan. In the USA, the reference year (2013) experienced a strong growth caused by large orders. Owing to this base effect, the current US-share contributed considerably lower. Solutions and Services for your Company’s Success EXPAND YOUR BUSINESS TO GERMANY AND EUROPE Business Development Marketing & Sales consultancy and services Financing Industry networks For further information please contact www.hannoverimpuls.de/international www.laser.vdma.org WIRTSCHAFTSFÖRDERUNG hannoverimpuls AUTOMATION TECHNOLOGIES 3/2015 Hannoverimpuls.indd 1 13.03.2015 08:18:34
