imess

What imess does

imess GmbH is a privately held German engineering firm founded in 1998 and headquartered in Witten, North Rhine-Westphalia, that develops and builds optical measurement and testing systems for industrial manufacturing. Its products use camera and laser triangulation sensors combined with proprietary imess Vision Software to deliver non-contact, operator-independent 100% inline and stationary inspection across four primary industry verticals: spring manufacturing (F-series for valve, suspension, stabilizer, wire contour, arc, and wave springs), metal processing (S-series for strip width, thickness, burr height, camber, cross camber, coil set, circular knife analysis, and measurement tables), medical and plastics (stent geometry, black-spot/spout/sealing control), and furniture (geometry, coating, in-mould-labeling, depalletizing). Inline test modules such as the C260 connector inspection and T100/T200 thermography extend the offering to additional manufacturing steps. All systems are engineer-to-order with DAkkS-traceable calibration and PLC/CAQ/SAP integration for closed-loop sorting.

imess runs a high-touch, consultative enterprise sales motion — visiting customer production sites, configuring each system to specification, and providing installation, commissioning, training, and 24-hour on-call service thereafter. Pricing is quote-based with multi-year service contracts. Distribution is direct and via a representative network spanning Belgium/France (BERGATECH), Japan (K. Brasch; Correns for springs), Spain (Electromecanica e Ingenieur Industrial General), India (ASHLING Innovation), and Austria/Slovakia/Czech Republic (Klaus Pukl). Demand generation combines the corporate website with active participation in EuroBLECH, Wire, Blechexpo, and IWCC events and a LinkedIn/YouTube presence.

The company is owner-managed by three Managing Directors (Patrick Telders, Stephan König, Christian Gülker), certified to DIN ISO 9001:2015, and has been self-funded since founding with no external investors or M&A activity on record. Reported scale signals are consistent with a niche Mittelstand capital-equipment supplier: 1-10 employees, a cumulative installed base of 50+ F435 valve-spring measurement systems, and a 2019 run-rate of five SW strip-width system orders.

Name

imess

Legal name

imess Optische Mess- und Prüfanlagen GmbH

Website

https://imess.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1998

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

imess GmbH is a German owner-managed engineering firm founded in 1998 that develops custom optical camera-and-laser measurement and testing systems for 100% inline quality control in spring, metal, medical/plastics, and furniture manufacturing, sold direct and via international representatives.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Industrial Optical Measurement and Quality Control Equipment

NAICS

Navigational, Measuring, Electromedical, and Control Instruments Manufacturing (33451), Instruments and Related Products Manufacturing for Measuring, Displaying, and Controlling Industrial Process Variables (334513), Other Measuring and Controlling Device Manufacturing (334519)

SIC

Industrial Instruments For Measurement, Display, And Control (3823), Measuring & Controlling Devices, Nec (3829), Optical Instruments & Lenses (3827)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYIMAIAMAF

Industrial Quality Inspection & Metrology (Machine Vision)

Industrials, Manufacturing & Construction/Industrial Services & Facility Operations/Industrial IoT (IIoT) & Smart Manufacturing

SECONDARYIMAGAFAB

Machine Vision & Optical Sensing (Cameras, 3D vision, LiDAR, illumination)

Industrials, Manufacturing & Construction/Electrical Equipment & Industrial Electronics/Sensors, Instrumentation & Measurement (Industrial sensing, metrology, test)

SECONDARYHDAAAEAG

Industrial Vision & Quality Inspection

Hardware, Technology & Telecom/Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning/Computer Vision & Video Analytics

Keywords

• Optical measurement systems
• Industrial quality inspection
• Non-contact testing
• Spring geometry measurement
• Metal strip inspection

Headquarters

HQ city

Witten

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices6 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Optical Measurement Systems (Hardware): Sale of optical measuring and testing equipment including laser sensors, cameras, and integrated systems. Systems are customized for specific industrial applications and customer requirements. One-time capital equipment purchases with potential for aftermarket support.
2. Professional Services: Installation, commissioning, training, and ongoing service/support. The company offers 24-hour on-call service, operator training, monthly routine checks, and can fully outsource testing and sorting tasks. Services provided after system integration.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

imess develops and builds optical measurement and testing systems using camera and laser technology for industrial quality control. The company sells customized, non-contact 100% inspection equipment for geometric tolerance verification, surface defect detection, and dimensional measurement across spring manufacturing, metal processing, medical devices, plastics, and furniture industries. Each system is engineered to customer-specific requirements using the proprietary imess Vision Software and DAkkS-certified calibration standards.

