FROM SONTHOFEN TO THE WORLD
BACKGROUND STORY: iPEK success story
33 years of knowledge and experience in the sewer industry
Is reflected in the systems we develop and manufacture. From the first black-and-white sewer camera to the first colour case systems, from the proven SUPERVISION and ROVVER systems to today's advanced ROVION system. From the foundation of the Einmann-GmbH to today's globally operating company and part of the worldwide IDEX group.
The foundation stones for a success story
In 1988 engineer Peter Kessler constructed the first own black and white camera system in a cellar in Sonthofen and founded iPEK Kessler GmbH.
In 1990 he then founded iPEK Spezial-TV GmbH & Co KG with his former colleague Manfred Baral in Riezlern (Kleinwalsertal).
In 1991/1992 iPEK employed nine people and presented its products for the first time at the environment fair Entsorga in Essen. The first customer contacts to the USA were established.
In 1993/1994 the first serially produced colour case systems came on the market. At the Entsorga fair in Cologne iPEK celebrated the first successes with the pan and tilt camera SK80.
The international attention
In 1995 iPEK moved to larger premises in Hirschegg. With meanwhile 20 employees an annual turnover of 2.5 million DM was achieved.
In 1996/1997 the box plant was extended by a crawler and a removable control unit.
In 1999 iPEK produced with 26 employees approx. 200 color box plants per year, which were sold in 13 countries. The annual turnover was almost 8 million DM.
2001/2002 the system SUPERVISON® was presented and delivered to the general public for the first time. With the DigiSewer® a completely new type of sewer TV inspection equipment was introduced to the market. Sales and service outlets were opened in the UK, Spain, Mexico, Japan, Hong Kong and Greece, and sales in the USA and Canada were handled by our partner company Envirosight. Sales exceeded the 5 million euro mark for the first time.
Expansion of the iPEK product range
In 2003, the first ROVVER® units were delivered to Japan and Hong Kong and Fernie Technical Services took over sales and service in Ireland.
2004 the 1,500th SK80 pan and tilt camera and the first well cameras with 50 bar pressure density were delivered. Peter Kessler left the company, Manfred Baral became sole managing director.
2006 was the most successful year in the iPEK company history. 40% increase in turnover, the introduction of the SVR140 and thus the completion of the SUPERVISION® product range. The RC90 zoom camera head of the ROVVER® system became the most successful product launch ever. The team grew to almost 70 employees.
Part of something big
2007 another successful year for iPEK. At the end of the year, the team had almost 100 employees and a further increase in turnover of 30% was achieved. New developments, new partners in many new countries characterized the year. iPEK could position itself once again as one of the most successful camera manufacturers for inspection systems in the world.
2008 was the year of changes at iPEK. iPEK built the second location in Kempten/Sulzberg and thus extended the production and administration area by 2500m².
In addition, iPEK became part of the American company IDEX in 2008, thus securing its international position and growth. The AGILIOS™ and SUPERVISION® satellite system was presented and the team was expanded to 91 people. The year closed with a turnover of almost 17 million euros.
Together through difficult times
In 2009, the banking crisis did not leave iPEK unaffected. However, with strong partners worldwide and the international orientation iPEK was able to master it successfully. Even more, they were able to compensate the difficult first months by great success with new products like AGILIOS™, EX protection systems and the VisionReport software.
2010 with the solid order book from 2009 iPEK could comfortably start into the new year by the partners. New products like the third generation of DigiSewer, the extension of the SUPERVISION® satellite system to a larger range, the integration of the WinCan standard into VisionReport and the new version of the ROVVER® camera RC80 with improved illumination and short design helped to forget the crisis year 2009 quickly.
The most successful product was the AGILIOS®. With the addition of the turning device and the VisionReport software in combination with WinCan, iPEK has been able to deliver more than 350 units since April 2010. There were short delivery difficulties with suppliers in the field of electronic components (as in many other industries worldwide), but iPEK had them under control again by the end of the year.
Expansion of direct sales
In 2013 iPEK introduced the further development of the ROVVER and SUPERVISION system ROVION.
In 2014, iPEK started direct sales in the UK in Bristol with two sales representatives and a service technician, as well as the market launch of ROVION EX and AGILIOS EX to ensure the highest possible safety for use in explosive areas.
2015 - with its fully equipped turnkey inspection vehicles, iPEK takes the next logical step to meet the needs of its customers in the best possible way. Based on two different vehicle classes, two basic extension concepts with versatile configuration options for different requirements and areas of application were offered.
In 2016 iPEK expanded its direct sales in Germany with three sales representatives. iPEK presented the patented, wireless seeing nozzle XPECTION for the first time. The system enables a demand-oriented cleaning process and saves time, money and resources.
& service network
In 2017 iPEK opened the second service location in Leipzig, Germany and the sales and service location iPEK ASIA in Suzhou/China. With the expanded sales network iPEK is now present in 50 countries worldwide.
2018 was the market launch of the second generation of the AGILIOS push rod camera, as well as the first presentation at the international fair IFAT of the first electrically operated inspection vehicle. Driving and inspecting without combustion engine.
Another highlight was the opening of the iPEK service location in Dortmund, Germany.
In 2019, iPEK launched the new, smaller XPECTION LITE seeing nozzle onto the market and the number of employees rose to over 200, as did annual sales to over 38 million euros.
Strong together into the future
In 2020, despite the adverse conditions during the Corona Pandemic, iPEK opened another service location in Karlsruhe, Germany and expanded the area at the Sulzberg site. Through the iPEK ACADEMY they conduct targeted online sales and service training for partners and employees worldwide from the iPEK studio. The newly developed ROVION SAT II system beat all records from the previous product launches of the last 32 years in this difficult time. With its international connections, iPEK is a company with a global orientation and a solid product range which, together with its strong partner network, can look forward to a promising future.