Our development departments are key to the success of our business

IMS Messsysteme GmbH is a world-leading manufacturer of non-contact, high-precision measuring systems for the steel and non-ferrous metals industry. With a broad portfolio of technologies – ranging from optical methods to radar, electromagnetic and force-based measuring systems – the company consistently pursues its goal of offering its customers comprehensive measurement technology solutions from a single source. The basis for this: technological know-how, a deep understanding of industrial processes, and constant innovation.

marketSTEEL: What role does in-house development play in the rapid and targeted implementation of customer-specific solutions?

Our development departments are crucial to our market success – in two ways: many of our measuring systems were developed in response to specific customer requests and were genuine innovations when they were launched onto the market. At the same time, however, we have also driven developments on our own initiative, setting technological standards in the process.

What makes our development work special is its close ties to practical application. Our teams are in regular contact with our customers, which means we know very early on where requirements are heading. This enables us to respond extremely quickly and specifically. At the same time, we collaborate with universities and research institutions to incorporate the latest scientific findings into our systems.

Our active participation in industry committees and round-tables also helps us to identify technological trends at an early stage – for example, which measurement parameters will be relevant in the future. We pool this knowledge internally, where it is shared systematically. This ensures that our entire team stays up to date – from development to service.

Another distinguishing feature is our deep technical understanding: we have been deeply rooted in measurement technology since our foundation in 1980, but began expanding our expertise to other measurement methods at a very early stage. Today, we cover a wide range of technologies – including magnetic flux leakage methods for detecting internal inclusions, shell defects and optically undetectable surface defects in strip steel, force measurement systems and radar technology.

Our goal is to provide our customers with all the necessary measuring systems from a single source – tailored to their individual production processes in steel, aluminium and non-ferrous metal manufacturing. This creates valuable synergy effects: for example, in magnetic flux leakage detection systems for detecting internal defects, we use software for classifying defects that was originally developed for surface inspection. Such cross-technology developments not only make our systems more powerful, but also offer our customers real added value.

It is precisely this broad expertise, combined with a deep understanding of processes and the ability to network technologies intelligently, that makes IMS unique on the market.

Fotos: marketSTEEL