Product overview

imess develops and builds optical measurement and test systems using camera and laser technology for special industrial demands across five core industry segments: Spring Industry, Metal Industry, Medical | Plastics Industry, Furniture Industry, and Inline Test Modules. The portfolio includes both stationary and inline inspection systems, with products identified by alphanumeric model codes (F-series for springs, S-series for metal, C/T/U for inline modules, and SW/SB/SMP for specific measurement functions). Key products include the F435 valve spring measurement system (with compact, under-load, and long-spring variants), F881/F880 3D suspension spring geometry, F610/F600 arc spring measurement, F920 wave spring height check, F300 stabilizer inspection, and F210 wire contour measurement. Metal industry products include the SW strip width measurement system, S28 burr height measurement, S25 circular knife analysis, S40 cross camber measurement, and S30 coil set measurement. Inline modules include C260 connector inspection, T100/T200 thermography, and U100 runout/concentricity testing. All systems are described as tailor-made solutions using high-quality components, with software providing nominal-actual comparisons, statistical analysis, and export to CAQ systems, PLC, and databases.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• imess F435 / F435 C / F435 CL / F435 V Valve Spring Geometry Measurement Optical valve spring geometry measurement system using cameras and lighting for 360° inspection. Measures e1, e2, De, grinding angle, wire-end diameter, pitch gap, and turns. Available in standard, compact (C, ~65 cm wide for small laboratories), under-load (CL), and long-spring (V, up to 1500 mm) variants. Features a coiler interface for automated correction and 3D model export for FEM analysis.
• imess F210 Wire Contour Measurement Spring wire contour measurement system that checks wire contour dimensions and tolerances for complex contours including multiarc, oval, round, flat-round, hexagonal, and rectangular wire. Supports 360° rotation in 1° steps with CAD import and master contour teach-in options.

Quantifiable outcome

• Accuracy improvement: Systems achieve measurement accuracy of +/- 0.01mm for product tolerances of +/- 0.1mm, providing 10x better accuracy (cg > 1.33)
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

AI capability6 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• BERGATECH SCregionalChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorRegional representative for Belgium and France. Contact: Gabriele Goenen. Provides local sales and support for imess optical measurement and testing products in the Belgian and French markets.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Wenglor sensoric GmbH: German manufacturer of industrial sensors, machine vision cameras, and smart cameras for quality inspection. Comparable to imess in offering camera-based 2D/3D inspection for industrial manufacturing with a similar Mittelstand profile.
• Micro-Epsilon Messtechnik: German manufacturer of precision sensors and measurement systems including laser triangulation sensors, optical micrometers, and 2D/3D inspection cameras. Highly comparable to imess in laser-based dimensional measurement and optical inspection for industrial customers.
• Mahr GmbH: German provider of dimensional metrology solutions including optical and contact-based measurement systems for industrial production. Comparable to imess in precision measurement of metal components and metrology equipment for industrial customers.
• Vitronic GmbH: German machine vision specialist focused on industrial quality inspection, automotive, and logistics. Comparable to imess in optical inspection systems for automotive components and metal processing with similar Mittelstand roots.

Broad incumbents

• Carl Zeiss Industrial Metrology: Division of Zeiss offering coordinate measuring machines, optical metrology, and computed tomography for industrial quality assurance. Comparable in high-precision industrial measurement and metrology though serving much broader and higher-end applications than imess.
• SICK AG: German-based manufacturer of sensors and sensor-based solutions for industrial automation, including machine vision and quality control. Closely comparable to imess in non-contact optical inspection and metrology, with overlapping automotive and metals customers.
• Cognex Corporation: Leading US machine vision company providing industrial image-based inspection and quality control solutions. Directly comparable to imess in inline optical inspection use cases, but at much larger scale and serving many more industries.
• ISRA VISION (Atlas Copco): German machine vision specialist (now part of Atlas Copco) focused on surface inspection, robot vision, and quality inspection in metals, automotive, and glass. Directly comparable to imess in inline optical surface and dimensional inspection of metal strips and automotive parts.
• Keyence Corporation: Global Japanese supplier of industrial sensors, machine vision systems, and measurement instruments. Comparably offers optical/laser measurement and inline inspection, though across a vastly broader product portfolio than imess's niche focus.

Emerging players

• EVK / Perception Park: Austrian/German hyperspectral imaging company for industrial sorting and inspection applications. Comparable to imess in using advanced optical sensing (hyperspectral instead of RGB/laser) for inline quality and material inspection.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCl10KLiuHbMphP6x9c-IgfQ
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/imess

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about imess