As an important supplier in the process industry since 1950, VEGA Americas, Inc. has always stood for innovative measurement technology. In 2011, the Cincinnati, Ohio based company was acquired by VEGA Grieshaber KG, a leading process instrumentation company based in Germany.
The story of VEGA shows how two established companies can combine their strengths to achieve international success and open up new markets.
On one hand, there's VEGA Americas, Inc.: Philip Ohmart founded the company in Cincinnati in 1950, under his own name. "Ohmart" was soon considered the specialist in radiation-based instrumentation for level and density measurement in America.
Thousands of kilometers away in Germany, in 1959, Bruno Grieshaber also founded an innovative measurement technology company: VEGA Grieshaber KG. Within just a few years, this Black Forest company began specializing in the development and production of sensors for measurement of level, point level, and pressure. VEGA placed great emphasis on developing and improving different measuring techniques and has widely been considered the global technology leader in the area of radar since 1997.
It was around this time that the partnership between the two companies began. Ohmart started manufacturing VEGA licensed products in North America in order to offer its customers the benefits of many measuring principles. In turn, VEGA benefited from Ohmart's expertise in radiation-based technology.
In 1999, the German company acquired a 50 percent stake in its American partner, who then changed its name to Ohmart/VEGA. Over ten years later, Ohmart became a 100 percent subsidiary of VEGA via purchase contract and has been called VEGA Americas ever since. The entire range of innovative measurement solutions from the market leader VEGA is thus now available to customers in the United States.
The company's success speaks for itself: Of the more than 1,200 employees of VEGA Grieshaber KG around the world, 300 work at VEGA Americas.
