Changes Magazine

Achieving more together

changes #2/24

Why are SICK and Endress+Hauser joining forces on process automation? What is the benefit to customers? And what is required for this partnership to be a success? Mats Gökstorp and Peter Selders take the time to answer our questions.

Questions: Martin Raab Photography: Benedikt Ruf

Dr Gökstorp, what prompted you to team up with another company on process automation? Gökstorp: Many industrial companies are seeing rapid global change. High energy costs, mandatory sustainability goals, political and societal expectations, all those are drivers of sweeping transformation processes. That’s why companies want and need to restructure their production processes to make them more energy efficient. And yet, for such transformation to be a success, companies cannot afford to lose sight of their profitability. This is where we see a major market opportunity. Process automation is a relatively small part of SICK’s business. Our core fields are factory and logistic automation, which together account for more than 80 percent of our revenue. That’s why we have come to the conclusion that a strategic partnership makes sense from both a technological and a sales perspective. We know that with a suitable partner, we can better support our customers and benefit more from growth opportunities. What made Endress+Hauser stand out in your search for a partner? Gökstorp: It was an obvious choice for at least two reasons: First, like SICK, Endress+Hauser is a technology leader in its field of activity, and our respective product portfolios match up very well. Second, there are a lot of similarities between our two companies. So, I was sure from the start that this would be a good fit in terms of technology, culture and people. And this turned out to be the case when we set about establishing our partnership.

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