KRATZER AUTOMATION was founded in 1980 by Gerhard Kratzer and Paul Balz as Gerhard Kratzer GmbH Automatisierungstechnik München. From the outset, the company focused on creating industrial, process-related software. Projects in the company’s early years addressed a wide range of industries: in addition to developing the software for Ruhrgas’ operations control center in Essen, the company was commissioned to automate engine test benches for SHELL and BMW Motorsport and supported the ADAC in controlling its breakdown service fleet through mobile data communications.
From the mid-1980s on, the company began developing software tools for various applications, for example for capturing and storing measurements and displaying them in diagrams. Early in the 1990s, KRATZER AUTOMATION was transformed from a pure software company to a general contractor offering an end-to-end service. In 1999, the company was converted into a stock corporation.
The workforce increased continuously to its current level of approx. 500 employees who work at nine locations worldwide in Europe, the U.S.A. and Asia. Alongside its headquarters in Munich, KRATZER AUTOMATION has branch offices in Germany, as well as subsidiaries since 2004 in China and Czech Republic, since 2005 in France, since 2009 in Great Britain, since 2016 in the U.S.A. and since 2019 in Italy.
In 2020 the company celebrated its 40th anniversary.
On May 5, 2022 NI (Nasdaq: NATI) announced it had officially closed the purchase of the test systems
business of Kratzer Automation AG (Kratzer). The addition of Kratzer further expands NI’s investment in
the high growth area of vehicle electrification and enhances customer connections with automotive
customers leading the EV transformation. Read the full press release here.