Kistler Group

Kistler Instrumente AG
legal form	Corporation
founding	1959
Seat	Winterthur , Switzerland
management	Rolf Andreas Sonderegger ; ( CEO ) ; Robert Lombardini ; ( Chairman of the Board )
Number of employees	over 2,200 (2019)
sales	466 million CHF (2019)
Branch	measuring technology
Website	www.kistler.com

The Kistler Instrumente AG (legally Kistler Holding AG), based in Winterthur is an international and in the field of metrology specialized Swiss group. It is represented by over 30 group companies at 61 locations in over 30 countries. Kistler Instrumente employs over 2,200 people and generated sales of 466 million Swiss francs in 2019.

Field of activity

Kistler develops, produces and sells pressure , force , torque and acceleration sensors as well as electronics and software tailored to them . Kistler specializes in piezoelectric and piezoresistive measurement technology.

history

The company was formally founded in 1959, but business activities began as early as 1950, when Walter P. Kistler patented the charge amplifier he had developed. In 1957 he and Hans Conrad Sonderegger founded the sole proprietorship Kistler Instruments . In 1959 it was converted into an AG, which was dedicated to the development and production of various quartz sensors , including numerous world novelties. With the advancing technical development, the Kistler Group also expanded abroad, initially with the establishment of subsidiaries in Germany (1963) and Great Britain (1966), which were followed by more from the mid-1980s. Today the Kistler Group has subsidiaries all over the world.

Divisions and Business Areas

Since 2013, the group’s business activities have been divided into three global divisions. The reorganization followed the strategic decision to develop the company from a component supplier to a solution provider. This required an organization that could specifically cover the needs of the individual markets. Each of the three divisions is made up of specific business units (strategic business fields) that focus on different markets with industry and application-specific measurement technology solutions.

Automotive Research & Test Division The Automotive Research & Test (ART) division specializes in measuring solutions for engine research and development, vehicle dynamics, durability and vehicle safety tests. The ART division focuses on process reliability and efficiency, operational reliability and resource optimization. It thus contributes to the development of safe vehicles and energy-efficient, high-performance engines. The ART division consists of the strategic business areas of vehicle dynamics & durability, vehicle safety, marine & stationary engines, and engine research & development.

Industrial Process Control Division The Industrial Process Control (IPC) Division specializes in process monitoring solutions for industrial production. It thus contributes to quality assurance, process reliability, resource optimization and increased productivity in industrial production. The IPC division consists of the strategic business areas of process monitoring, forming, process monitoring, joining, plastics processing, NC joining systems, industrial test systems, screwdriving technology, test automation and customer-specific industrial solutions.

Sensor Technology Division The Sensor Technology (ST) Division brings together various measurement applications. It thus contributes to process and product optimization in research and development. The ST division consists of the strategic business areas of cutting force measurement (tool development and process analysis), biomechanics and force plates (sports diagnostics and rehabilitation), short-term dynamics (analysis of high-energy materials), thermoacoustics (gas turbine monitoring), weigh-in-motion (traffic monitoring), rail technology (monitoring railway infrastructure ), Speed Enforcement and Test & Measurement (measurement equipment for T&M applications).

technology

Piezoelectric measuring technology The piezoelectric effect, discovered in 1880 by the brothers Pierre Curie and Jacques Curie , describes the property of certain crystals to give off an electrical charge when subjected to mechanical stress . The occurrence of the piezoelectric charge in the event of mechanical deformation is used by Kistler force, pressure and acceleration sensors.

Invention of the charge-voltage converter Walter P. Kistler achieved the technical breakthrough in 1948 (patented 1950) with the invention of a special charge amplifier (charge-voltage converter), which enabled the broad industrial application of piezoelectricity . This converts the extremely small charge of a piezoelectric sensor into a proportional electrical voltage .

PiezoStar Crystals The Kistler Group has been growing its own crystals for use in piezoelectric sensors since 1998. These new crystal compounds became necessary due to increasing demands on sensitivity , size (increasing miniaturization of the sensors) and due to higher operating temperatures. PiezoStar © crystals are characterized by high piezoelectric sensitivity, low temperature dependence, high stability of the properties and operating temperature up to over 600 ° C. There is no phase change up to the melting point (above 1300 ° C) and no twinning. Kistler uses the Czochralski method (cultivation from the melt), which has been known since 1916 , with which large crystals of good quality can be grown in a relatively short time.

Acquisitions

The Kistler Group has experienced strong organic and inorganic growth (achieved through acquisitions) in recent years.

The following companies belong to the Kistler Group today:

Vester Elektronik GmbH (since 2017)

IOS GmbH (since 2017)

eso GmbH (since 2017)

Schatz AG (since 2016)

Baewert Precision Measurement Technology (since 2012)

MSC (since 2009)

Corsys Datron (since 2009)

KT Automotive GmbH (since 2009)

Staiger Mohilo (since 2006)

VELOS measuring systems (since 2003)

IGeL GmbH (since 2002)

Web links

Website of Kistler Instrumente AG

Individual evidence

↑ https://www.landbote.ch/winterthur/standard/made-in-winterthur-ist-wieder-gefragt/story/21671589

↑ http://www.ey.com/ch/de/newsroom/news-releases/20131025_ey-entrepreneur-of-the-year-13-die-gewinner

↑ http://www.springer.com/de/book/9783540422594

↑ http://www.springer.com/de/book/9783540439660

↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from July 16, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Link broken on October 11, 2018. @1@ 2