International Endress+Hauser Instruments AG
A measure of success
“In the oil and gas business, the fact of the matter is, if you can’t measure something, you can’t control it,” states Andreas Parpas, managing director of Endress+Hauser Instruments International Middle East Support Centre. “For more than 55 years Endress+Hauser has been a Switzerland based, family-owned company specialising in the manufacture and supply of instrumentation and process automation equipment. The instruments the company makes are used for process automation in all industry sectors including oil and gas and are used for the measurement of level, flow, pressure, temperature, analysis and for recording. These products and solutions are expertly manufactured at Endress+Hauser’s facilities in Central Europe, Japan, and associate production centres for regional use in the US, India and China.”
It was in February 1953 that engineer Georg H Endress and the German banker Ludwig Hauser came together to create a company with the primary activity of selling an electronic level sensor that was imported across from England. A far cry from the modern offices the company works from today, Georg Endress’ first office was situated inside a converted bedroom, yet despite these humble settings, the level sensor his company sold became an almost instant success and the founders quickly embarked upon the building of their own production facilities.
In these early years sales were concentrated in and around Southern Germany, but as the company continued to grow year-by-year so did the number of markets it ventured into. By the 1970s, Endress+Hauser had expanded its product portfolio to include the production and sale of sensors and devices for measuring physical variables, and with business spreading across Western Europe, the first overseas branch offices officially opened their doors in Japan and the US.
Today Endress+Hauser offers a broad range of services and the most comprehensive collection of industrial sensors available on the market. With a global workforce of over 8600 personnel, the company owns subsidiaries on all six continents, including Endress+Hauser Instruments International Dubai Branch, which operates as the regional Headquarter.
“Endress+Hauser opened its branch here in Dubai back in 2006 and in the time since it has also established Endress+Hauser (Qatar) LLC, with the latest branch opened in early 2011, in Abu Dhabi,” Andreas explains. “Alongside these facilities, the company also has registered Endress+ Hauser (Arabia) LLC in Saudi Arabia, which will begin operations at the start of 2012 and a resident engineer based in Jordan who handles Endress+Hauser business in Lebanon, Syria and Kuwait. An engineer with similar responsibilities is also on-hand in Baghdad, Iraq, which is a particularly strategic location for the company, and one in which it hopes to establish a more permanent presence in the near future.”
The company’s Middle Eastern operations will play an important role in successfully carrying out the work agreed in a recently signed, five-year Enterprise Framework Agreement with Shell: “This is an excellent development for the company and one that really puts it right at the heart of the oil and gas industry. It also conclusively proves that Endress+Hauser is home to some of the best field instrumentation solutions in the world, simply because Shell is one of the most demanding companies around when it comes to receiving quality products and services,” Andreas says enthusiastically.
The agreement makes the company the primary supplier of instruments and technologies for flow, level, pressure and temperature measurement and for liquid analysis to Shell facilities around the globe. As well as this, Endress+Hauser will provide project management, engineering, maintenance, repairs and site services.
“The two businesses have enjoyed a very close relationship for many years and have co-operated in a number of major projects,” Andreas continues. “The most recent to have been completed was the Pearl GTL project in Qatar, the world’s largest gas-to-liquid plant. Endress+Hauser has supplied this project with a considerable amount of the necessary field instrumentation for Shell’s applications, a partnership that has helped get to a point where today the first train is already in operation, with the second due to come upstream in 2012.”
With the region in a particularly strong state of prosperity, Endress+Hauser is understandably moving ahead with a number of developments throughout the Middle East: “Endress+Hauser is one of the world’s leading suppliers of flow instruments, especially mass flow metres, and is now in the process of investing considerable capital in growing this area of the business in key countries such as Saudi Arabia, UAE and Iraq,” highlights Andreas. “Endress+ Hauser has additionally developed into a solutions provider in Flow Management Systems, Custody Transfer Solutions and tank gauging and terminal automation technology in fuel depots, pipelines and storing and export facilities. This is representative of the work the company is doing to increase its presence within this part of the world.”
As versatile and well regarded as Endress+Hauser is as a company, it also felt the deep slump experienced by all within the industry at the height of the financial collapse. However, as the world began to recover in 2010, the company exceeded all its expectations by recording its highest ever net sales figure. Driven by the growth of emerging markets the Group reacted to this success by increasing its workforce and earmarking nearly 100 million euros for the purpose of research and development.
With the Middle East experiencing substantial sales growth in 2010, Andreas is keen to point out that the future looks equally as bright: “From everything the company has seen so far, 2011 is set to be a year in which it celebrates even greater growth, both in terms of sales volumes and overall profits. As this trend continues the company will look to dramatically increase its presence in the Middle East, an area where it began operations five years ago with just five employees and expects to have a team of 70 by the end of 2012. Endress+Hauser is firmly focused on this particular area, simply because it offers a host of tremendous opportunities and possibilities, and the company fully intends to claim its share of this lucrative market.”
International Endress+Hauser Instruments AG
Services: Industrial measurement and automation equipment