Measuring Made Easy

Our customers never need to worry about quality testing, since reliability and ease of use take top priority at Fischer. So they can focus on what really matters: their work. We take care of the rest.

An ambitious start

The Helmut Fischer Group looks back proudly on its successful, almost 70-year company history, which began in Stuttgart in 1953.

At just 22 years old, Helmut Fischer founded the company "Schuhmann and Fischer Electrical Devices" together with his mentor and former physics teacher. Recognizing the needs of a budding industry after the war, they developed a device that could measure paint and chrome layers: the Permaskop. Among Fischer`s first customers were Bosch and Daimler.

But in post-war Germany, many materials were still hard to find. Often, one simply had to improvise. So, taking a common nail, Helmut Fischer built a sensor that could measure coatings less than 5 μm thick! This pluck and resourcefulness were rewarded handsomely: by 1954 – just a year later – the company had booked a turnover of 40,000 DM.

The expansion years

After 3 years, Fischer took the next step, founding the sole proprietorship "Helmut Fischer". Bolstered by the German economic miracle of the 1950s and 60s, the company developed rapidly. Within two decades, what had once been a one-man operation had become an international manufacturer with subsidiaries and representatives in England, Japan and the USA.

The innovations

In the 1980s and 90s, Fischer greatly expanded its product range. In addition to a hardness tester, the first X-ray fluorescence (XRF) instrument was launched in 1981. Numerous patented innovations helped the devices to quickly establish themselves in industrial use – because customers appreciate the reliability and measuring precision of Fischer instruments.

A life`s work

For Helmut Fischer, it was important to build equipment that would last for decades; the same went for the company itself. So it was that, after five decades at its helm, he transferred his company shares to a foundation and withdrew from day-to-day operations. Since 2003, the Helmut Fischer Foundation has ensured the continuation of the company and supported artists and young scientists.

At our corporate museum at the headquarters in Sindelfingen, we pay tribute to Helmut Fischer`s lifetime achievements and invite visitors to experience for themselves how technology harmonizes with the company’s history and values.

Set for the future: Unique X-ray optics from Adlershof Berlin

Long-lasting instruments, intuitive operation and excellent service – that’s what the Helmut Fischer Group stands for today. With 21 subsidiaries and over 50 representatives, we’re there for you – worldwide.

And still evolving! Unique X-ray optics are produced at the Berlin location in the Adlershof Science and Technology Park. These polycapillaries are used in our premium XRF devices, the prerequisite for measuring on microstructures just 20µm in size. Fischer is one of only two manufacturers worldwide that can produce optics of this quality.

X-Ray Series Brochure