Pop the corks: 50th anniversary of Shimadzu in Europe

Time to celebrate

This year, Shimadzu celebrates the 50th anniversary of its presence in Europe. This is an exciting year with lots of innovations to be expected, and it is also a time to celebrate with the clients, employees and the business communities of analytical instrumentation and medical technology.

It started in 1968 with five employees: Shimadzu Europa commenced operations in Düsseldorf, the capital of Germany’s most populous federal state. In 1987, after 20 years of growth, Shimadzu relocated a few miles further to Duisburg, a city with the largest inland port in Europe, which since then hosts Shimadzu’s European Headquarters for the Shimadzu Corporation (Kyoto, Japan). Today, Shimadzu employs almost 700 people in Europe and has developed into a large European network with offices and trade partners in 81 cities from 48 countries.

Quiz ‘n’ Win

Throughout the year, Shimadzu takes the opportunity to celebrate with its clients and the business communities. In the coming months, exciting competitions will be run with lots of attractive prizes to win. Just visit the www.shimadzu.eu/50th-anniversary website and apply to take part in the quiz with questions around Shimadzu’s history, portfolio and milestones. Don´t worry, you don´t have to be an expert! Good luck!

“Excellence in Science”

The headquarter in Duisburg provides the technological and application-oriented knowhow. Through trainings and seminars in the over 1,500 sqm Laboratory World, it is regularly shared with the sales and service forces who transfer it into the markets. They are one of the world’s largest providers of analytical instrumentation and X-ray diagnostic imaging solutions. Whereas medical technology covers Angiography, Fluoroscopy and Radiography as well as Mobile X-ray Systems, the analytical instrumentation focuses on advanced solutions in Chromatography, Mass Spectrometry, Spectroscopy, Total Organic Carbon analysis, Imaging, Life Sciences, Material Testing and Measuring Technology.

“Excellence in Science” stands for Shimadzu’s core value proposition representing the company’s scientific and technological approach to always providing business, medical and research solutions with advanced analytical and diagnostic imaging systems, ensuring better consumer, patient and environment protection as well as product safety. Numerous world firsts which have meanwhile become industrial and clinical standards today substantiate this tag line.

Paradigm shifts in business

Developing, running and growing a company for 50 years (and on a global scale it is more than 140 years) is not just a question of offering the right products and services, it is also a matter of adapting successfully to societal, political, economic and technological changes as well as aligning to clients’ expansion plans, needs and structures to fully support their competitiveness. These all influence the ways of doing business, cooperating with clients and driving a company.

Just to mention a few: the digital revolution, i.e. the transition from the industrial era to the information age, caused a technological paradigm shift regarding new applications, precision and conducting systems. A similar impact in a political context was the raise of the Iron Curtain which gave access to new markets and target groups, and also led to a new political and market order all over Europe.