Industrial camera manufacturer IDS celebrates its 25th anniversary this year.
For two years now, the SME sector has been under enormous pressure. The worldwide shortage of semiconductors as well as tense supply chains with regard to essential electronic components also affect the production of our cameras. IDS is therefore responding to the tense global economic situation in its anniversary year with flexibility and creativity: Short-term development of new hardware platforms, proactive corrections in development focus and effective supplier management are designed to secure the flow of goods and dampen the impact of the current situation. "Adaptability is our strength," says Jürgen Hartmann. After all: "A flexible response to market conditions has always been the guarantee for the company's continued success."
At the same time, the camera maker is pursuing visions of his own. Future-oriented technologies from the consumer world, consistently developed for the industry, make it one of the world market leaders in the industry. What began in 1997 with frame grabbers led in 2004 to the first industrial camera with a USB interface on the market. In the anniversary year 2022, the focus will be on app-based cameras with artificial intelligence, but also on opening up new fields of application for image processing. "We still have many more ideas than we can implement," explains Jürgen Hartmann.
From Obersulm into the world
Over the past 25 years, the family business evolved into an independent, ISO-certified manufacturer of digital industrial cameras with around 350 employees. IDS develops and produces the innovative image processing components at its headquarters in Obersulm. With branches in the USA, Japan, South Korea and UK as well as offices in Europe, IDS is represented internationally.
An important part of the company's identity has always been regional networking in the form of cooperation with universities, start-ups and young technology pioneers. In 2020, the company also moved into the state-of-the-art b39 technology centre. Despite all its growth, the company does not lose sight of its responsibility for people and the environment. This includes sustainability in production and shipping, fairness towards business partners as well as a pronounced family consciousness. IDS has also been completely climate-neutral since 2021.
New products in the anniversary year
On the occasion of the company's anniversary, the focus is primarily on the future. "The idea of innovation that has always prevailed at IDS and the will to create something new are firmly anchored in all of us," explains IDS Managing Director and son of the company founder Jan Hartmann. In addition to the launch of several new products, such as models with particularly high transmission speeds and resolutions, the further development of the smart IDS NXT industrial cameras with artificial intelligence is to be promoted in the anniversary year. "It is now on everyone's lips, but very few companies are already using the technology. Artificial intelligence solves tasks that classical image processing usually fails at and thus opens up completely new fields of application, such as traffic and smart cities or the environment and smart farming," explains Jan Hartmann. With visionpier, the online marketplace for image processing, IDS is also building a virtual bridge between users - with or without image processing experience - and providers of turnkey vision solutions.
Expanding the business focus means not only positioning the company more broadly for the coming years, but also moving into industries where machine vision can contribute to solving growing socio-political challenges. "If you want to survive on the market today, you have to be creative and go your own way. When everyone is running in one direction, I like to run in the other on principle," states founder and managing director Jürgen Hartmann. This is how visions become products.
