Bernd Franz founded Framos Electronic Vertriebs GmbH 40 years ago, laying the foundation for today's Framos, which his son Dr. Andreas Franz has managed hand in hand with a global management team for more than 10 years.

The company sees its 40 years of experience as a very good basis for building on the strong development of recent years and continuing to be one of the globally relevant pacesetters for the imaging market and expanding this position.

From distributor to vision enabler

The Framos success story began 40 years ago - initially with a focus on the distribution of sensors. Even then, the company was not simply a wholesaler of components, but a respected expert in industrial image processing thanks to close partnerships with technology leaders such as Sony. In the 1990s, the expansion of business activities throughout Europe was on the agenda - from then on also with its own products to support camera developers and users. After the turn of the millennium, Framos continued its expansion into European countries with newly founded foreign companies, strong partners and the constant expansion of its product portfolio.

When Dr. Andreas Franz took over the management of the company with 15 employees in 2008, he had already gained experience in management and strategy consulting and recognized that Framos offered a good platform for technological and strategic development. From that moment on, he put his parents' company on a new footing - from wholesaler to global technology partner for optical sensors and system solutions.

Teaching machines to see and think

Today, the company teaches robots and machines to see and sometimes also AI-based thinking, with its own product platforms, above all the Framos Embedded Vision Ecosystem, increasingly complementing the portfolio in line with its self-image as a vision enabler. The company currently generates a global turnover of EUR 60 million with around 150 employees.

With regard to the coronavirus year 2020, Dr. Andreas Franz says: "As a globally active company, the lockdown did not hit us with full force. Ultimately, we will benefit if companies now digitize and automate more intensively. After all, image processing is at the heart of Industry 4.0."

Equipped for the future

So this year, Framos employees have a "round" occasion and many good reasons to look forward to the next 40 years with confidence and optimism, even if they will again bring many surprises and uncertainties.

Dr. Andreas Franz is optimistic about the future: "With intelligent deep learning algorithms, networking via the cloud and new approaches to cooperation between people, machines and systems, there is now a special magic in image processing, as well as in the intelligent use of data. There is still great potential and we look forward to further developing our expertise for and with our customers as a full-service provider."