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Supplier Spotlight: IDS Imaging Development Systems, Inc.
For two years, the SME sector has been under enormous pressure. The worldwide shortage of semiconductors and tense supply chains affect the production of cameras. IDS is responding with flexibility and creativity: Short-term development of new hardware platforms, proactive corrections in development focus, and effective supplier management to secure the flow of goods and dampen the impact of the current situation.
"Adaptability is our strength. After all: A flexible response to market conditions has always been the guarantee for the company's continued success." — Jürgen Hartmann.
At the same time, the camera maker, Jürgen Hartmann, is pursuing visions of his own.
IDS has been taking future-oriented technologies from the consumer world and consistently developing them for the industry, making it one of the world market leaders in the industry.
Over the past 25 years, the family-run business evolved into an independent, ISO-certified manufacturer of digital industrial cameras with around 350 employees. IDS develops and produces innovative image processing components at its headquarters in Obersulm and is represented internationally.
It started out in 1997 with frame grabbers which then led to the first industrial camera with a USB interface on the market in 2004. In its anniversary year, 2022, IDS says it will be focusing on app-based cameras with AI while also opening up new fields of application for image processing.
"We still have many more ideas than we can implement," explains Jürgen Hartmann.
IDS says it has always identified as a company that relies on regional networking; cooperating with universities, start-ups, and young tech pioneers to keep ideas fresh and flowing.
"The idea of innovation that has always prevailed at IDS and the will to create something new are firmly anchored in all of us," explains IDS Managing Director and son of the company, founder Jan Hartmann.
In addition to the launch of several new products, such as models with particularly high transmission speeds and resolutions, the further development of the smart IDS NXT industrial cameras with artificial intelligence will be promoted this year.
"It is now on everyone's lips, but very few companies are already using the technology. Artificial intelligence solves tasks that classical image processing usually fails at and thus opens up completely new fields of application, such as traffic and smart cities or the environment and smart farming," explains Jan Hartmann.
With visionpier, the online marketplace for image processing, IDS is also building a virtual bridge between users—with or without image processing experience—and providers of turnkey vision solutions.
Expanding the business focus means not only positioning the company more broadly for the coming years, but also moving into industries where machine vision can contribute to solving growing socio-political challenges.
"If you want to survive on the market today, you have to be creative and go your own way. When everyone is running in one direction, I like to run in the other on principle," states Jürgen Hartmann. This is how visions become products.
Despite all its growth, the company does not lose sight of its responsibility for people and the environment. This includes sustainability in production and shipping, fairness towards business partners as well as a pronounced family consciousness. IDS has also been completely climate-neutral since 2021.
