APRIL 27--Unaxis Optics (www.optics.unaxis.com), a market leader in thin-film optical components technology, is expanding its strategic sites, which include its headquarters in Balzers, Liechtenstein, and its manufacturing sites in Golden, CO, USA, and Shanghai, China. The production capacities of the facility in Geisenheim, Germany, will be integrated mainly in Balzers and Golden.
The reorganization of its optical-components business in the lighting industry is another step in Unaxis Optics' systematic implementation of its global strategy. Strategic considerations dictate the merging of its European sites. Competitive structures have already been created in the major growth markets in the USA and in Asia by limiting production to one factory. Now, synergies are to be exploited in Europe, too. By integrating its German production activities in its three other manufacturing sites in Balzers, Golden, and Shanghai, Unaxis Optics expects to gain a crucial competitive advantage. The goal is to be closer to major markets and to strengthen the especially significant lighting business unit on a global scale, which to date has been based in Geisenheim. The lighting business unit comprises advanced products for the management of visible light and of UV and heat radiation. For the entertainment sector, the business unit offers a wide range of color filters and reflectors
The lighting business unit will benefit from a closer relationship to research-and-development resources located in Balzers as well as state-of-the-art manufacturing lines for patterned products. The integration of the production facilities will reduce complexity of production and marketing, increasing customer value directly: The focus on a single European site will pave the way to enhance innovative power, boost cost efficiency, and expand customer service, which is to be offered on a global 24-hour basis.
Says division manager Joe Haggerty, "From our customer contacts, we feel that future customer needs will be far more complex than today. What customers want in the future will increasingly be complete solutions, which require cooperation across the boundaries of individual units at Unaxis Optics. Thus, for example, customers of the lighting unit will benefit directly from the existing know-how in product design and patterned color filters in Balzers."
Unaxis Optics has been producing coated optical components and assemblies for more than 50 years now. Its products are applied in data and video projectors, lighting systems, sensors, instrumentation, and biotechnology. The division is headquartered in the Principality of Liechtenstein.
