Dr Michael Berger has been appointed Managing Director of IDS Imaging Development Systems with effect from 1 January. Jürgen Hartmann, founder and shareholder of the industrial camera manufacturer, is stepping down from the management board after 27 years at the helm of the company.

MEPCA magazine spoke to Dr Michael Berger and Jürgen Hartmann to understand a little more about the company’s journey and what the future holds in store under the new leadership.

Q: Mr Hartmann, why are you leaving after 27 years?

A: We have been preparing for the generational change for years so that we don’t end up without a succession plan one day like other SMEs. The issue has been close to my heart for a long time because continuity and reliability are important to me, not least with regard to our partners and customers. I initiated this step four years ago with the promotion of my son Jan to the management board and the appointment of Alexander Lewinsky to the management board in 2021. I founded the company in 1997 as a two-man operation and have undergone many changes since then.

But everything has its time, and after more than 40 years of working life, it’s time for me to take another step back. My wife very nicely defined my future task as follows: “Be the wind beneath the wings of your successors. I want to be that wind. Support where desired and help where necessary.

Q: Mr Berger, which IDS areas will you be responsible for in the future, and which areas will your other colleagues from the management team be responsible for?

A: I will be responsible for the Sales, Marketing, Product Management and System Consulting divisions. Jan Hartmann will be in charge of Finance, HR, IT and Business Innovation & Ecosystem with immediate effect; Alexander Lewinsky will take over Development in addition to his previous area of responsibility, Operations.

Q: Mr Berger: What are your goals for the next few years, and will industrial cameras continue to be the focus?

A: ‘Growing together, inspiring worldwide’ is my motto. We want to anticipate customer requirements with innovative, high-quality industrial camera solutions. That is our core competence, and that is how I have come to know IDS: innovative and customer-orientated. The fact that our development department is based right here at our headquarters in Obersulm is, of course, an absolute advantage for us. And, of course, the fact that Jürgen will remain with us as a consultant for the development of these solutions. These are the best prerequisites for initiating further scaling and the next innovation steps at IDS. For me, a clear market orientation takes centre stage.

We will continue to focus on industrial cameras. However, the demand for complete solutions is increasing, which is why innovative image processing components, for example, will play an increasingly important role for us. We want to offer our customers hardware and software that is optimised for their application – the latest technology plus particularly simple workflows that they can’t get anywhere else.

Q: Mr Hartmann, are you withdrawing completely from the company?

A: No. Although I am consciously withdrawing from the operational business, I will continue to take care of innovations and new technologies. My desk is now in Development, but my role in future will be an advisory one.

Q: Mr Berger, what new IDS products can we expect in the first half of the year?

A: Numerous model additions to our USB3 and GigE uEye+ camera families. Integration of many new sensors from Sony, onsemi, etc. In other words, there are even more choices for our customers, from the entry-level range right up to the 10GigE camera series. At the same time, we will continuously improve our IDS peak SDK. There will be several free software updates over the course of 2024.

We will also be extending our IDS NXT platform, including with additional cameras. In addition, the streaming capabilities of the IDS NXT malibu models will be expanded. Furthermore, new 3D cameras are planned in the Ensenso series. Exciting developments can also be expected for DENKnet, the VISION solution for customised PC-based image analysis.

Q: Mr Hartmann, what have been the highlights for you in the history of IDS?

My motivation has always been to recognise the potential of innovative technologies at an early stage and to adapt them for our products, especially through the industrialisation of consumer technologies.

In 1997, the first product ‘Made by IDS’ was launched on the market – the FALCON colour and monochrome frame grabber. The PC plug-in card for converting analogue to digital images on the basis of a chip from the consumer market is still in use today in applications such as medical technology.

I had the idea of developing my own digital cameras and not just analogue frame grabbers in 2003 when I realised that customers no longer wanted to digitise analogue signals in the PC but preferred digital signals. In 2004, IDS launched the first ever industrial camera with a USB interface. The latter was not considered suitable for industrial use at the time, but IDS used this technology in a visionary way for its high-performance digital industrial cameras – with resounding success.

In 2007, we launched the first IDS camera with a GigE interface onto the market. This technological advancement opened up great potential for applications that require high bandwidth and cable length. Whenever a technology reaches its limits, we develop new products – sometimes in small steps, sometimes in quantum leaps.

One such small step was the market launch of our first USB 3 camera in 2011, while our entry into the 3D segment with the Ensenso N10 stereo 3D camera in 2013 was certainly a quantum leap.

We achieved something completely different in 2017 with the new IDS device generation IDS NXT with vision app-based image processing.

The topic of artificial intelligence has not just been on our minds since today. Our entry into the AI segment began in 2018, and we also want to make it as easy as possible for users by adapting consumer technology. Our IDS NXT malibu, with on-camera AI and streaming, was developed in cooperation with Ambarella. This makes us the first provider to offer an Ambarella chip familiar in action cameras for use in industrial applications.

www.ids-imaging.de