Endress+Hauser Canada celebrates 30 years

Process automation specialist Endress+Hauser Canada is celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2020.

The company was incorporated on May 1, 1990 with 13 employees, in Burlington, Ont. and Montreal.

Since then, offices have been added in Calgary and Edmonton – the latter now part of a 20,000 square-foot customer support centre that opened in 2017. Today, the company has more than 140 employees working across the country.

New customer centre

A new, 47,000 square-foot customer experience centre in Burlington designed to achieve LEED Gold certification will commence construction as soon as able.

The facilities in Edmonton and Burlington, both of which include a process training unit (PTU), are meant as examples of technology in motion where the company showcases technologies in the process automation world and provides customers with hands-on experiences and training.

Besides a PTU, it will house a calibration laboratory, an expanded workshop and a large training centre. The PTU concept, featured in Endress+Hauser facilities globally, is essentially a pilot plant with a range of Endress+Hauser instrumentation installed.

Customers can try out products before purchasing them or familiarize themselves with how they work before installing them in their operations.

Growth across Canada

“It’s been a memorable three decades, full of extraordinary achievements that have also put us in a position to do extraordinary things in the future,” says Anthony Varga, CEO and general manager for Endress+Hauser Canada.

The company’s original focus on Ontario and Quebec and on water and wastewater, food and beverage, and mining customers has been broadened to cover all parts of the country and all industries including the oil and gas and petrochemical sectors of Western Canada.

The product portfolio has also grown, with measurement offerings including flow, level, pressure, temperature, liquid and gas analytical technology as well as laboratory automation solutions.

The company’s service capacity is being augmented by a newly formed national network of authorized service partners – companies with a strong presence in their respective regions with technicians that are trained and certified by Endress+Hauser.

Roots in Germany

The Endress+Hauser Group began in Germany in 1953 as a partnership of Swiss engineer Georg H. Endress and German banker Ludwig Hauser. The company is headquartered in Reinach, Switzerland, near Basel.

Last year, it had 2019 net global sales of 2.6 billion euros – an eight per cent increase.

“Sixty-seven years later, Endress+Hauser is still a family-owned company, combining the technical knowhow and long-term business vision of the founders, as reflected in a belief that sustainable business relationships are built on listening to our customers so we understand their challenges and needs,” says Varga.

Globally, the company invests 10 per cent of annual sales in R&D. The Edmonton and Burlington customer centres were a cumulative investment of almost $40 million.

“We’re ready for the next chapter of our story,” says Varga.