Stefan Traeger, President and CEO of Jenoptik (Jena, Germany), announced Strategy 2022, an intensified focus on key competencies in photonics. He said, “In a nutshell, this is Jenoptik’s strength and its core area of expertise. We’re going to concentrate our work on applications for attractive and promising photonic markets and continue to develop our business by focusing on ‘More Light.’ Areas of special focus will include information processing, smart manufacturing, sensing, and metrology, as well as biophotonics.”
A new organizational structure, effective in January 2019, will support this strategy with three divisions. The OEM business will be concentrated in the Light & Optics division; the capital goods business in Light & Production; and the public sector business in Light & Safety.
The current Defense & Civil Systems segment will be operated under a new, independent brand. “This will allow us to better reflect specific market and customer requirements in this business segment,” said Traeger. Separately, Reuters reported that Traeger said he did not want to rule out the possibility of selling this new segment, but had no concrete plans to do so. The unit sells electric motors, heating systems, and control units for military and civil vehicles, as well as rail and aircraft equipment.
Traeger added, “International diversity will also distinguish Jenoptik more strongly than in the past. That means international teams and more decisions being taken locally.” There will be production facilities and local R&D teams in all key regions, and at least one division will be based outside of Germany by 2022.
The company achieved record revenue in FY 2017, growing 9.2% to approximately 748 million euros. EBIT improved at a faster rate than revenue, to just under 78 million euros, equating to an EBIT margin of 10.4%. Overall performance was helped by strong demand from the semiconductor equipment industry and, on a regional basis, strong growth in the U.S.
Source: Jenoptik
Conard Holton | Editor at Large
Conard Holton has 25 years of science and technology editing and writing experience. He was formerly a staff member and consultant for government agencies such as the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and the International Atomic Energy Agency, and engineering companies such as Bechtel. He joined Laser Focus World in 1997 as senior editor, becoming editor in chief of WDM Solutions, which he founded in 1999. In 2003 he joined Vision Systems Design as editor in chief, while continuing as contributing editor at Laser Focus World. Conard became editor in chief of Laser Focus World in August 2011, a role in which he served through August 2018. He then served as Editor at Large for Laser Focus World and Co-Chair of the Lasers & Photonics Marketplace Seminar from August 2018 through January 2022. He received his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, with additional studies at the Colorado School of Mines and Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.