The Minister of Economy of North Rhine-Westphalia, Prof. Dr. Andreas Pinkwart, visited ifm, medium-sized enterprise located in Essen, today. Michael Marhofer, Chairman of the Board, and Christoph von Rosenberg, Chief Financial Officer of the ifm group of companies, welcomed the Minister of Economy in the logistics centre in Essen. Pinkwart, who was accompanied by a delegation of representatives, was given a tour of the new logistics centre and was impressed by the company's innovative strength.

Medium-sized ifm group of companies, which is often regarded as the "hidden champion" of the automation industry, has more than 6,000 employees and attained a turnover of more than €775 million in 2016. During the discussion with the Minister, Michael Marhofer pointed out that the focus of the strategic growth of the company, whose roots lay in sensor production, will be on Industry 4.0. The product range will be extended accordingly: From sensor and sensor data, networking and pre-evaluation through to connection to ERP systems and cloud solutions. Michael Marhofer also let the Minister know what he expects German politicians to focus on: "To avoid being left behind by other industrial nations, we urgently need the digital infrastructures in Germany to be expanded." This is the only way to ensure that technology leaders such as ifm will be able to become "hidden champions" in a digitalised world in future.