Over 200 inventors, including Aussie Derek Real, celebrated the company’s new record of 182 patent applications in 2007. They also acknowledged the winners of the ‘Patent Rights Incentive Awards’ which honours patents with a substantial and positive effect on business development.
“Our ‘Patent Rights Incentive Program’ has really shown how effective it is,” said Dieter Schaudel, Endress+Hauser board member in charge of Technology, Engineering and IT. “Since we launched our incentive program eight years ago, the number of annual patent applications of the Endress+Hauser Group has more than trebled.”
“Every day our inventors tackle and find new solutions to old and new problems,” says John Immelman, Managing Director, Endress+Hauser Australia. “They have vast technological knowledge, the right kind of tools and a good understanding of customer needs.”
The development of the Gamma Pilot M is testimony to this approach and was developed with a high level of involvement by Endress+Hauser Australia’s customers. The product was built from the ground up to meet specific customer requirements and helped Endress+Hauser win three of the largest instrumentation projects in the region: Alcan Gove (NT), Ravensthorpe Nickel (WA) and Inco Goro Nickel (New Caledonia).
This type of client-partnered product development is rare in Australia and unique to Endress+Hauser. The Promag 55 slurry magnetic flowmeter and the Prosonic S ultrasonic level measurement were both extensively tested at local customer sites prior to their successful launch.
“The work of our inventors allows our enterprise to develop new, target-specific and efficient solutions for our customers,” says Klaus Endress, CEO of the Endress+Hauser Group.
One such inventor is Endress+Hauser Australia’s Derek Real. After meeting a few mining consultants, Derek decided to undertake his own research on the concept of measuring magnetite slurries using differential measurement. With the ability to harness the power of Endress+Hauser’s global network, Derek passed his test results on to the company’s Gamma team in Germany and they created a system design for further testing at a control site in South Africa.
“As a global player Endress+Hauser must safeguard and protect its inventions worldwide,” explained Angelika Andres, head of Endress+Hauser’s PatServe patent division. Set up about ten years ago, PatServe has filed patents for 1,100 inventions, 182 last year alone. Today, Endress+Hauser holds over 3,900 living patents and patent applications.