Screening Eagle’s Proceq Celebrates 70 Years of Innovation in NDT Technologies

Proceq, a leading manufacturer of portable non-destructive testing (NDT) technologies, is proud to be celebrating its 70th anniversary this year. Founded on the 8th of April, 1954, by Antonio Brandestini, the name Proceq was derived from the words ‘processes’ and ‘equipment’.

“This signifcant milestone would not be possible without the passion and support from the entire Proceq team, our partners and customers, some of whome have been with us for decades. Our commitment to quality and innovation is relentless.” - Bruno Valsangiacomo, co-founder and Chairman of Screening Eagle Technologies.

See the incredible milestones so far.

• 1954 - Proceq opened in Zurich, Switzerland with the Schmidt, the world’s first rebound hammer, as its pioneering product.

• 1975 - The Leeb hardness testing method was invented at Proceq by engineer Dietmar Leeb and Dr. Brandestini. Soon after, Proceq launched Equotip as the official brand name for their portable hardness testers.

• The 1970’s and 1980’s were significant decades for rebar detection and concrete cover assessment as the company launched the first Profometer rebar locator and cover meters to the market with great success.

• 1994 - Proceq was first certified to ISO 9001 standards that guarantee the quality of processes, products and services.

• 2007 - Proceq released the Canin corrosion analyzing instrument for the measurement of corrosion potential and electrical resistivity – a big step in the industry.

• 2008 - Proceq launched the Profoscope, a portable rebar detector and cover meter combined, with a mid-point feature that was unique to the market at the time.

• 2009 - Proceq aquired Pundit and later launched the popular Pundit Lab and Pundit Lab+, that were the first Proceq products to be developed using a new generation and design-protected Touchscreen Unit.

• 2013 - Proceq launched the Resipod family, a complete solution for concrete durability testing. The same year, Proceq launched the DY-2 family of pull-off testers which have since become indispensable for diagnosing structural damage to buildings and testing concrete repairs.

• 2014 - Proceq delivered yet another solution to a growing problem with the launch of Carboteq, the world's only handheld device to measure the wear of carbon ceramic brake discs.

• 2016 - Proceq launched the world’s first full Internet of Things (IoT) portable hardness testing solution, Equotip Live. This was the biggest innovation in hardness testing since the initial launch of Equotip. In the same year, Proceq launched the successor to the Canin corrosion instrument with the Profometer corrosion meter.

 • 2017 - The Proceq Global Summit marked a significant advancement in ground penetrating radar (GPR) with the announcement of the Proceq GPR Live. For the first time in the industry, the Proceq GPR Live solved some of the most challenging pain points including limited detection, ease-of-use, and portabillity.

• 2018 - Proceq acquired Zehntner GmbH Testing Instruments, a leading Swiss-based manufacturer of retroreflectometers, glossmeters and other surface testing products.

• 2019 - The Chairman of Proceq’s parent company Tectus Group, Bruno Valsangiacomo, and founding partner of Tectus Dreamlab, Marcel Poser, founded Screening Eagle Technologies- a platform revolutionizing infrastructure asset assessment- with a mission to protect the built world with sensors, software and data.

Screening Eagle Technologies, together with its two subsidaries, Proceq and Dreamlab unveiled not one, but six new solutions during 2019; including the Pundit ultrasonic concrete imaging system, Proceq GP8800 compact GPR and GS8000 subsurface mapping system, Proceq UT8000 flaw detector, Silver Schmidt OS8200 rebound hammer, and Zehntner ZG8000 gloss meter.

In the same year, Screening Eagle subsidiaries, Proceq and Dreamlab, continued to invest substantially both internally and externally into the development of software by aquiring InterSAFT (now called Pundit Vision) ultrasonic imaging software solution and enhancing its capabilities for users. With all of Proceq’s globally reknowned solutions, combined with software using the latest technologies including artificial intelligent (AI) Augmented reality (AR) and IoT from Dreamlab, the company immediately entered a steep growth path, and raised CHF 55 million in its first institutional round of equity funding to support its growth.

• 2020 - Screening Eagle’s Proceq expanded its paper testing portfolio with the takeover of sales for Tapio paper testing instruments. The company also launched AI-powered INSPECT software to digitize the entire asset inspection and management process, with seamless integration of Proceq sensors.

• 2021 – Industry leading GPR data post-processing software, GPR-Slice joins forces with Screening Eagle to compliment Proceq GPRs.

• 2022 - Screening Eagle’s Proceq officially became a Swiss Confederation Accredited Calibration Lab according to ISO 17025 audited by the Swiss Accreditation Service (SAS). The formal recognition confirms that Proceq have and use the proper tools, knowledge and processes to provide the highest standard of quality and services in calibration of their equipment.

Since the introduction of the Schmidt Hammer in the 1950’s, Proceq has continuously developed its rebound hammer portfolio. Now, the Schmidt hammer family also includes solutions specially designed for paper and rock, with a user-friendly mobile app for fast data analysis and reporting.

Proceq products have also won several awards including the SIQT Top Innovator award for 2020/2021 and 2021/22.

“Proceq products have been trusted partners all of my life.” – Ana Pires, Scientist-astronaut and researcher at INESC TEC.

• 2023 - With their continuous commitment to quality and staying ahead of the curve, Proceq updated their Profometer cover meters and corrosion sensors, introduced a new pile integrity testing solution, and developed new GPRs for concrete and subsurface mapping – all complete with state-of-the-art software.

• 2024 – The company officially released the revolutionary GS9000 multichannel subsurface GPR array with 3D visualization in real-time.

"For seven decades, Proceq solutions have contributed to protecting the built world, empowering informed decisions, and shaping the future of asset inspection. Thanks to all of our loyal Proceq users for their unwavering support as we continue to advance our solutions through software development and user feedback.” – Koichi Oba, CEO of Proceq Switzerland.

To this day, Proceq remains commited to excellence and still achieves certification of ISO 9001, ensuring their equipment and processes meet the highest industry standards.

The Screening Eagle Proceq teams will be marking this platinum jubilee anniversary with memorable celebrations at their branches in Switzerland, US, UK, Singapore, and Spain.