Success takes experience. The OptiSense story.
Innovation is our tradition. It's easy to see this by taking a look at the key years in our history. Take a closer look at the company's history via the various dates. Behind the dates, interesting surprises await …
1998
We start as a spin-off of the Fraunhofer-led Optics Centre NRW in Bochum
1999
We develop the first photothermal coating thickness sensor for a robotic industrial application – without any additional cooling
2000
We initiate the „contactless coating thickness measurement” project for Opel in Bochum and crown our success with a process patent
2001
We win Audi, in Ingolstadt, as a pilot customer for our PaintChecker modular sensors and install the first system with two measuring devices on two robots in a separate measuring cell
2001
We develop a contactless measuring system as a prototype for a near-space research project in Norway/Lofoten
2002
Based on a solely thermoelectrically cooled infrared detector we develop a new, photothermal coating thickness sensor
2007
Setting up the first laboratory measuring station in our own company
2008
OptiSense develops an offline measuring system for brake disc coatings
2008
Entry into the Chinese automotive market with the miniaturized PaintChecker Tube sensor
2017
The patented PaintChecker mobile manual sensor goes into series production
2018
The next coup is an industrial controller that measures the coating thickness at up to eight positions simultaneously
2019
OptiSense launches the probably smallest sensor cube in the world
2020
The high-power controller versions are specially developed for extremely thick layers with high glass or ceramic content

Fascinating development: Our latest sensors weigh only 50 grams – a hundredth of the original PaintChecker (left in picture)

Like Walt Disney, Amazon, Google, Hewlett-Packard and Harley-Davidson, OptiSense also started as a garage company.