Jessica Vermeer
21 April 2020

Xsens, producer and developer of motion sensors, will expand its Enschede office significantly. It is planning to erect a three-story building right next to its current headquarters at Kennispark Twente. The expansion will bring a substantial increase in turnover and employment.

Founded in 2000 as a University of Twente spinoff, Xsens is now a world player in the development and production of motion sensors and support software. Its 3D motion tracking sensors register movements extremely accurately and record the obtained data in a computer. It can be applied to machines and vehicles but also to human body movements. The technology is used in healthcare, industry and the entertainment sector.

Xsens new building
Credit: Xsens

The expansion is in response to a growing worldwide demand for Xsens’s sensors. “The plan is to grow from 120 to 200 employees and a turnover of 25 million dollars in the coming years,” says Boele de Bie, general manager of Xsens. The company decided on expanding in Enschede because of the region’s good high-tech industry facilities.

Xsens was acquired by Fairchild in 2014 and sold to Mcube three years later (links in Dutch), after which its revenue sharply rose, amounting to 19 million dollars in 2019. Its main sales areas are Europe, North and South America and Asia. Xsens has had an office in California for over ten years, recently opening new branches in Hong Kong, Bangalore and Shanghai.