Optical instrument developer Oxsensis acquired by WIKA

Published by

Peter Davison

Oxsensis, which makes optical sensor technology for the industrial, energy, and aerospace industries, has been acquired by The WIKA Group, a global market leader in developing high-precision instruments for industrial measurements, such as pressure and temperature.

Oxsensis span out of the Science and Technology Facilities Council's Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, at the Harwell Campus in Oxfordshire, in 2003.

Since then, it has firmly established itself as a leader in the development of advanced optical instrumentation for use in harsh industrial environments.

From its location at the Harwell Campus in Oxfordshire, it has partnered with well-known international companies including Rolls-Royce, GE Aviation, Parker Aviation and Airbus, working across a diverse range of industries with various divisional and application.

Franz-Josef Vogel, of WIKA, said "Oxsensis is offering a highly attractive technology which is scalable to a wide range of industrial applications. As we acquire excellent knowhow and experienced staff our plan is to keep and develop the Harwell site as the centre of our optical sensing activities."

Ian Macafee, CEO, said "This new chapter for Oxsensis is built on many years of innovation and persistence, tackling some of the hardest energy-intensive systems challenges that exist. Our technology is well placed to contribute to the Energy Transition in Powergeneration, Aerospace and to enable competitive, leading products in our new Industrial markets.

"WIKA brings additional industrial and process market opportunities as well as a wealth of manufacturing, supply chain, and commercial expertise and resources to accelerate the exploitation of optical technology as it becomes a mainstream instrumentation choice."

Peter Davison

Peter Davison is deputy editor of The Business Magazine. He has spent his life in journalism – doing work experience in newsrooms in and around Bristol while still at school, and landing his first job on a local newspaper aged 19. By 28 he was the youngest newspaper editor in the country. An early advocate of online news, he spent the first years of the 2000s telling his bosses that the internet posed both the biggest opportunity and greatest threat to the newspaper industry and the art of journalism. He was right on both counts. Since 2006 he has enjoyed a career as a freelance journalist. He lives in rural Wiltshire with one wife, two children, and three cats.