Philosophy
In the following lines we like to discuss some aspects that are important to our corporate culture. Of course, there is much more to it than that, but it nonetheless can give you an overview of what defines Independend.
Your input and ideas are always welcome and discussion is strongly encouraged in our culture.
Quality
We think quality is the most important aspect of any product. And this quality should penetrate both the hardware and the software world. Sadly, the quality in the software industry has been on the decline for over a decade.
This effect is sadly not limited to the software industry: Products are nowadays designed to be unrepairable and disposable and constantly need updates that try to fix things that were broken by the last one, even in the most important of industries: Medical devices, arms, agricultural equipment et cetera - in short: Devices that cost people's lives if they malfunction.
We opt to rectify that. All of our products come with extensive technical documentation and are designed to be repairable - by you.
And while closed systems, secrecy, planned obsolecence and other anti-consumer and anti-competitive measures can increase the short-term success of a company, history has shown numerous times that long-term success can only be achieved by constantly innovating and evolving. We ensure this by having a technologial and financial advantage through vertical integration and intensive reasearch.
The power of free software
We believe in the concept of free software. Free software does not only mean that its use is free of charge, but that it can be freely modified and redistributed. This means that instead of reinventing the wheel every time new functionality is needed – which is very costly and time-consuming – you use what is public knowledge already and build upon it, significantly reducing the time to market of new products.
It also means that new features requested by customers can be integrated very quickly with all other customers profiting - something that is not possible for manufacturers outsourcing software or hardware.
Expertise
By having an extensive set of sometimes diametral backgrounds such as Physics, Mathematics, Chemistry, Engineering, Computer science, Psychology, Philosophy et cetera we tend to have a different perspective on many problems in the process of production from raw goods to finished device and seek to challenge the status quo to improve on it.
Although technical skill is irreplacable, we think that abstract problem-solving abilities and clever creativity are absolutely necessary as well to advance the state of the art in any field.
Sustainability
We set out to change the world with our products that make people's lives easier and more productive, not to make the world a paradise. But instead we act and conduct business in accordance to the maxim "Just don't be an asshole".
To achieve this we conduct extensive research and development in fields such as material science, digital and analog electronics, environmentally-friendly non-hazardous cooling emulsions and others and make sure that our products can be useful for decades. And at the end of their useful life they can be fully recycled.
But exclusively producing in Germany actually contributes a lot to these goals as a side-effect: Complying to some of the strictest environmental, employer and social regulations in the world. Our products are not sent through a dozen factories operating on the basis of exploitation of workers and the environment. And all of that without green-washing or questionable-at-best compensation projects. And let's be honest, many companies are guilty of that.
