Jenoptik's Lasers and Material Processing division and the Korean company, Telstar-Hommel, have founded Jenoptik Korea Corp., a joint venture that primarily addresses the Asian electronics, flat-panel, and photovoltaics industries. Jenoptik will be the majority shareholder in the company, owning 66.6 per cent of shares, with Telstar-Hommel holding the remaining 33.3 per cent.
Jenoptik Korea will have headquarters in Pyeongtaek (Gyeonggi Province), 70km south of Seoul, and an application centre for Asian customers of the Lasers and Material Processing division is due to open early in 2010. A range of systems for laser material processing will be available at the facility, specifically addressing the electronics, flat-panel, and photovoltaics industries. Customers may test production techniques on the systems and refine them in accordance with their requirements.
At the end of the year, the Lasers and Material Processing division will also manage the after-sales service from Korea for Asian customers or coordinate it in close collaboration with other Jenoptik sites in Asia.
'With the laser application centre in Korea, we have taken a further important step towards internationalisation and now have direct access to the Asian market for our Lasers and Material Processing division. In Telstar-Hommel we have chosen an experienced partner who has already been representing our Industrial Metrology division for years,' said Michael Mertin, CEO of Jenoptik. The Industrial Metrology division has been distributing measuring technology for the Asian automobile industry through Telstar-Hommel since 2004.
Byung-Hoon Im, president and CEO of Telstar-Hommel, commented: 'We have had a successful and close tie-up with the Jenoptik Industrial Metrology division since 2004 and we anticipate the best success to the laser business with Jenoptik in the dynamic Asian market.'
With a total of around 42 million Euros in the 2008 fiscal year, Jenoptik generated just under 8 per cent of total sales (550 million Euros) in Asia. In comparison with 2007 (35.5 million Euros), sales in Asia rose by over 15 per cent, and are expected to increase considerably in the coming years. Jenoptik Korea will initially launch with four employees.
