Global process instrumentation group Endress+Hauser has announced the acquisition of Pyrotemp Services (Pty) Ltd, a Johannesburg based temperature sensor manufacturer and supplier.

The deal, facilitated by Wilfried Meissner, Managing Director, Endress+Hauser Wetzer, sees Pyrotemp joining the Endress+Hauser family of companies as an associate production centre.

"Throughout the world we have sales centres and production centres, with the latter having expertise in specific areas,” says Meissner. "Endress+Hauser Wetzer, for example, is our competence centre for industrial temperature technology. In addition, we have global associate production centres in the USA, Japan and China. We feel that by adding Pyrotemp to our network, we are gaining a new set of skills, resources and industry knowledge. Our long term goal is to develop the company in order for us to offer our South African customers improved service delivery and availability of our product range.”

Pyrotemp has an established partnership with Endress+Hauser and is a distributor of its temperature transmitter technology. The company's current owners, Dennis Graham and Melvyn Bellis, will remain at the helm in the positions of managing director and technical director respectively.

"Pyrotemp's operations and its staff complement will not change. We will continue to serve our customers in the way that we are known for,” says Graham. "There will be gradual integration into the Endress+Hauser group over the next few years and we are looking forward to expanding our product range and development capabilities.”

Originally founded in 1969, Graham and Bellis purchased Pyrotemp from its founder in 1981 and have grown the business into the successful and reputable company that it is today.

"We have always been, and will continue to be, working directors and will carry our service quality and excellent relationships with our customers into this new endeavour,” says Graham.

Pyrotemp supplies its temperature sensors and associated products across a broad range of industries, with a concentration in the primaries sector. The company currently distributes throughout South Africa.

Graham notes that the company in its present state has no room for further growth. "However, by entering into this deal with Endress+Hauser, we are able to take advantage of the group's extensive research and development resources, as well as the distribution and sales network that stretches throughout the country and into sub-Saharan Africa.”

According to Tony Jacobsen, Managing Director, Endress+Hauser South Africa, with positive growth in the temperature market locally, the acquisition makes sense from a strategic point of view.

"The main aim is to enhance our relationships with customers and continue to improve on service delivery and product range. This deal will benefit both our customers and Pyrotemp's client base. We will be able to ensure the high availability of sensors for our customers, while Pyrotemp will have the backing of our sales and service-orientated infrastructure and global resources.

"The synergy between the two companies is further reinforced by the fact that Pyrotemp has been built on a customer-centric culture, where relationships, above all else, are valued and maintained, a philosophy that closely mirrors Endress+Hauser's,” concludes Jacobsen.