In nearly 40 years, Flowtec has become the global market leader in the field of electromagnetic flow measuring technology
Since 1977, our company has produced over two million electromagnetic flowmeters. That is more than any other manufacturer. This magic number stands for high-quality measuring technology and, above all, satisfied customers in all kinds of industries around the world.
Flowtec’s success story began in the middle of the 1970s. In order to enter the water and wastewater market which was growing rapidly at that time, Endress+Hauser purchased the company “Flowtec” in Bern in 1977 and moved it to a new location in Reinach (Basel-Landschaft, Switzerland). This was where operations began, in military barracks with just three employees and a lot of pioneering spirit. A lot of work was done on demand and the logistical infrastructure was quite simple. Things are very different today: High-tech flowmeters are now produced year in, year out with state-of-the-art logistics at six sites around the globe – in Switzerland, France, the USA, China, India, and Brazil. This is what has made it possible to produce to date, two million electromagnetic flowmeters, which would be able to measure a volume corresponding to four times the flow rate of the Amazon in one second. All our divisions features high-precision calibration facilities which are accredited by national bodies and which guarantee consistently high measuring quality for each individual flowmeter.
Constant innovation guarantees customer satisfaction
Our success, which spans almost 40 years, is no accident. It comes down to many factors. In particular, Flowtec’s inventive talent has enabled it to keep offering its customers groundbreaking devices capable of measuring all kinds of fluids, such as water, milk, acids, alkalis, pulps, pastes, or ore slurry in pipes, with the greatest accuracy. With clever innovations such as the precision measurement of difficult fluids (Autozero, 1981), microprocessor control (Variomag, 1984), two-wire technology (Eximag, 1987), or the first operating matrix (Tecmag, 1990), Flowtec has always managed to stay one step ahead of the competition.
In 1993, all of these device variants were brought together to form a single product family under the name of “Proline”. This forward-looking device line featured a new modular design: Customers were now free to create combinations between sensors, transmitters, process connections, and other device options to suit their own applications according to the principle that “you only pay for what you need.” Alongside this product line, however, Flowtec also produced flowmeters such as the Dosimag for specific applications – for example, filling thousands of bottles at one-second intervals.
Looking to the future with “Proline”
Since 1993, the Proline device family has undergone constant development to ensure that it is capable of meeting the prevailing requirements in a wide range of industries. Following the second generation, which was launched in 2000, the third and most recent generation (from 2012) – with Proline 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, and 800 – offers a multitude of unique functions and device properties which are unrivaled in the current flow market.
In the future, we will be focusing on “Added values” to ensure that we maintain our high score with our customers. The new Proline measuring devices do much more than just measure flow – they provide an insight into processes and provide supply system operators with a huge amount of important diagnostic and process data.
Another unique feature is that device information and service or process data can be retrieved, not only via the display or via fieldbus interfaces, but also via the newly integrated web server and even WLAN. Alongside a multitude of fieldbuses and analog outputs, WirelessHART can also be used to transfer measurement data. And last, but not least a sophisticated data storage concept (HistoROM) means that configuration data is automatically recovered in the event of a device failure, thus saving the customer time and money.
A further highlight is what is referred to as “Heartbeat Technology,” which can be used to check and verify the functioning of a measuring device at any time during live operation. With innovations such as these, and lots more besides, Flowtec can tackle the next million flowmeters with confidence.
