METER was created in 2016 when Decagon Devices acquired UMS and then decided to rebrand the company to better capture this new identity.
Decagon was founded in 1983 by Dr. Gaylon Campbell, a renowned soil scientist at Washington State University in Pullman, WA. Dr. Campbell was (and is) an old-school physicist. When he wanted to measure something, he built an instrument to measure it. Other people wanted his creations, and eventually he couldn't keep up with the demand. Decagon was formed to build and sell his instruments.
UMS was founded in 1991 by Georg von Unold, an employee of the Helmholtz Research Center in Munich, Germany, who began developing and manufacturing tensiometers. Georg had the idea to build the tensiometers with a novel ceramic which had a fast curing time and bonded durably to transparent acrylic glass. Since UMS’s beginnings, the Company has offered the complete equipment for environmental monitoring systems – including proprietary sensor technology, competency in planning individual, customized solutions, and developing innovative components.
METER currently has approximately 200 employees at offices in Pullman, Washington, Munich, Germany, and just outside of Tokyo, Japan. Our primary business is the design, manufacture, and marketing of scientific instruments, specializing in soil moisture sensors and equipment. The applied research division focuses on measuring water, light, and heat in the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum. Our instruments are used throughout the world in universities, research and testing laboratories, government agencies, vineyards, farms, and industrial applications.
Our goal is to get our clients the data they need in the most efficient and accurate way possible. We are committed to solving some of the important problems of our time by providing tools to assure the safety, quality, and availability of food; understanding and preserve the environment; and conserving scarce water, soil, and energy resources.
