The American President, Barack Obama, and the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, have visited the exhibition stand of the ifm group of companies at the Hannover Messe.

During their opening tour, the President of this year's partner country, the USA, and the German Chancellor enquired about the medium-sized company's strategic orientation. "We develop today modern sensors, systems and software that communicate with each other according the principles of Industry 4.0 and that trigger and control processes", explained Michael Marhofer, Chairman of the ifm Group.

As a "hidden champion", the ifm group of companies is today considered as one of the world market leaders in its industry. Very early, the company also made progress at an international level. Chancellor Merkel and President Obama as well as the other delegation members were particularly interested in the new 3D camera systems for quick identification of 3D scenes and automatic object recognition and in ifm's activities in the Hannover Messe Partner Country, the USA.

Since 1984, the ifm Group has been active on the US market and has had a subsidiary there since 1987. In 1987, major investments went into this subsidiary, and a development and production site was built up to meet the specific requirements of the US market. Presently, the US market makes up 20% of the ifm Group's total turnover.

Despite the strong international focus, 75% of all products are still produced at six locations in the Lake Constance region in Germany. Today, the family-owned company, which was founded in 1969 and is headquartered in Essen, has about 5,500 employees and attains a turnover of €720 million.