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From the cotton factory to the sensor expert

Leuze’s history as a sensor expert began in 1963 in Owen/Teck. 60 years are an important milestone in the history of the company.

Leuze’s history as a sensor expert began in 1963 in Owen/Teck at the foot of the Swabian Alb. 60 years is an important milestone in the company history of the company, which has its roots in the textile industry. Today, Leuze is an international sensor expert in industrial automation as well as a technology and world market leader in the field of Opto-sensor technology.

However, the tradition of the family-owned company Leuze goes back much longer, to 1861, when the water power of the Lauter River still drove the machines of the Leuze cotton spinning and weaving mill. But like everywhere else in the textile industry, fierce competition began in the late 1950s. The young fourth generation, who took the reins in 1961 when the family business celebrated its 100th anniversary, quickly realised that new ways were needed to make their company fit for the future. Diversification was the recipe for success. From then on, Leuze textile and bielomatik in Neuffen belonged to the Leuze Group. In 1962 the weaving mill was sold. Together with four employees from the textile sector, a small team led by Christof Leuze started up in 1963 in a section of the former weaving mill of Leuze textil in Owen. A new era began: from cotton to electronics.

Expert in the packaging industry

The company headquarters in Owen/Teck, southern Germany.
The company headquarters in Owen/Teck, southern Germany. (Image: Leuze)

The start-up Leuze Electronic had a business idea in 1963: the manufacture of electronic optosensors. The founders Helmut, Christof, and Adolf Leuze were looking for new business opportunities – even if they were initially in fields that had nothing to do with light barriers. Among the first sales drivers, for example, was a packaging machine for textile goods – a suggestion from Leuze textil. On the so-called „Conopack“, high-quality textile goods and yarn reels were sealed in plastic semi-tubular film. This machine became an export hit over 15 years. It reduced packaging costs by 40 percent and led to a time saving of 30 percent compared to manual packaging.

Experience with customers from the paper and printing press industry then led to the idea of developing a new type of non-contact scanning system for paper sheets before they are fed into the printing unit. Since the installation situations in this industrial environment are very cramped, the new sensor had to be very small. This resulted in the world’s smallest reflex head at the time, whose first customer was the mechanical engineering branch of the Leuze Group, bielomatik.

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Always the customers in view

The interest in technological change has characterised Leuze from the very beginning and runs through the entire history of the company. The Sensor People have always tried to recognise and understand the specific problems of their customers in various industries and then find the exact sensor solution for them. In this way, Leuze has developed over the decades into a true sensor expert in the market segments of its customers.

Leuze, for example, integrated LEDs into its sensors at a very early stage in the mid-1970s, which were brighter and longer-lasting than incandescent lamps. At a later stage, the first laser diodes were added, which represented a further leap in terms of brightness and delimitability of the light spot. For customers, this made a big difference: the sensor detects exactly where the light spot is and nowhere else.

Reflection light barriers of the first generation from the 1980s.
Reflection light barriers of the first generation from the 1980s. (Image: Leuze)

Since the middle of the last century, there have been so-called „light intercoms“: Data transmission with light. However, this type of transmission did not become established in the industrial environment until much later. In the mid-1970s, it was possible for the first time in warehouse logistics to replace trailing cables with contactless data transmission. This is how the world’s first industrial optical data light barrier, the DDLS 78 from Leuze, came into use. Today, the use of such data light barriers in different variants and designs has become standard in warehouse aisles hundreds of metres long. They enable stable and wireless data transmission free of any interference over long distances.

Broad-based expertise

The development of the first retro-reflective sensor enabled Leuze to enter the packaging industry in the 1980s and soon also the beverage-filling industry. From this industrial experience, sensors with integrated polarisation filters were developed for the reliable detection of transparent objects.

Leuze transferred this know-how to other applications: For labelling machines, for example, the company developed the very first GS 05 optical label fork. In the 2000s, the company brought an absolute innovation to the market: the GSU 14. It was the first fork sensor for the detection of transparent or metallised labels using the completely new ultrasonic detection principle.

Several generations of the later optical data light barrier (series 78, 160, 200, 500).
Several generations of the later optical data light barrier (series 78, 160, 200, 500). (Image: Leuze)

In the 2020s, the next world first in this field followed: the Leuze GSX 14E combination fork sensor, which combines both detection principles – light and ultrasound – in one compact sensor. This fork sensor is a flexible solution for all labelling machines on which a wide variety of label types are processed.

Another current highlight for packaging processes is the DRT 25C dynamic reference scanner: it takes the conveyor belt as a reference and is thus a specialist for detecting products with challenging shapes or surfaces. The LS 25CI Super Power through-beam photoelectric sensors effortlessly radiate through even metallised foils and detect the front edges of products in non-transparent packaging.

Convincing innovation on the market: The GSX 14E combines the two detection principles of light and ultrasound in one compact sensor.
Convincing innovation on the market: The GSX 14E combines the two detection principles of light and ultrasound in one compact sensor. (Image: Leuze)

High demands on the sensor technology

The demands on packaging machine manufacturers and operators are high and dynamic today: consumers expect innovative and sustainable packaging materials; brand and consumer protection are gaining importance; e-commerce is the defining trend in retail. Packaging processes in the food and pharmaceutical industries must therefore become increasingly flexible, efficient, and intelligent.

Leuze’s broad portfolio includes sensor technology for the entire packaging process: each adapted to the specific requirements of the customer and application: While hygiene requirements are very high in the primary packaging of sausage or cheese, for example, speed and economy also count in the beverage industry. In confectionery packaging, the focus is on flexibility and easy format changes.

With sensors as well as automation and safety solutions, the Leuze Group supports its customers in all steps of the packaging process: from primary and secondary packaging and labelling to final packaging and palletising of food, beverages, or pharmaceuticals. The range includes solutions for machine safety, optical detection or measurement tasks, the recognition of 1-D or 2-D codes, or for demanding inspection tasks. Robust and hygienic sensors meet the highest IP protection classes and certifications and have proven themselves for decades even in extremely harsh environments.

Robust and hygienic sensors meet the highest IP protection classes and certifications and have proven themselves for decades even in extremely harsh environments.
Robust and hygienic sensors meet the highest IP protection classes and certifications and have proven themselves for decades even in extremely harsh environments. (Image: Leuze)

A look into the future

The family-owned company also has a vision, ambitious goals, and concrete plans for the future: the existing plants in the hemispheres will be further expanded and manufacturing capacities will be increased. Leuze continues to focus on industries that promise high market and development potential: In addition to the packaging industry, these are intralogistics, the machine tool sector, the automotive industry, and laboratory automation. Especially for these focus industries, Leuze will increasingly develop sensor and safety solutions that are oriented towards their requirements as well as topics such as Industry 4.0, increasing networking, and communication.

„As a family-owned company, we act globally to create the innovations of tomorrow together with our customers,“ is how Corporate Industry Manager Packaging, Andreas Eberle, sums it up.

ww.leuze.com

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