Germany, Brühl: The HIMA Group, a family-owned company and leading provider of safety-related automation solutions, has concluded the most successful financial year in the company's history with the 2023 fiscal year. The global presence and solution portfolio for the process industry and railway technology will be further expanded.

In 2023, HIMA generated sales of 151.4 million euros, which corresponds to organic growth of 12%. The integration of Sella Controls, which was acquired in February 2023, increased sales by a total of 20%. "Our growth strategy, which is based on the digitalization of functional safety with added value in parallel with international expansion, paid off in 2023," says Jörg de la Motte, CEO of the HIMA Group.

"HIMA continued to grow profitably in 2023 – for our shareholders this is a good basis for further investments," adds Dr. Michael Löbig, CFO of the HIMA Group. By region, Europe dominates the business of the HIMA Group with a 55% share of sales. This is followed by Asia (20%) and the Middle East (17%). The Americas account for 8% of sales.

Strengthening global presence and expansion

The HIMA Group is consistently continuing its international expansion. Following the acquisition of Sella Controls in the UK last year, the HIMA Group also acquired the Norwegian technology company Origo Solutions in February 2024. "Sella Controls and Origo Solutions are making a significant contribution to taking the HIMA Group’s solution portfolio to a new level internationally," explains Jörg de la Motte. "We are making very good progress with integration," adds Dr. Michael Löbig.

HIMA received a major order from the Norwegian energy company Equinor for the supply of equipment to both onshore and offshore plants. The development of the new SCADA+ system by Origo Solutions expands HIMA's capabilities into the field of renewables.

The local presence was expanded with new locations in Saudi Arabia and the expansion of the group companies in Slovakia and the Middle East. A subsidiary in India will be opened before the end of this year. In countries where the HIMA Group does not have its own company, the partner program is being expanded as qualified partners extend the company’s engineering and support capabilities.

Advanced solutions and successful projects

The Group achieved success in various sectors, including new rail projects in the UK, Italy, and India. As well as the process industry, the railway industry is also a core market for HIMA, in which the company has a growing international partner network and, thanks to Sella Controls, an expanded product and solution portfolio. Sella Controls has developed and implemented an overspeed prevention solution for two reference projects in the UK that automatically reduce the speed of rail vehicles and enable driver monitoring. In another outstanding project, HIMA safety controllers secure the earthing system in the Italian high-speed train tunnel "Galleria Ceraino" – fully automatically, remotely and in accordance with SIL 4 requirements. A cooperation agreement has been concluded with an Indian partner for the development of an Automatic Train Protection System ("Kavach").

HIMA continues to drive the digitalization of functional safety in the process industry. "Our solutions for the digitalization of the safety lifecycle support operators with key tasks that are essential for safe and compliant operations," explains Jörg de la Motte. At ACHEMA 2024, HIMA will be showing five showcases and numerous new products. For example, HIMA will be presenting the Smart Safety Test and the fully digitalized training platform Safety Navigator. In addition to its digitalization solutions, the company has further developed its pipeline management solution FLOWorX. This can now also be used to monitor and secure hydrogen pipelines. Hydrogen pipelines pose significantly increased risks compared to conventional pipelines. The new solution allows operators to minimize these and locate leaks immediately.

In cooperation with the security specialist genua, HIMA protects against cyberattack scenarios and achieves compliance with the KAS 51 guideline (Commission for Plant Safety) with genua’s products. Further regional expansions and product innovations are planned for 2024, including a new safe HMI with fail-safe display and button function. "It is already becoming apparent that 2024 will be another good year for us," concludes Dr. Michael Löbig.

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About HIMA Group

The HIMA Group is a global independent provider of safety-related automation solutions for the process and rail industries that protect people, assets, and the environment from harm. Founded in 1908, the family-owned company is headquartered in Brühl, near Mannheim, (Germany).

The HIMA Group employs approx. 1050 employees in 22 group companies worldwide. Regional centers are located in Breda, the Netherlands (Europe), Stockport, England (UK), Kristiansand, Norway (Scandinavia), Singapore (North and South East Asia), Perth (Australia and New Zealand), Shanghai (China), Dubai, United Arab Emirates (Middle East) and Houston, USA (North America). 

The open and independent HIMA Safety Platform combines hardware and software on a single technology platform and offers a uniform security concept. With more than 50,000 installed safety systems (SIL 3 / SIL 4, PL e, CENELEC SIL 4), HIMA is considered a technology leader. In addition to proven safety technology, HIMA offers consulting, safety engineering, and services as well as training.

This results in solutions that ensure functional safety and OT security, compliance with standards, process efficiency and plant availability throughout the entire safety lifecycle.
As a safety expert, HIMA is pioneering the digitalization of functional safety and generates significant added value for customers with holistic safety solutions.

Since the 1960s, HIMA has been a reliable partner to the world's largest companies in the process industry, including chemicals, petrochemicals, energy and oil and gas.
Typical safety applications include Emergency Shutdown Systems (ESD), Fire & Gas (F&G) systems, Burner Control /  Management Systems (BCS/BMS) for Burners and Boilers, Turbo Machinery Control (TMC) for Turbomachinery and Compressors, Pipeline Management Control (PMC) with Leak Detection, High-Integrity Pressure Protection Systems (HIPPS) for overpressure protection of pipelines, subsea systems for the deep sea, and overfill protection systems for tank farms.

In 2015, HIMA revolutionized the railway industry with the first CENELEC SIL 4 certified Safety PLC. These commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) products are open safety controllers that can be easily integrated and maintained into a wide variety of solutions. Today, HIMA also offers holistic safety solutions for applications such as level crossings, signaling interlockings, and on-board systems for rolling stock. Our rail solutions suite includes Power SCADA for Electrification, SCADA BMS for rail tunnel control, overspeed prevention systems, interlockings for railway depots, and automatic door control. 

More information at www.hima.com  

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