IFM ELECTRONIC
About us
ifm group
World market leader in sensor technology and pioneer in Industry 4.0
Measuring, controlling and evaluating - When it comes to pioneering
automation and digitalisation technology, the ifm group is the ideal partner.
Since its foundation in 1969, ifm has developed, produced and sold sensors, controllers, software and systems for industrial automation worldwide. As one of the pioneers in Industry 4.0, ifm develops and implements consistent solutions to digitise the entire value chain, "from sensor to ERP". Today, the family-run ifm group is in its second generation. It has more than 7,000 employees in 85 countries and is one of the worldwide market leaders. The medium-sized group of companies combines the internationality and innovative strength of a growing group with the flexibility and close customer contact of a medium-sized business.
ifm – close to you!
ifm's key to success has always been the people. A sales and service team of more than 1,650 people supports customers worldwide. The experts on site know the regional conditions and ensure individual and trusting support.
More than 1,000 employees in research and development closely collaborate with customers, research institutions and universities to find solutions for the challenges of tomorrow. More than 880 patents and about 100 new patent registrations in 2018 are the result of this commitment.
Quality "Made in Germany"
ifm stands for high-quality products "Made in Germany". ifm is closely
connected to Germany as a location for industry with its corporate
headquarters in Essen and a development and production site in the Lake Constance region where about 70 per cent of the portfolio are developed and manufactured. Other production sites in large sales markets such as Asia or the USA allow fast reaction to regional market requirements. To ensure ifm's high quality standards, the employees in the international plants are also trained in Germany.
The youngest ifm location "THE SUMMIT" combines approx. 300 ifm
specialists from all areas of Industry 4.0 in one high-tech centre to work on visionary ideas and successful solutions in the fields of IIoT and camera technology.
Innovative product diversity ifm's exceptionally large product portfolio does not only cover all relevant standard solutions but also the special requirements of individual industries.
In addition to position and process sensors, sensors for motion control and safety technology are part of the product range. Furthermore, ifm offers products for industrial image processing and communication as well as identification systems and systems for mobile machines. ifm develops innovative Industry 4.0 solutions and the corresponding software and cloud products to improve digital utilisation of existing business processes and to provide new, complete control options for sustainable efficiency and cost optimisations.
Products
IO-Link: Point-to-point communication
n the past binary switches usually provided simple switching signals or analogue values. Today the data from intelligent sensors is the basis for the next industrial revolution. Sensors that extract all the information from your machines and equipment using the key technology IO-Link. IO-Link has been developed by leading sensor, actuator and control manufacturers. The result is a standardised and field-bus independent interface for automation. This provides the user with point-to-point connections without complex addressing. An IO-Link system consists of an IO-Link master and several IO-Link devices. IO-Link is a manufacturer-independent point-to-point communication system used to connect sensors and actuators to an automation system. An IO-Link system consists of an IO-Link master and several IO-Link devices. The IO-Link master represents the interface to the controller or fieldbus level and communicates with the connected IO-Link devices.
From vibration monitoring to Industry 4.0
Vibration monitoring product overview The ifm group of companies: our own development and production with high quality standard. The detection and integrated evaluation of vibration signals serves as a basis for the seamless integration of online condition monitoring into manufacturer-independent automation and control systems
RFID Identification systems from ifm
In production, intralogistics and conveying, automated identification has become a standard. Such automated identification systems enable the requirements-driven distribution of goods or assembly components as well as their traceability in real time. As a result, manufacturing and supply processes can be fully automatically controlled and seamlessly documented. In RF identification systems, workpiece or goods carriers are marked by RFID transponders, i.e., ID tags. Antennas enable non-contact reading from and/or writing to such ID tags. These data are immediately transferred to an RFID evaluation unit, where they are processed. The evaluation unit transmits the data to the PLC via field bus interfaces, such as PROFIBUS DP, PROFINET, Ethernet IP, Ethernet TCP/IP or EtherCAT. Applications are found in production lines, where the units are used for material flow control.
Condition monitoring - preventive maintenance and service
Vibration monitoring on the fans of an extraction system with moneo RTM. Visualisation and analysis of vibrations of an extraction system to ensure air and process quality in the production environment In various production processes of ifm prover gmbh, an exhaust air system permanently guarantees and secures the quality of the products, machine uptime and high air quality. The fan capacity is therefore a relevant factor in the entire production process.
moneo: the IIoT platform for industry and production
Are you already benefiting from the advantages of software-supported optimised production? No? Then it is time to get started in the field of hyperautomation with our IIoT solution moneo. It focuses on a combination of rule-based solutions and artificial intelligence in all production processes. With the moneo IIoT solution, ifm has been developing a product that gives you answers to frequently occurring technical obstacles in digitisation projects in production, thus paving the way to hyperautomation. ✓ moneo already offers rule-based functionalities. ✓ moneo is constantly being expanded with innovative modules, also in the field of AI. ✓ moneo has proven itself in retrofit projects of older plants and production equipment. ✓ moneo offers you flexibility for implementation through individual software modules. ✓ using the moneo|appliance, moneo can also be operated in virtualisation environments on its own hardware, on Windows servers or with the moneo|vAppliance.
io-key
Time to be creative! Minimum requirements, maximum benefit: 24 V and a mobile network – that's all the io-key needs to do its job. If both are available the IoT gateway sends the data directly from IO-Link sensors to the cloud. It does not matter to the io-key if it is in a sea container, in a supply silo in the middle of hectares of arable land or in a remote machine far from existing IT infrastructures. In other words: With the io-key the IIoT is always there where you need it. This opens up new opportunities in process monitoring – and innovative approaches for increased customer service.