A Family History
From a marine engineering office in imperial Mannheim to a leading global provider of safety solutions in a digitally connected world. Learn about the history of HIMA Paul Hildebrandt GmbH and the milestones spanning four generations of a family business full of passionate safety specialists.
The young engineer Johannes Hildebrandt founds a marine engineering office in Mannheim named Johannes Hildebrandt OHG, selling shipping equipment in Mannheim's harbor.
Paul Hildebrandt takes over his father's business and starts producing control panels, pressure and temperature controls, and control and monitoring systems for heavy industry. In 1936, HIMA (Hildebrandt Mannheim) is registered as a business in the city of Mannheim.
Bernhard Philipp, Paul Hildebrandt's son-in-law takes over as the managing director of HIMA. From this point onwards, the company builds upon new transistor technology. In the 1960s, the safety of the chemical industry moves into the foreground. In 1967, HIMA presents the transistor system "Planar P".
Steffen Philipp becomes managing partner. He takes the company into the fourth generation. Under his leadership, HIMA becomes a world's leading global solution provider for safety-related automation.
HIMA is positioned worldwide
| Year | Locations |
|---|---|
| 1993 | HIMA Malaysia |
| 2003 | HIMA Australia |
| 2003 | HIMA France |
| 2005 | HIMA Americas |
| 2006 | HIMA Middle East, Dubai |
| 2006 | HIMA Shanghai |
| 2007 | HIMA Italia |
| 2007 | HIMA Slovakia |
| 2008 | HIMA Benelux |
| 2010 | HIMA Middle East, Oman |
| 2011 | HIMA Asia Pacific, Singapur |
| 2021 | HIMA Innovation LAB himalaya |
| 2022 | HIMA Argentina |
| 2022 | Customer Solutions Center Germany und Singapore |
| 2023 | HIMA Group acquires Sella Controls |
| 2023 | HIMA Saudi Arabia |
| 2023 | HIMA Taiwan |
Our journey to becoming a global provider of safety-related automation solutions
| Year | Technological milestones |
|---|---|
| 1970 | World's first hard-wired safety system and world's first TÜV-certified safety system (Planar F) |
| 1986 | World's first programmable safety controller and world's first TÜV-certified programmable safety system (H50) |
| 1998 | World's first 2oo4D safety system for maximum availability (HIQuad) |
| 1998 | World's first safety-related communication via Ethernet and world's first TÜV-tested safety-related Ethernet communication up to SIL 3 (SafeEthernet) |
| 2002 | World's first TÜV-tested safety controller for distributed automation solutions in the process industry and factory automation up to SIL 3/PL e (HIMatrix) |
| 2008 | World's first non-stop safety system up to SIL 3 (HIMax). |
| 2008 | In-house developed engineering, maintenance and diagnostic tools for HIMA safety systems (SILworX) |
| 2009 | Achilles Level 1 Security Certificate for the HIMax safety system |
| 2013 | World's first programmable SIL 3 safety system-on-chip (HICore 1) |
| 2017 | Cyber Security Certificate from TÜV Rheinland and ISAsecure for the SL 1 in accordance with IEC 62443-4-1/2 (HIMax safety system) |
| 2018 | Extension of the proven 2oo4D technology with the 4th generation of HIQuad safety systems (HIQuad X) |
| 2018 | Launch of a cross-system platform concept for all HIMA safety controllers (Smart Safety Platform) |
| 2020 | SILworX engineering tool extended to all HIMA system families to enable digitalization and integration of industry 4.0 features (API, Smart Safety Test) |
| 2022 | Expansion with PROFINET/PROFIsafe, OPC UA as part of the Independent Open Integration approach. |
| 2023 | Integration of external plug-ins in SILworX automation projects |